Translation an art or a skill?
Translation of words and text from one language to another can be defined as translation. Today people all around the world are learning different languages to become professional translators. Translation requires two languages and one should have ample knowledge of both languages to start the process of translation. But the question here is that can anyone translate or is it a skill that they have to acquire?
In western countries and cultures Translation means simply translating the words from a source language to the target language. It does not involve the interpretation of the source text into a simple, easy language that could be understandable to everyone, it just includes the change in the language. The meaning of the word is not changed, there is no interpretation of the difficult words and the text is not simplified by the translator. Here the person with the knowledge of both the language and translation does this with attention and tries to use the words that resemble the same meaning as the source language when translating it into the target language. In today's world, the process of translation is becoming more and more popular due to globalization and many individuals choose it as a profession and learn it as a skill to become a professional translator one day. We have many institutes that give training and courses where one can learn how to translate. And while I learn a foreign language for my bachelor's, I also learn about translation at my university. There are a set of procedure and rules that one has to learn and follow while translating to make it a perfect piece. The professional translators might use technological instruments and a set of rules to do the translation and the learn for experience make his or her work better as they polish their skill through practice.
The translator should have the skill to translate a text and in this context, the translation can be called a skill as it requires learning the basics and practicing them while translating. In India, we come from a rich mythological background where there was a tradition to orally pass on the knowledge, and the writer used to write it in their words. The guru used to provide the teaching to their students orally and the old mythological tales were also written by the munis and sadhus in the ancient languages and dialects. These texts were written in Sanskrit and ancient dialects which were popular in those times and can be hardly understood by people today. These include the Ramayana, Mahabharata different Upanishad, and Puranas. Eventually, when people found out the old texts and the traditional books and manuscripts they wanted to read those texts and they wanted to enlighten the common people with the culture and history of Indian mythology all around the world. All these texts are literary texts and when a person tries to translate them into a language they have more room to become creative.
The old mythological books have been interpreted and translated by many people and one can find different translations every time it is done by a new individual. These literary texts hold an ample amount of information, learnings, and teachings, and they are complex creations. So, when an individual tries to translate these texts they create a new text which has an easy, simplified version, as well as the concepts, and are translated and given new meaning and understanding to the texts. The translated version can have a deeper understanding of the text as well as the translator might come up with a meaning which others have not found in the text yet. The translator tends to not only translate these literary texts in a new language but also decipher the meaning of the text as per their interpretation, thus such texts have been translated into different meanings by many individuals as it provides room for being more creative. This way process here becomes an art and the translator becomes an artist as he or she tries to translate a literary text. When translating literary texts one has to use artistic abilities and think to an extent where the interpretation makes sense and makes it understandable to the readers. We can see here that the process of translation can be dynamic, become more complex and artistic when translating a literary text, and also become a disciplined task with a set of procedures and skills when translating a non-literary text.
