By Vatya Raina
What would it take for translation in India to grow from individual effort into an organised profession? Professor S.P. Ganguly, professor of Spanish and Latin American studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, took up this question as keynote speaker and panelist at Modlingua's 2009 conference on translation and the challenges faced by translators in India. His answer: organisational development, networking and leveraging collective strength.
The organisation gap in Indian translation
The most important question, Professor Ganguly argued, is how to get the field organised. India's translation community has long worked without strong institutions, infrastructure or a shared platform - a striking gap for a country with a written literary history stretching back centuries. What compensates for this gap is individual effort. Interpretation at major conferences has been provided by Indians working in modest conditions, and done fabulously. A decade or two ago, an organisation like Modlingua hosting a full conference on the translation industry would have been unthinkable; that it happens now is a sign of hope that initiatives like these can overcome the official weaknesses of the past.
Building institutions that respond to demand
Institutions can move when demand is communicated to them. JNU has been working to establish a postgraduate diploma course in interpretation and translation. Cultural institutes show what is possible: Instituto Cervantes has grown into an institution on the scale of Max Mueller Bhavan or Alliance Francaise, and newer institutes can take up new programmes quickly when they see real demand. If the translation community asks clearly, Professor Ganguly suggested, such institutes may well start programmes that serve it.
Translation as self-transformation
He closed with a larger thought. Dealing with translation means dealing with cultures, and engaging with another culture is never a mechanical activity. When translators negotiate the expressions of one culture into another, a transformation takes place within them - they become more responsible, more aware, better citizens. Practised consciously, translation is what philosophers and rishi-munis have always done, in our own way. Comparative study enriches both sides: reading Kabir alongside San Juan de la Cruz deepens the understanding of each. That awareness, he said, is the ultimate gain translation offers our civilization - and the part we most often miss.
Modlingua's international seminars and conferences for translators continue this work of building platforms where the community can organise, network and grow.
