The Theme of Concealment in William Jones' Sacontala

Socontala is a play translated by William Jones in English.

Abhijnanasakuntalam, a play written by Kalidasa, is one of the masterpieces of world literature. It is thrilling love story of the exquisitely beautiful Shakuntala and the mighty king Dushyanta. Dushyanta is the hero of the play. He possesses almost all the qualities of a brave and nobel minded hero. Dushyanta was the founder of the Puru Dynasty. He was the ruler of a great empire. He was a powerful king and his subjects were happy and prosperous under his rule. King Dushyanta loved hunting. Once, while hunting in a forest , Dushyanta happens to meet Shakuntala, a beautiful young lady living in a hermitage. He falls in love with Shakuntala, and is enthralled to find that she is attracted to him in the same manner.

The first Act begins with the description of the summer season by the narrator (Sutradhar). He also introduces king Dushyanta. Then king Dushyanta chasing a deer, enters the ashram of the sage Kanva in his Chariot. The king aims at the deer but a monk restricts him to hunt in the premises of sage Kanva.

 In Sacontala, the theme of concealment becomes evident in Act 1 itself when Duhsyanta takes off his royal garments and weapons on entering the Hermitage of Kanva. Even

though he undertakes this action as a sign of respect for the sacred space,

it allows him to take off the mask of a king and conceal his real identity. He

introduces himself to Shakuntala as a court official out inspecting the penance

grooves. This deception makes space for a much more relaxed interaction

between Duhsyanta and Shakuntala and her companions, without the strict rules

of engagement mandated for royals. Literally throwing off the mantle of his

kingship, Duhsyanta presents himself as a man first and Shakuntala is attracted

to this noble court official at first. When Duhsyanta comes again to woo her,

he can no longer hide his true identity as he is performing his kingly duty of

protecting the Hermitage from demons.

The second act of concealment occurs in Act II when Duhsyanta is urgently

called by his mother to the Royal Palace. He is torn between his duty towards

his mother and his kingdom, and his desire to see Shakuntala again. The dilemma

is solved when the ascetics’ request his help. As he sends Madhavya in his

stead to the capital city, he tells Madhavya that he is staying back to do his

duty towards these ascetics and not out of his desire for Shakuntala. He further

tells his friend to consider all he said about Shakuntala as a joke. Duhsyanta

therefore, conceals his true feelings for Shakuntala as well as his reason for

staying back at the Hermitage. This concealment creates a sense of foreboding

in the play as it allows their marriage to be a secret from everyone outside

the Hermitage and therefore, there are no witnesses who can support Shakuntala

when she comes to the Royal Court.

The next concealment takes place in Act III when a lovesick Shakuntala writes

a love letter to Duhsyanta. The problem, however, is its delivery since Duhsyanta

is busy protecting the ascetics in their ritual. It is Priyamvada who devices

a plan to disguise the letter with other offerings for the ritual, thus allowing her

to give it to Duhsyanta. Duhsanta’s timely appearance saves them from

actualising the plan. This event again points to the incongruity of love’s

actualisation in the hermitage, where such actions don’t sit well with a holy space

established on abstinence and austerity.

In the same act we see one of the most important scenes of concealment.

Shakuntala is so disheartened and distracted by the thoughts of Duhsyanta that

she unknowingly angers the sage Durvasa Rishi, who then curses her. She also

fails to register the curse and is oblivious of it. It is her companions who hear

the curse and on receiving the reprieve from the sage decide not to inform

Shakuntala about the curse. Thus, it is their concealment of the truth of the

curse that leads her to arrive at Duhsyanta’s court unaware of the reason why

he no longer remembers her. Had she been warned, perhaps Kanva would

have gone with his daughter to the court to help her or Shakuntala herself

would have been more careful with the ring and not lost it in the river. With

the ring as a token that would break the curse, Duhsyanta and Shakuntala’s

union would have occurred much earlier and without so much pain on both

sides.

The final concealment occurs in Act VI, where Misrakesi hides herself to observe

the repenting king. She observes how deeply Duhsyanta regrets not juts his

rejection of Shakuntala but also the loss of the son who could have continued

the Puru clan. Even as Misrakesi feels sad for both the suffering lovers, she

does not intervene because the gods have a plan for Duhsyanta and have devised

their reunion in accordance to Indra’s wishes. Here we see how the events

of the story are not completely in the hands of the two protagonists. The reunion

only occurs according to the plans of the gods. Even the curse and the subsequent

loss of memory cannot be controlled by either of the two, as both are unaware

of it. This makes the audience aware of the ambiguous and complex nature

of Fate.

