The Seven T’s of Translating Bangla Fiction into English Niaz Zaman Though we do not realize it, there has been a lot of translation in oe ae ato, Bangla rnd Bangla into English. Much Bangla-speakers have had twelve. yea om ek ave ha years of English education but generally lack competent target language skills necessary for literary translation. Why then do they persist in doing so? Either to get their own writings across to non-Bangla speakers or because they feel that some writer is so important that his or her writing should be presented in a world language. They often say, “If Tagore had not been translated into English, would he have won the Nobel Prize?” While native | Bangla-speakers are familiar with the subject matter of the text being » written and translated and have a good knowledge of the languag: spoken, from which they are tanslating (he saree fangnag), they often lack command of the language into which they are translating (We sarget en when they do have competent target Janguage). Furthermore, language skills, they lack the ear for the target language which is essential to all creative writers and translators. Often, because they are not familiar with the idioms of the target language, they transpose the different culture of the source text into 2 e when to metaph: ¥ the meaning, Moreover, when a Bangla spe or ranslate Herally and when they are not qui to translate into English, he or she is tempted to keep many of the or Bangla constructions to give a sense of the original Bangla words Generally, when tra rs of the source language, the texts read much more 1d by speakers of the source language. nslations are done by translators who are not native Auently than : speaker they did when they are translates the conference on “Connecting, sleutta University on Februaty ‘An early version of this : nslation and Texts," organized hy Culture: 24-26, 2010, at Kolkata. Scanned with CamScanner146 ‘Translation: Theory and Practice Translating from one European language into another or from one jer than translating from a Asian language into another is somewhat ¢ European language into an Asian one or from an Asian language to a European one. Despite differences, the cultural contexts are similar in the first case but different in the latter. Apart from cultural content, the rhythms of a language learned but not spoken are difficult to acquire well enough to write creatively in it or to use it for literary translation. The language must be, as Raja Rao said in another context in his foreword to Kanthapura, not just the language of the translator's “{ntellectual makeup” but also of his or her “emotional makeup.” It has often been said that one must have learned a language at one’s mother’s knee to be able to write creatively in that language or to translate into that language. While this is generally true, it does not automatically mean that a person who has learned the language at his or her mother’s knee can translate well into that language.! Some years ago, the Danish Embassy in Dhaka celebrated the birthday of Hans Christian Andersen. Several of the stories were given to famous Bangla writers to translate into Bangla. I wanted to buy a copy for my grandchildren, but, when I skimmed through the book, | found that the Bangla was formal, difficult Bangla, not at all the type of Bangla one associates with a fairy tale. Here it wasn’t a matter of not knowing the target language well but of realizing that the greatness of Andersen would have been served better had the text been translated into language similar to the language used for Bangla fairy tales. Perhaps the translators also felt that as “big” names, they couldn’t write in the language of children. Thus not only is it essential to know the source and target languages — though in this case the translators were working with an English translation rather than the original - but also to understand the audience for whom the text is being translated. However, this essay is about translating Bangla literary texts Into English. As 1 said at the beginning, much of the translation being done a number of writers who have refuted this: € the best known examples in wi akhawat Hu ' There Samuel Beckett Bengal, Roquiah seph Conrad and cn literature and in Scanned with CamScanner‘The Seven T's of Translating Bangla Fiction into English in Bangladesh has been by language creatively — and wh writing in English as a matter of course. Thus, they have neithe: grammatical skill nor the literary flair for translation. The © oe by Mahbubul Alam Akhand for } i great writers is typical of translators. What Akhand w: t read creative xcuL Bangla reading public as a stop-gap measure un proper knowledge and authority” came along to do Aowever, ev nti] someone “with so. ena translator with excellent command of both source and target languages hesitates when transhuing, Thos Syed Sajjad