“Writers make national literature, while translators make universal literature.” – José Saramago
CHENNAI: In a country that boasts over 100 languages among its masses, there’s no dearth of such universal literature creators. While recognition and remuneration can be fickle, things have slowly changed for the better over the past few years, it seems. Given the many regional and international works that have been made available to the local audience be it the Antoine de Saint- Exupéry in Tamil or Chudamani’s stories in English. Along came the pandemic and, surprisingly, it only seems to have furthered the prospects for translated works, bringing in more opportunities even amidst such turbulent times.
Transcending horizons
Two of Nandini Krishnan’s translated works Estuary and Four Strokes of Luck both by writer Perumal Murugan, were released in a pandemic- struck world. “I’m not a professional translator. The offer to translate Perumal Murugan’s books was serendipitous,” she says. She’s been a part of several online literature festivals alongside Perumal Murugan during the lockdown and there seem to be more in the works.
P Raja, former professor at Kanchi Mamunivar Centre for Postgraduate Studies & Research, Puducherry, and bi-lingual writer, is currently translating a collection of Tamil erotic folk tales for Aleph Book Company, Delhi. This was after they recently added his translation of Subramaniya Bharathi’s short story (Kaakkai mozhi katra kathai) to their compilation of The Great Tamil Short Stories. All this work when at a time, he says, he’s retired from the job. Professor Gnanasekaran has his hands full with the translation of the social history of a political party and a collection of moral stories for children.
Besides literary and academic works, Uma Shakti, writer and translator, points out that the lockdown has widened the job prospects of a translator. “Corporates and advertisers are scouting for freelance translators who can dabble with multiple projects and they are paying well. I’ve been seeing so many ads in newspapers and that’s encouraging. There’s also demand for translating self-help books and classics. As much as the pandemic has increased the readership, it has also given translators the time to hone their skills. Overall, it has been favourable to us,” notes Uma, who has translated many poems and short stories.
Raam Murali says this boom isn’t limited to the traditional verticals of translation. “Postpandemic, many avenues have opened up in companies that offer multilingual content translation services. That’s a great place to consider if you want to take up translation as a fullfledged and sustainable profession,” he assures.
Shifting scapes
All this, in part, seems to have been made possible with the increased interest in regional content. While this might not seem like big news, its significance reaches deeper when you realise that translations academic or otherwise were once the domain of newspapers, journals and magazines. Raja brought out 22 issues of the magazine Transfire that was dedicated to works of translations. His experience with the Sahitya Akademic Publications and the English Board of the Puducherry University allowed him to meet several writers from all parts of the country and brought their works to the Tamil audience.
Veteran writer and Sahitya Akademi Award winner Kurinji Velan has been keeping up his end of the bargain through the quarterly magazine Thisai Ettum, besides the number of Malayalam-Tamil novels he’s made a reality. Lakshmi Viswanathan, a translator with 20 years of experience, offers a slice of the past in the world of translations. “Things were different back then. Work would be commissioned to me and I did not have options to choose from. Most of the books I translated were self-help and non-fiction. One reason for my envy of my daughter Meera Ravishankar, a writer with a decade of work and 20 translations to her name is fiction books. I often feel that many good books and classics that could have been translated, are sleeping on the shelves.
Our market believes in best-sellers rather than quality books. Books get translated based on the need of the hour, and not the content. This is the reason why we miss out on classics.” When the ‘need of the hour’ is often dictated by mass consumption and popular media, the scope of what gets translated might remain small and unidimensional. It is a wonder, then, that it took years for the works of writers like Bama and Paul Chirakkarode to reach anyone outside the local audience. It is also why there are still many works of Bharathiyar and Periyar that still await translation.
Concurring with her mother’s thoughts, Meera adds, “Recently, veteran Tamil writer Ki Rajanarayanan passed away. For a legend of his times, how many of his works are translated and made available to this generation of readers? If that’s the plight of a Sahitya Akademi winner’s works then it’s a sorry state of affairs. Another instance is when I happened to attend the book review meeting of Cho Dharman’s Koogai. The way he explained the nuances impressed me so much that I wanted to translate the book but there were no takers. After he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for his book Sool in 2019, there was a sudden demand for translation of his work. So, it takes that big a recognition for a work to be translated. Unless the translator has the backing of a publisher, it’s not often that hidden treasures in Tamil literature get translated into other languages.”
