Executive summary of the speech by Late Joginder Singh, former CBI Chief

By Smita Shenoy and Anjali 

Communication is key and the translation is the path to proper communication: this was the gist of the speech given by Mr. Joginder Singh on 16 December 2010. By sharing hilarious anecdotes and narrating his life-changing experiences, the former CBI Chief asserted the importance of translation in today’s world. He began by confessing that he had initially been reluctant to accept Mr Ravi Kumar’s invitation to address guests at the Translators’ Association as he was not a technical person. However, Ravi ji’s persuasion made Mr. Singh reflect on the topic and he realized that translation plays a vital role in every aspect of life — be it religion, education, politics, or asking for a cup of tea.

We all make mistakes. And mistakes are more prominent when we learn a foreign language or try to communicate in one. However, do people in high bureaucratic positions also come across language barriers which unknowingly may turn out to be humorously rewarding for language learners. In this video, Shri Joginder Singh Ex-CBI Chief recalls one such incident when he led a delegation to Indonesia.

Like every Indian Mr Singh enjoys his cup of tea with milk, but it so happened that in Indonesia a hotelier brought him a cup of black tea. When Mr. Singh instead order a tea with milk in English the poor hotelier didn’t understand the language till an Englishman who happened to speak Indonesian conveyed him the order in the local language.

Now the intention of describing this incidence in detail is not to embarrass Mr. Singh but to acknowledge the generosity he has shown by recalling his own humorous moments in order to encourage translators and to appreciate the role of languages. Another motive to elaborate on this incidence is to bring the attention of the readers on the role of specific cultural associations. In Indonesia milk, is describes as susu, whereas in Hindi susu means urine. So when an Indian who speaks Hindi says in Indonesian that he wants tea with susu, the associations he has with the word will be completely different to that of a local person speaking the same language, although they both understand that the object being referred to here is milk. This small experience makes us realise that   translation is not merely a process of rendering one word to another language but we have to keep in mind the association with a words carries with it because in some cases if we fail to convey the meaning beyond the semantic level we are depriving the readers of the target language with what a word feels like in the original sense.

Mr. Singh noted that countries like the UK and the USA with a predominantly single-language culture may not appreciate the hurdles that have to be overcome in India, where a multitude of languages is spoken. He said that English was one of the unifying factors in a country with such rich diversity. Recalling his visit to Iran in 1973 with former Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr Gundu Rao, he said that the then Iranian minister had been surprised to see the two Indians converse in English instead of their mother tongue. Mr. Singh had explained that as their mother tongues were different, English was the common language. 

Mr. Singh realized the importance of communication right from the time he was posted as a young IPS officer in Karnataka (then Mysore). As his work made him mingle with the locals, he had to work hard at overcoming the linguistic and cultural barriers. It made him appreciate the value of translation.

This life lesson was further strengthened through spirituality. After years of trying and failing to understand the Gita and the Guru Granth Sahib in their original versions, Mr. Singh acknowledged that he imbibed the essence of these books only when he read their translated versions.

Even the amusing anecdotes he narrated contained the underlying message that translation is key to communication. Be it his Parsi professor who learnt to say ‘same to you’ to the students who used abusive language against him, or the Englishman in Indonesia who helpfully told a tea vendor that Mr. Singh wanted his tea with susu (milk) — translation was the hero that saved the day.

His newspaper columns garnered appreciation in certain parts of India and ridicule in others — all because his articles, originally written in English, probably got diluted or modified when translated into Hindi, and were received differently in different regions.

After having the audience in splits, he deftly shifted the focus from personal to global by reiterating that even the United Nations would not probably exist in its current form if there were no translators. He concluded by saying that translation is vital for meaningful communication.      

Through platforms like Modlingua’s youtube channel, this becomes possible as young interns are exposed to guest lectures by reputed persons from different fields, which motivates them to keep learning further. The conceptual understanding of the specific phenomenon in translation, for example, the role of culture is not only shaped by articles available on Modlingua website but also given a parallel dimension by lectures like these. To further supplement the understanding of the role played by culture in translation I would like to recommend the article Translating Culture Vs Cultural Translation written by our director Mr. Ravi Kumar. Please click the link http://www.modlingua.com/research/1070-translating-culture-vs-cultural-translation.html to access it.