Husain noted his difficulty in translating Kazi Nazrul Islam's poem “The Rebel” and abridged the poem because he found much of it untranslateable, I found that a literal rendering would result in a version which would not only fail to convey the superb beauty of the paem but even expose it to the ridicuale of foreign readers not familiar either with the idiom of the Bengali language or with non-western mythology. (25) Since Hussain did his translation of Kazi Salman Rushdie, Shashi azrul Islam, writers like haroor and Chitra Banerjee Devakaruni among others have incorporated Indian mythology into fiction in English and they and other South Asian writ included Indian words and idioms into literature in English. Neverthe remain for translators.(There are a number of peculiarites in Bangla which make it inherently difficult to translate. 1 would like to suggest some ways to enable translators with a reasonable command of English sha ss, problems to improve their work. Ense chaps the foremost problem with any translator of Bar ay in this volume, fiction is Pe the tense. As Rimi B. Chatterjee notes in her "le he conventional literary tense in novel and story writing {8 In Bengali... Ir ‘ © literary tense is usually the simple present.” Jn English, however, the literary tense 18 U5 ¢ sir sen. Scanned with CamScanner148 Translation: Theory and Practic+ the past tense. Thus, translators who begin to translate @ story in the Present tense often move to the past tense as they go on. The problem is, however, that they do not go back and correct the tense. What I usually do — or tell my translaors to do — tense if the Story covers more than twenty-four hours. As Rimi B Chat Points out, translators who translate a Bangla literary text in terjee to an English present tense narrative might be technically correct but “they are not being true to the precept that the target text shold have validity as a Work of art in its own Fight” (30). However, writers are not always happy. Thus, for an anthology that I prepared a few years ago, Sabteena Ahmed used the past tense for the narrative because the story covered a fairly long period. However, Ahmed Mostofa Kamal, the writer, was unhappy. He commented in an e-mail to me: By the way, in Bangla, I usually use present indefinite tense, and sometimes past indefinite tense, but whole story has been translated in past form! It seemed to me slightly unusual as my w “of expressions, but it’s ok. I must respect the freedom of my translator. Rimi B. Chatterjee also notes (the perfect and the simple past. Many Be English, tend to use the past perfect simple past. Rimi B. Chatterjee give “Indians institnetively feel that the problem of confusing the past ngalis, when speaking or writng when they should be using the ‘Sa reason for this confusion: simple past is not strong enough to indicate that something happened before now” (30)_) In addition to these tense problems, problematic as well, For example, wl collection of stories by the future tense is often hen I was trying to put together a Selina Hossain, she sent me “His Beloved Island,” translated by Kabir Chowdhury. 1 noticed this I problem in thé following sentence: “And then when he would discover him in the cowshed, he would be happy inwardly, but outwardly he would go on scolding him.” The sentence was edited for publication, with “would” omitted. Corrected, the sentence read: “And then when he discovered him in the cowshed, he would be happy, but would continue to scold J him’"'(3). Scanned with CamScannerThe Seven T's of Translating Bangla Fiction into Enghsh 149 2.Tenoror Meaning ve. of verb Another problem related to verb use is the apparent absence of the verb in many Bangla sentences. Bangla fairy begin: “E& Raja. Tar saat rani tales, for example, often ” Literally these sentences translate as “ A king. His seven queens. a ” Thus many translators who want to be “true” to the original, leave out the verbs. While a sentence fragment in English is not completely taboo, these sentences in Bangla are not really fragments as the verb is clearly understood by the Bangla reader or audience. A good translator would supply the verb in English which the Bangla reader automatically supplies — along with tense. Thus, depending on whether the story takes place in the present or the past, in English the lines would read: “There is a king who has seven queens” or “Once upon a time, there was a king who had seven queens.” In other words, the meaning of the sentence is not incomplete to the Bangla reader.7] However, it is ‘not only the non-native English translator who might leave out the verb, but also the native English speaker who attempts to be “true to the original.” For example, in his translation of Syed Shamsul Haq’s “To Live the Fantasy,” Chyton B. Scely omits verbs becaus¢ they are not there in the original. We can almost read the Bangla sentences