By Sakina Motorwala
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icgbYQKhtp0
Professor Roger T. Bell, author of the landmark translation studies textbook "Translation and Translating: Theory and Practice", visited India in 2009 as the first recipient of the Rambriksh Benipuri Award in the translation category. In this one-to-one conversation with Kundan Khan, he spoke about what India gives the translation world - and what the translation world still owes its professionals.
Why national translation associations matter
Asked about the Indian Translation Association (ITA) and its growing association with FIT, the International Federation of Translators, Professor Bell was direct: the association would not exist without Ravi Kumar's persistence, and its formation was "not before time". Translators and interpreters need national bodies in every country, and in India - with its many languages and growing international connections - such a body should have existed long ago.
A "motor" for the translation profession
In his presentation "Motor for a Translator", Professor Bell borrowed from medicine: Britain's doctors have the General Medical Council and a clear professional motor - caring for patients and guiding doctors. Translation, he proposed, needs an equivalent, which he framed as PEG: protecting clients, educating translators and guiding the profession. The point is both the outward responsibility toward clients and the inward duty of care every professional carries. He deliberately chose the comparison with doctors and lawyers to provoke a discussion: should translators see themselves the same way?
The "translation instinct" of Indians
On the idea that every Indian carries a translation instinct, he was careful with the word "instinct", which suggests something genetic. The nature-nurture question is hard to test. But something real exists, and it may go back to a simple policy: the three-language formula adopted after 1947. Sixty years later, India has two or three generations of people who are bilingual or trilingual and think nothing of it - a situation he could not find anywhere else in the world. Bilingualism is a necessary but not sufficient condition for becoming a translator, interpreter or language teacher. By contrast, Britain is probably the most linguistically heterogeneous community in Europe while believing itself monolingual - a bizarre situation that shrinks the pool from which language professionals can be trained.
Lessons from Malaysia's language mosaic
Professor Bell also reflected on years in Malaysia. Peninsular Malaysia is home to Malays (about 60%), Chinese (about 30%) and a largely South Indian, mostly Tamil community - each with its own schooling arrangements. Chinese-medium schools teach in Mandarin though the community speaks Cantonese and Hokkien at home, a gap he compared to teaching French to children who speak Italian at home. Indians there hold a strong position in English language teaching and in law. East Malaysia - Sabah and Sarawak - is different again: dozens of speech communities with often unrelated languages, where rivers are still the main roads.
Indian English, European English
On whether "Indian English" is now an accepted term, he turned the question around: can we talk about European English? Probably yes - educated younger Europeans increasingly operate in English, pop culture runs on English, and a distinctly European English is evolving alongside American English. The serious point behind the provocation: new English varieties are emerging wherever the language takes root, and India's is among the most established.
The full interview is in the video above. Modlingua's research initiatives continue bringing conversations like this to the translation community.
