Translation of a literary work can in effect develop into a literary pursuit in its own right. The business, though, of transferring the words, their ecological niches, their cultural specificity, idioms, usages, diction, thoughts, style, and their linguistic strangeness, from the source language to a language which is completely different from it culturally, geographically and in every other way, has never been an easy task. A laid-back approach to it is always in danger of resulting in a spill-over of the source language, an imitation bordering on patent nonsense. Popular and venerated as it has been for its reach and power, in establishing understanding among cultures, civilizations, and languages down the ages, the act of translation is, nevertheless, an arduous exercise, and one that involves a highly perceptive analysis of language and judgment.
In the present work, effort has been made to avoid any hasty and injudicious use of language, in transporting the thoughts and expressions of the original stories. The distinguishing character of a language is its untranslatability, and it is at this point that a translator is most likely to fall into the trap of impetuosity. I have tried to give considerable time and attention to each of the stories presented here. It includes repeated readings of the stories, and checking with a number of other works by each of the authors presented in translation, in order to understand their mind and message. An honest effort has been made to keep as close as possible to the tone and tenor of the source language, and to carry across in English, the linguistic flavour which is the proud and exclusive possession of a language. Some culture specific expressions like Ammi (mother), Abba (father), Dadajan (grandfather), Yar (friend), and Boha (a jammed door), are left untranslated, their meanings appearing at the bottom of the page.
These and other typically Urdu words and expressions appear in their original form to help the readers of other cultures understand and appreciate the stories, in their correct perspective and locale.
I have deliberately avoided a literal, or word for word translation. My belief is that the concept of metaphrase or formal equivalence is imperfect when it comes to the translation of a literary document. Perhaps, it is too obvious to assert, that a given word in a given language often carries more than one meaning. In the same way, a similar given meaning, may often be represented in a given language by more than one word. I have also desisted from paraphrasing the original text, because this would make the translated language too cumbersome and insipid.
My approach has been to look for the dynamic verbal equivalence in the target language, for the expressions used in the source language. Some words and expressions carry literary grace, in the source language. It would be an injury to the text to change them with an equivalent in the target language. At the same time it is quite unreasonable, sometimes nonsensical to limit them to the author's words. I have followed the golden rule of choosing words and expressions that do not spoil the sense, or change its tone and distinctive character.
However, due to shifts in ecological exclusivity of words, a seemingly equivalent word is sometimes a misleading guide to the implied meaning of a word in the source language. For example, the Urdu 'Basti' should not be confused with the English 'town' or 'city'. Basti can also mean, as it does in a few stories in this volume, a kind of not-so-developed surrounding, a township or locality inhabited by not-so advanced people.
The act of translation is an act of parallel creation. And the job of a translator is that of a bridge, for carrying values across cultures. The translator's role is, however, by no means a passive or perfunctory one. Dryden has compared him with an artist, asserting that "Translation is a type of drawing after life..." (see Reference)
The job of a translator is further confounded by the fact, that dictionaries or thesauruses do not always provide proper guidance. In his Essay on the Principles of Translation (1978), the British historian Alexander Tytler, stresses that persistent reading is a more comprehensive guide to a language than are dictionaries.
A translation can either be 'faithful' or 'transparent'. It can seldom be both. It can be faithful to the point of conveying the exact meaning of the original work. It can be transparent when it is able to make native speaker of the target language believe that the work has been originally written in his language. A good translation emerges out of a judicious blending of these two approaches.
I spent a year or so with the stories rendered in this collection. Sometimes one full day passed, and I couldn't move further than one sentence, and there were those exhilarating moments, when the act of translation seemed to be as easy as falling off a log. I lived with these stories during restless nights, and between regular intervals of eventless and eventful days. Yet all through the process of mind churning, I consciously strove not to hurt the creators of such compellingly brainstorming stories, vitiating the message they conveyed. And yet no translation is perfect as this too is not.
Send as free online greeting card
Email a Friend
Manage Wishlist