Gained or lost in translation

KOCHI: ‘Kunjukaryangalude Odayathampuram’, the translation of the 1997 Booker Prize-winning novel, ‘God Of Small Things’ by Arundhati Roy which is creating ripples in the book market for the last few months now still retains its position as a brisk seller. The distinctiveness of the work, apart from the fact that it is of course a celebrated novel, is that it has been translated in the original language in which it is set. The novelist had created in the book a hybrid language of her own, combining English and Malayalam through the world-view of her young and linguistically innovative protagonists. Typically, this poses quite a challenge before the translator.Priya A S, the short story writer who translated the book says, “Translation is a strenuous task and drains you completely. It took me three years to complete the work and I am thankful that I am still sane,” she smiles. She says the approach towards translation has changed of late . In her childhood days she remembers reading several Malayalam adaptations of Bengali works which were of excellent quality. Now heaps of translated works hits the market everyday, but very few retain the quality of the original works. Translators commit grave mistakes. “Therefore generally people look down upon the recently translated works,” she views.Writer Sreekumari Ramachandran, who had translated Jane Austin’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and Ashwathi Thirunal Gouri Lakshmi Bayi’s ‘Glimpses of Kerala Culture’ agrees with Priya that translations are a dicey proposition and that mistakes do tend to happen a lot. She says, “The translator has to recreate the ambiance of the culture in which the book is set. Besides the publisher should give the translator the liberty to make changes he/she deems fit. Word-by-word translation will shed away the beauty of the work." She adds that in spite of the prevalent hiccups, translated works are mushrooming here.The translation of Czech novelist Milen Kundera’s Unbearable Lightness Of Being’ titled as ‘Uyiradayalangal’ by Sreedevi S Kartha, published by DC Books is finding several takers.  DC is the biggest publisher to translate foreign works.  It has released Malayalam translations of more than 25 foreign novels - to name a few, Pamuk’s ‘Istanbul’, ‘Kite Runner’ by Khaled Hosseini, ‘Fima’ by Amos Oz, ‘Sophie’s Worl’ by J Gaarder. “People are increasingly reading best-sellers from South American and Europe in their mother tongue. They are completely aware of  international authors and books and even those who cannot follow English go for Malayalam translations. Jijomon, of DC Books, Kurian Towers, says that contrary to popular idea that only the very educated read classics, he has many laymen who ask for these books, and read them in their mother-tongue. There are regular readers for the translations of ‘Anna Karenina’, ‘Piano Teacher’, ‘Les Miserables’. However, another bookseller, Latheef of Blossom Book Fair tells us that readers these days increasingly prefer to read classic works in English itself. Since the royalty period of the original ends after 60 years, several abridged versions hit the market. So readers have enough options. Another factor is the lack of attention span of the readers. They prefer Chetan Bhagat and Amish Tripathi since light reading is the present trend. Hence these books have more translations as well.  Latin American works have an evergreen market in Kerala. The translations of ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ published first in 1984, is into its 15th edition and ‘Love In The Time Of Cholera’ into its sixth.  The translations of ‘Feast Of The Goat’ and other works of Mario Vargas Llosa, the winner of 2010 Nobel Prize, are briskly being picked up as well. “The translation of ‘Alchemist’ of Paulo Coelho’s seems to be a perennial best seller, even after all these years. There is an average sale of five book per day” says Shyam of DC Books, Abad Nucleus Mall, Maradu. In fact, ‘Zaheer’, his other book has more readers in the translated version than the original.The other trend these days is to publish the original work and the translation together. The latest novel of award-winning Malayalam author Sarah Joseph will have an English version of it releasing simultaneously. Shyam says that self-help books are extremely popular here. Since there aren’t many native motivational writers in Kerala, the readers rely on the translated ones. Self-help books that are a hit include Shiv Khera  ‘You Can Win’ and Robin Sharma’s books like ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’ and ‘Leadership Wisdom.’ Joseph Murphy’s ‘Power of Subconscious mind’ and ‘How to Stop Worrying and Start Living’ by Dale Carnegie are some other translations which are doing very well.Though there is skepticism about the quality of the recent translated works, it is indeed appreciable that more and more foreign works have great  readership here. As Arundhati Roy puts it, literature must vault over cultural barriers and join people.