Challenges and Problems in Translating Poetry, Prose and Drama

  The impediments to translating poems are i) Lexical obstacles ii) Structual obstacles and 

iii) Phonological obstacles.

i) Lexical Obstacles: They arise out of the rich mosaic of allusion in the poem. The allusions may be historical and spiritual as in Spenser's .Faerie Queene Milton's Paradise Lost is replete with mythological be allusions. These allusions cannot be translated. They will have to be explained in foot-notes only. Devaram and Thiruvasakam contain profound religious insights. Only a seer or a spiritually inclined translator can translate them at least with partial success. Similarly T.S.Eliot's Four Quartets with their multiple layers of allusions defy interpretation, leave alone translation.

i) Structural Obstacles: It is difficult to transfer the structure of a poem into the TL Text. Thiruvalluvar's Kural contains a world of meaning compressed within its couplets. It is a Himalayan task for the translator to achieve the same feat of compressing complex matters within the compass of the couplet. Similarly, the sonnet form of Shakespeare, with its rich involutions, cannot be easily translated into poems of similar size.

ii) Phonological Obstacles: Poetry is noted for its melody. The Poet uses devices like assonance, onamatopoeia, alliteration, rhyme, Phonological rhythm etc., to produce melody. Tennyson manipulates liquid consonants and long and short vowels to produce musical effects n

poems like The Lotos-Eaters and Tithonus. Hopkins’s poetry is highly alliterative. Milton uses subtle rhythmic patterns in his blank verse. Shelley’s poetry, as Symonds said, “music runs to drunken waste”. All these phonological effects are bound to elude translators.

1) Translating Prose:

      Translating prose is considered comparatively easier than translating poetry. But this field also bristles with difficulties. Prose comprises essays, theses and dissertations, dramas and novels. Prose is a vast field.

      2) Rules laid down by Hilaire Belloc for translating prose:

      Hilaire Belloc lays down six rules for translating prose. They are discussed below.

a)      The translator should avoid word-by-word and sentence-by-sentence translation.  The translator should undertake section or block-by-block translation. He should read the work as a whole and then divide it into blocks, to be translated one by one.

      b) The translator should pay special attention to idioms. Some idioms in the SL text have equivalent idioms in the TL Text. Belloc says that the Greek exclamation “By the dog!” can be translated as ‘By the God’ in English.

      c) The translator must seek to echo the implications and intentions of the original writer and not merely the achieved results and explicit and direct statements.

      d) Belloc warns the translator against less faux amis, that is, structures that seem to be similar in the SL and TL texts but are not really so.

     e) Belloc advises the translator to ‘transmute’ boldly. He says that the essence of translation is ‘the resurrection of an alien thing in a native body’.

      f) Finally, Belloc warns the translator against unnecessary embellishment and embroidery.

3) Difficulties in translating prose texts:

      There are many insurmountable difficulties in translating prose texts. They are discussed one by one below.

Catford on untranslatability:

     Catford has pinpointed two types of untranslatability, namely i) Lexical untranslatability and  ii) cultural untranslatability.

i) Lexical untranslatability: Lexical translatability is due to the non-availability of equivalent worlds in the target language.  Theodore Savory, Alan Duff and Eugene Nida have discussed this point at length.

      Savory points out that the English language, supposed to be one of the richest languages in the world, yet lacks some very ordinary words which other languages have.   He says that the French word ‘menue’ and the Latin word ‘auger’ have no equivalents in English’.

      In English, there are separate words such as legs, feet, etc.  But in Yugoslovian language the same word covers both the parts. Similarly there are no separate words in the latter language for arms and hands.

      Nida also points to the same problem. In English there is a large number of words for storms such as tempest, cyclone, hurricane, etc., But in Tamil we have only one word namely, ‘puyal’. In Tamil there are various words such as பேதை, பெதும்பை and many other words to describe the various states of a girl’s growth. There is no such rich vocabulary in English.

      ii) Untranslatability due to grammatical differences: In English, you is used to refer to both one person and more than one person.

     The verb is the same for both these pronouns. For example,

 You (Singular) speak English well.

You (Plural) speak English well.

      But in Tamil, the pronouns are different. The verbs are also different.

நீ (singular) ஆங்கிலம் நன்றாக பேசுகிறாய்.

நீங்கள் நன்றாக ஆங்கிலம் பேசுகிரிற்கள்.

In English there are dummy subjects, such as ‘It’ and ‘There’. For example, in the following sentences, ‘It’ and ‘there’ only introduce the sentences. They do not have any meaning:

    It is raining heavily

   There are many flower-plants in her garden.

It is stupid to translate these introductory words also into Tamil as:

அது பலமாக மழை பெய்து கொண்டிருகிறது.

அங்கே அவளுடைய தோட்டத்தில் பல மலர்செடிகள் உள்ளன.

