By Rusa Bhowmik
The concept of translation is beautiful and tricky at the same time. It is a process of keeping thoughts and ideas intact while changing the language - from the source language to the target language. New things get added or lost in the procedure, and the job is to keep the essence intact during the transformation. That is why particular texts are harder to translate: in a cultural or religious context, it is difficult for a translator to grasp the notion. The key to a successful translation is detailed information and extensive knowledge.
A short history of translated texts
This concept of written transmission is found in different cultures across the world today, and bestselling books get translated into over fifty languages. Historically, literary texts came to be translated much later in the scholastic segment, probably centuries after the first translations began. The earliest translations were a religious and cultural endeavor: scriptures were translated into neighboring languages to spread the word. Later, this notion expanded to philosophical treatises and scientific works.
Word-to-word vs literary translation
Translation has developed over time into various forms, and the most popular and debatable are word-to-word translation and literary translation. Anyone who relates to translation work knows word-to-word translation doesn't hold value over literary translation. As attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche, "It is neither the best nor the worst things in a book that defy translation." If word-to-word translation were an asset, translating poetry or philosophical musings would not lead to so many interpretations and misinterpretations of the identical text - variations often caused by the different levels of understanding of translators.
Loanwords, calques, and the untranslatable
Loanwords and calques are widespread features when translating from a source language to a target language. Simple words are accepted in target languages with little or no change, like "coffee" and "chocolate", and the skyscraper has its own translated version in almost every language. But these are ubiquitous in the modern world. It becomes challenging when a feature is limited to one culture or language and needs translation into a language of a starkly different culture. Words ranging from literature to philosophy - "hiraeth" in Welsh, "angst" and "wanderlust" from German, "darsana" in Sanskrit, "epoche" in Greek - are often left intact after many trials of mistranslation. They are rendered untranslatable and coined as they are in most cases.
Why sense wins over word
Interpretation depends on context: the meaning or essence of a word emerges once the context is clear. Without context, word-to-word translation holds no significance and does the text an injustice. The best way is to absorb the essence of the word referred to in context and reflect it in the translated version. Literary translation holds the ground here - instead of word-to-word, it functions as sense-to-sense translation and serves the purpose, staying nearest to the original form in most cases by obeying and accommodating the essence in its real form.