behind the fragments in English. ‘A peaceful, small town. But the tea shop where the local young Inside, ch table had its own topic of conversation, And men congregated opencd onto the main road to Dha constant clamor. words were hurled from one table in the direction of another. High-pitched music, blaring from a cassette. Waiters, constantly hassled. The owner’s thunderous roaring. A veritable stream — truck, bus, and scooter — flowed through the street. Horns blaring,(52) While fragments can be very effective in English, this p: injucnice to the Bangla story because in the original story the verbs are understood. The English reader expects sentences complete with verbs, ge does \ translator attempting to recreate the story withour concern for the ntences might have written the following: Bangla Scanned with CamScanner150 "Translation: Theory and Practice YO In was a peaceful, small town, but the tea shop, which opened onto the main road to Dhaka and where the local young men Each table had its own topic of congregated, was nol: conversation. And words were hurled from one table to another. High-pitched music blared from a cassette, Waiters rushed around; the owner roared thunderously. and scooters flowed through the street, horns blaring? A veritable stream of trucks, buses, 3. Tautology /po 21 Mion (While 2 Bangla sentence might frequently omit the verb, it might also add words that in ‘in English would be unnecessary. In Bangla for it is perfecily all right to say, “She mone mone bhablo,” literally translated as “He thought in bi mind.” In English, however, the Words “in his mind” are redundant)Similarly in Bangla, the word is given next to the year: 2010 sa, for example. In English, howe would not normally say “in the year 2010," but just “in 2010." ‘The word “year” is unnecessary. Similarly, in English, one would not say ippreciated and unloved.” Since it is quite heart that one’s feels unappre “Inside his heart, he felt ur ated and evident that it is inside one unlov He felt unappreciated “would be disloyal if these words were left out. But it is generally the translator who lacks sufficent exposure to fiction in the target language ist three words are unnecessary. Tt is cnough to state: nd unloved.” Many translators feel that they who has this problem. 4. Texture Bangla is a more emotional language than English. For example, when referring to the Pakistani soldiers fighting in 1971 in what was then East Pakistan, most wafers in Bangla would use the phrase “Aanadar bahini,” that is, the 3 How to translate this phr speakers with almost native English fluency es aiitiding forces, to refer to the Pakistani troops.~ 7 ¢ becomes a problem for even Bangle sentence in a Thus a translauon in progress of the memoirs of one of the sector Haq's story is anthologized in Contemporary Short Stories from Bangladesh without any revision of sentences. Scanned with CamScannerThe Seven T’s of Translating Bangla Fiction into English 151 commanders in the 1971 war read: “On the 25th of March the barbaric L-—— aggressor Pakistani armed forces began Filling Bengalis.” While editing the translation ~ which writers.ink later published — 1 advised the young tran: Intor to avoid adjectives and adverbs and allow the verb/action to convey the meaning. However, many Bangladeshis might feel that this sort of translation tones down the emotion of the original and might even be misconstrued as a deliberate whitewashing of aggression. 5. Terms One of the problems of a translator working with a language from 2 different culture is to find equivalent terms. Becayse of lifferent or cultural connotations, literal translattons are often unwieldy or don’t work. Some years ago, [was translating a short story by Mgkbula Manzoor. The story was about a young woman who was raped during 1971, betrayed by the man she loved, and consequently had to | village to work in the city, The ttle of the story was _“Kachripana.” meaning water hyacinth, To an English reader the hyacinth is a beautiful flower; for an educated reader who has read Greek we her mythology, the term carries suggestions of homosexual love? In Bangladesh, where this Leautiful flower floats on the riverways, clogeing them and becoming a nuisance, it is waste, unwanted rubbish. Therefore, instead of using “Hyacinth” for the title, 1 used the word “Flotsam,” to give the sense of something unwanted but also floating — as the protagonist is after what happens to her during the war. A good translator must also be aware that the target Innguage might have more terms of less than the source language for similar states of feeling, Even some translators who are creative writers can occasionally stumble. Thus the translator of Anis Choudhuty’s “The Call of Beauty” translates some lines in this fashion: “The girl came close to him and burst into laughter. She said, ‘Your appearance makes me want to laugh.” Bangla lx ashe.” The fact that the only one term for laugh: ———— 3 please see James E. Miller's discussion of the Hyacinth girl in 7: S. Eltor's Personal Wasteland (Philadelphia: The Pennsylavania University Press, 1977). Scanned with CamScanner152 Translation: Theory and Practice girl says that she wants to laugh suggests that she hasn't started laughing yet. The translator should have used the word “smiled” instead. On other occasions, depending on the context, a translator can use “grinned,” “chuckled,” “smirked.” 