Rejuvenating translation

There will be a major shift in the understanding of translation in a few decades, stressed eminent scholar-activist Prof Ganesh Devy, while delivering the keynote address at the ‘Seminar on Translating Cultures,’ organised by the School of Translation Studies and Training (SOTST) on February 17-18.

“If, at present, translation is ‘anuvaad’, that which follows the original, with the World Wide Web, the original and translation are going to be made available simultaneously. This will change the way we look at translation,” Prof Devy added.

The seminar was inaugurated by Vice Chancellor Prof V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, who highlighted the positive efforts being undertaken by SOTST through its various programmes as well as projects in the North-East to make the indigenous knowledge systems of the area available in other languages. Pro-VC Prof P.R. Ramanujam suggested that there are no hierarchies among the languages of India.

In his keynote address, Prof Indranath Chaudhuri, former secretary, Sahitya Akademi, traced the evolution of translation theory from early days to the present.

The seminar had six sessions, wherein a total of 15 scholars presented their papers on the theme. The scholars were: Rukmini Bhaya Nair, Saugata Bhaduri, H.S. Shivaprakash, A.R. Venkatachalapathy, P. Udayakumar, Anisur Rahman, Sachidananda Mohanty, P.P. Ravindran, Anamika, Sukrita Paul Kumar, Sreedevi K. Nair, Naseeb Khan, Aruna Chakravarty, Dileep Jhaveri and Rizio Raj.

SOTST Director Prof K. Satchidanandan delivered the welcome address and presented the theoretical and intellectual context in which the seminar was organised. It concluded with a vote of thanks by Prof Rajender Prasad Pandey, Associate Professor, SOTST.