The toil of it all
While the advantage of such a situation is that there is no dearth of work, there’s still a long way to go with the quality of the content, says Meera. Uma chimes in, pointing out that the problems at the grassroots remain unaddressed. “We are still not given due credits and unrealistic deadlines are set. You are paid per word or per page. We need more youngsters to step up and pursue this field. But, the uncertainty of work doesn’t qualify it as a fulltime profession. Like a majority of other areas, here again, men tend to dominate in number. I’m seeing many freelancers and senior citizens who are taking up this as part-time work after retirement,” she notes, adding that it takes away from the opportunities available to young translators like herself.
Raja suggests that not many young people are keen on taking up this work. Of all his students at the university and the magazine, only a few turn out to be interested in the work and good at it as well. And, in his experience at least, even these writers particularly women remain constrained by familial duties and responsibilities, taking up work only when their personal commitments do not stand in the way, he surmises. And there’s little recognition to how much work goes into every translation, points out Raam.
He’s translated many cinema-related essays, short stories, books and interviews from English to Tamil. “Every book has a distinct approach depending on the content, the writer and time period when it was published. I’m currently working on director Satyajit Ray’s biography. The book has been translated from Bengali to English first and now I’m working on the Tamil version titled Kuzhandhai Paruva Natkal. It’s been a work in progress for over seven years. I’ve been watching his films, interviews, reading up on his works and all things possible to understand the man’s philosophy, tone and thought process. Translating is tougher than writing the original piece itself because there’s an additional responsibility to reproduce it factually. There are also critics who examine every page with an eagle’s eye to find faults with the work. Instead of appreciating the tough job, they trivialise it,” he notes.
The way ahead
That’s partly why Nandini calls for an overhaul of the entire publishing industry. “Authors and translators must be paid better, which means books need to be priced higher. The average price of books has barely changed in the past 20 years. And naturally, the publishing industry needs to find a way to dismantle book piracy, particularly with eBooks.”
With the traditional way of publishing books and magazines clearly not being able to keep up with the changing times, Kurinji Velan says we must focus more on digital prospects. “Barely 10 per cent of people translating works from and into Tamil are in the digital space. This way, there are a lot of opportunities that pass them by. It’s because we are reliant on presses that we haven’t been able to bring out this quarter’s edition of Thisai Ettum.
So, we might combine this edition and the next for the coming quarter. Unless we return to normal life, we cannot resume magazine activities. For a small publication like us, this is a big blow,” he says, pointing out that a digital presence would have helped them circumvent this crisis. Gnanasekaran points out that this dependence is why young translators who already struggle to get quality work find it even more difficult to sustain their work during the pandemic.
Meera, who was conferred the Tamil Nadu State Award in January 2021, says recognition too doesn’t come easily. All through translation history, it is not uncommon to have the work published without the translator ever being acknowledged. “Recognising us with awards is by far the biggest achievement the industry has witnessed. In the last two years, with bloggers and bibliophiles actively discussing and reviewing regional language on social media, translated books have been brought under the spotlight and that’s good visibility for us. Hope we soon have a platform to interact with readers, get their feedback and spread awareness about translated versions.
Similar to Kamal Haasan’s book recommendations in Bigg Boss, we need a powerful voice to bring out a list of books that deserve to be translated. Compared to other vernacular languages, the Tamil publishing industry has a great scope with its patronage spilled over in many foreign countries. There are potential translators given a good remuneration, bilingually proficient editors and time — who can do a commendable job. Even if MPhil and PhD students take up contemporary translated works as thesis, they may be exposed to works in other languages and may even consider taking up translation as a career option,” she suggests.
It is because of translations that Bama’s Karukku and Pundalik Naik’s Upheaval became prescribed texts in universities across the country. Uma is glad that numerous foreign language books are available in Tamil. “We have many efficient translators who can be called mentors to aspirants like me. It’s because of them that we have access to Haruki Murakami and Orhan Pamuk. The beauty of a good translation lies in how effortlessly the story flows. We have so much to learn. Workshops and courses on translation can also identify talented people and bring them to the forefront,” she offers. Now is as good a time as any to start, it seems.
Who’s going to take up the baton?
Veteran translators seem concerned that not many young people are keen on taking up this work. Particularly women remain constrained by familial duties and responsibilities.
Translators, young and old, from Tamil Nadu, discuss how much the business has changed over the years, the problems that remain untouched and the growing opportunities that have come their way despite the pandemic