6. Transliteration / q{1e54~ There are al Bangla terms which do not have an equivalence in English. The attempt to eradicate cultural differences by substituting the nearest English equivalent often obliterates a cultural aspect. For example, in “His Beloved Island” by Selina Hossain referred to earlier, Kabir Chowdhury describes the protagonist going for a wash: “With his short rough towel on his shoulder, he would go to the tank and awash himself.” While on the one hand the translator uses “towel,” a word with which the English reader would be familiar, on the other ‘hand he uses the word “tank.” This word, to the English reader would be confusing because obviously the man would not be going to an armoured combat vehicle to have a wash. It would only be when he/she looked it up in a dicrionary for other uses of the term that the Indian usage would be clear: an artificial lake or reservoir of any size My suggestion was to use both an unfamiliar word, because of its cultural connotation, as well as a word familiar to an English-reading audience. Thus, instead of the familiar term “towel,” [ suggested retaining the unfamiliar Bangla word gamcbha,s which does not resemble _a towel in the least, and to use the familiar word “pond” instead of “tank.” Thus, in place of the original translation I suggested this sentence: “With his coarse gancbha on his shoulder, he would go to the pond and have a wash"(3). Gamhha, like sari, does not translate into English. A length of coarse, checked cloth, the gambha is used to wipe the body after a bath, to tie around one’s head like a bandana, to drape round one’s neck to wipe off sweat, and even to catch fish when rivers overflow their banks.6 The towel does not serve all these purposes re ———— 4 See Wikipedia. Accessed January 27, 2010. 5 Many Indian and Bangla words are found on the internet, among them gamehha, with its variations in other parts of India. © In Assam, where it is referred to as gamosa, it is generally a white rectangular piece of cloth with primarily a red border on three sides and red woven motifs on the fourth. Its offered ceremonially to guests. Scanned with CamScanner‘The Seven T's of Translating Bangla Fiction into English 153 though in India and Bangladesh it is used for a number of purposes other than wiping the body.’ What about other unfamiliar terms which are not found on the internet? Anchal — meaning the loose end of a sari — for example, is not on the internet. Like the gamebba, the term has several connotations. It is technically, the loose end of a sari that a woman throws over her shoulder. But it also means the protection that the mother gives her child when she wraps him or her in her anchal And while a modern woman might throw the ancha/ over her shoulder, an older woman oF a newly married woman would use the anchal to cover her head. Instead of sropaling to find different equivalences ane fling, 1 wool suggest using the Bangla term ‘what it isthe first time one uses we Among other problems that a translator translating 1 Bangla novel might have are the several kinship terms which Bangla has in common cr Indian languages. Thus the word “aunt” in English can be nala/ mashi,_phupn/ pishi, sbachi/ kaki depending on whether the speaker 1s Hindu or Muslim and whether the aunt is married to the mother’s brother, is the mother’s sister, the father’s sister, or married to the father’s brother. However, in the western districts of Bangladesh such as Jessore, even Muslim families use the “Hindu” terms. Furthermore, there can be several aunts ~ designated by thetr birth or marital position such as bore, myo, chhoto. For the native Bangla sential to preserve the relationship as well as the translator, It seems status of the aunt in question. Thus a translator might use the phrase “Eldest Maternal Aunt.” Using this term every time becomes unwieldy. My suggestion is to transliterate? the Bangla term — Boro Khala — and _ 7 Among the varied uses of the towel in Bangladesh and India are as \wrappers for small babies and as antimacassars for chair backs. ; ® There are some translators who do not approve of using SL terms, but it is better to use them than to create absurdities. 