Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Power of individual languages

I did texts which were translated from their original languages to English, as an undergraduate, for easier accessibility to and universality in the world. There were Arundhati Roy's God of Small Things from India and Henrik Ibsen's plays from Norway among others.

The fear that the true meanings conveyed by the authors may be lost in the process of translation, is a very real one. Originality and authenticity are thus compromised.

This year's Commonwealth Essay Competition produced an essay by our very own Singaporean girl. She included this topic in it. She has Bengali roots and is fluent in English as well. She mentioned that when the Bengali songs she listens to are translated into English for wider audience appreciation, "the meanings of the lyrics can never penetrate and they lose their identity."

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