Is translation possible?

 Is translation possible? Oui et non, peut-être, as the Frenchies would put it. Let us translate that to begin with. Literally, it is the French version of 'yes and no, can be'. Does the English version catch the French philosophical doubt? Yes-n-no, may be!

Yes, indeed, translation is a unique process. It is necessary, in fact, inevitable, and yet incomplete in its fullness. Do you think I am playing with words? Try translating recipes. The translation would always make you feel 'some' ingredient is missing.

Languages, like recipes, are rooted in a culture, in a way of being,in a mode of becoming, in a manner of thinking. Hence no word to word, literal translation can cut the gordian knot. It has to be trans-lation, that is, carrying the feel across. 

At times, in this process, the word power alone would not be enough. As it is, in the process of translation, vocabulary and syntax change drastically. Look at the French And Spanish version of "what is your Name?". It is " comment tu t'appelles?" and "cómo te llamas?" respectively. In English, however, the honorific  you, the "aap", is missing, without which the French or Spanish feel is impossible. The French and Spanish version incidentally mean "how do you call yourself?", which sounds crazy in English. Much worse would be the answer to this question in Japanese. It is " namae was Pratima desu", wherein, as you must have noted, the I-me-mine reference is missing, given the Japanese humility, belief in not talking about self, and the need to be listener-centered!

Yet, translation has made wor(l)ds possible.  Despite the British colonialism, for example, it was the translation of the Vedas and the Sanskrit literature by German scholars that made Europe realise the unique lyrical deep power of Indianness. 

Translation, including transliteration, is possible, is inevitable so much so that the computer world, the digital technology is interested n it. AI is making MT a reality. Translated in to  the non-geeky, non-mobile-abbreviation 'norm-al' English, it can be translated as "artificial intelligence is making machine translation...", blah, blah literally. Long live translations if all varieties, in the English motherland as well as the German " Vaterland"!

Pratima@ words make worlds