9 There is no perfect or ideal system. While many us Congres sm, the use of the letter “e™ for the “k sound appears illogical. Apart from how to distinguish between the three letter there is also the problem of how to distinguish the Bangla letter “au” from the Library of Scanned with CamScanner154 Translation: Theory and Practice esplain the term in parenthetical commas. Subsequently, one could simply use the Bangla term. Jie Lanning ab unit sort antl 2 w Hho ang saaansitey gle 7. Tension 9, vin lies For want of a better word, 1 refer to ‘the diserépancies and Inconsi: tencies that sometimes exist in the original = partly because of the mood the writer wishes to create = as tension. Being a translator is often much more difficult than being the orginal writer, One has to get into the text, be as faithful to the text as possible, and be faithful to the “reality” the original author creates in the text. Because Bangla writers have not been brought up with Bangla 101 and Bangla 102, there is [often a casualness aboitt paragraph and structure that writers who have been tatight to edit and revise in English 101 and English 102 do not have. While this looseness is often accepted by readers of B: ngla texts, readers of English books want order and precision.) "Furthermore, most Bangla writers still write by hand and submit their work to the compositor to Compose ~ who will, of course, do it mechanically. Thus they do not revise their work as do writers who type oF, use computers themselves. This results in tensions within the text which often come to light when a translator its down with the te: This is something that has happened frequently enough for me to suggest that translators be careful when working. While editing 2 story by Salcha Choudhury which was to be included in Malt Lines, | realized that there was a discrepancy in the time of the story. The Story is set in the month of Bhadra — August to September ~ when the weather in Bangladesh is hot and humid But somewhere along the wi Y, the writer wanted to convey the discomfort suffered by the fleeing group of people. In doing 0, she quite forgot the ume when the narrative began. Perhaps she was thinking about December when the war ended ~ bat in the story the war has not ended, The translator, faithful to the text, did not note th $ discrepancy. Tt was much Inter while editing the piece that I noted it. A change was subsequently made after discussing the proble m with the writer. the Bangla letter “ would suggest using in “father” Some Writers us ~ except for well ‘aa” for the latter; | Known words such as “sari. Scanned with CamScanner‘The Seven T's of Translating Bangla Fiction into English 155 Other writers have similar problems. For example, while translating one of the stories by Selina Hossain, simply titled “Ponchas” or “Fifty” _in_the original, but “The Fifucth Year” in the translated version, _Sabreena Ahmed noticed a discrepancy. The story begins with an elderly man slipping out of the house while his daughter-in-law is busy _in the kitchen. Later, the same daughter-in-law is decribed as being at her mother’s place because she is about to have a baby. But a few lines later the grandchildren are mentioned as having grown up. Noticing this discrepancy, Sabreena highlighted it when she e-mailed her translation to me. 1 managed to discuss the issue with the writer and we removed the discrepancies. Hopefully, if Selina Hossain includes her original Bangla story in some other anthology, she will remove the discrepancy. a oO “Sometimes a translator wants to explain something which is obvious in Bangla but not in English. Thus in Sclina Hossain’s story, “Durokom Juddba,” the protagonist hears people talking in Urdu." When the story was translated, the translator felt that she had to explain that the language spoken by the soldiers was different from that spoken by the protagonist — as in an English translation there would be no way of knowing the language spoken. Translating with an Indian reader in mind, the tanslator writes that they spoke in Hindi — which is not very dissimilar to Urdu. When I included/the story in Fault Lines, | amended this line after discussion with the translator. “The native-Bangla speaker when translating from Bangla to English perhaps feels the emotional attachment to his/her language that Viadimir.Nabokoy reveals in his essay, “Problems of ‘Translation: ‘Onegin’ in English.” But the method Nabokov recommends - “translations with copious footnotes, footnotes reaching up like (83) = is very unwieldy, The, thful to the test being translated skyscrapers to the top of this or that page st thread a thin line: be_ but also make the translation into a piece of creative writing that_can_ sand on its own. Every word in the Bangla version, every construction, gannot appear in the Lnglish one. Translation ts both a job to be done wellanda passion, Without both skill and passion, the translator cannot succeed. ain ‘ aaa W The soldiers would not have spoken in Urdu, but more likely in Purjabs. Scanned with CamScanner