In English, ‘may is used in formal contexts, as in

       May I sit by your side?

But in informal contexts ‘may’ is replaced by ‘can’ as in

     Can I sit by your side?

But in Tamil, we say the same thing in both the contexts:

நான் உன் அருகில் உட்காரலாமா?

      Another difficulty in translating from English into Tamil is due to the Passive Voice. In English, the passive voice is used profusely. But in Tamil, the passive voice has come into being Only in recent times, and that too because of the impact of English. Passive structures are rare in ancient Tamil literature. In English every other sentence is in the passive voice.

Cultural untranslatability:          Cultural untranslatability is due to the gap between the culture of thr SL language and that of the TL language. Modern American fiction dealing with sexual promiscuity with explicit erotic details will sound most revolting to an orthodox Indian.  Similarly, Tamil novel dealing with arranged marriages and the sour relationship between a girl and her in-laws will not be treated seriously by a Western reader because such values do not exist in Western countries.

    There is no equivalent Tamil word for widower because the man who loses his first wife usually remarries and does not remain a widower here.

Colloquial words in Tamil such ‘ஓய்’ , ‘எலே’, ‘ஏய்’ which express contempt, cannot be translated into English. Even if we manage to translate swear words such as ‘ஏ மூஞ்சி’,   ஏலே into English, they will not have the same flavour and the bite in the translation.

Translating Drama: There are difficulties in translating drama also. The drama usually presents many characters. Each character speaks in his or her own distinct style. The translator must bring out these stylistic variations. Another difficulty is that many dramas abound in colloquial expressions. These colloquial expressions must be translated into equivalent colloquial expressions in the TL text.

BIBLE TRANSLATION

 

TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE

Introduction: The Bible is viewed as the greatest English. Matthew Arnold said in the nineteenth century that even non-believers can read the Bible and enjoy the poetic passages in it. The Bible in the twentieth century does not cause any difficulties to readers because it has been rendered in modern English. Originally, the Bible was available only in Greek and Latin. Uneducated church - goers had to depend only on the priests’ interpretation of the Bible. Some spadework was done in the Old English period to translate the Bible into English.

         The Bible in old English: Bede was the first to make an attempt at translating the Bible into English. He translated a portion of the Gospel of St.John into Old English prose. The effort was continued by fit and starts throughout the Old English period. The outcome was i) the Lindisfarne Gospels (about 700). About 950, the Northumbrian priest Alfred added to the Latin Bible an interlinear gloss in the Northumbrian dialect. The Rushworth Gospels of the tenth century had glosses both in the Mercian and the South Northumbrian dialects. In the late tenth or early eleventh century a West Saxon version of the Bible was available.

      The Bible in Middle English: Thanks to the sustained efforts of Bible enthusiasts many English versions of the Gospels were brought out in the Middle English period. The following is a brief survey of this development.

i) Wycliffe ( 1320-84): Under Wycliffe’s influence, many scholars undertook to translate the Bible into English. It is not known whetDer Wycliffe did any translation himself.

ii) John Purvey (1388) : Purvey was an important Lollard leader. His translation is regarded as extremely simple.

William Tyndale (1536): For his uncompromising religious stand, Tyndale was persecuted very much and driven abroad. A fragment of his English New Testament was printed at Calogne. For his English version, Tyndale used the Hebrew and Greek originals rather than the Latin text called the Vulgate.

Miles Coverdale (1488-1568): Many beautiful expressions in the English version were the workmanship of Coverdale.

The Great Bible (1539): This was the first of the Authorized Version. It was carried out by a group of translators working under the command of Henry VIll.

The Geneva Bible (1560): It was considerably coloured by Calvinistic thinking. This Bible was also called Breeches Bible because the naked Adam and Eve are described as sewing fig leaves not to cover their private parts but to be used a 'breeches'. This is a euphemism used by the Calvinistic translators to refer indirectly to the couple's genitals.

The Bishops’ Bible (1568) : This version was brought out by a committee of bishops under the supervision of no less a person than Queen Elizabeth. This Bible was intended as a counterblast to the Breeches Bible which was becoming more and more popular.

King James I's version of the Bible (1611): This version is regarded as an authentic translation of the Bible. The Puritans convened a conference at Hampton Court in 1604 and pressurized James I to arrange to translate the Bible into English. To enlist the support of the Puritans, James decided to fulfil their wishes. He appointed forty-seven scholars. They were divided into six groups, each translating a certain portion of the Bible. The task was begun in 1607 and completed in 1611. The outcome is the Authorized Version or King James's Version of the Bible.

Prominent features of the Authorized Version: First, the Authorized Version is endowed from beginning to end with a staunch faith in the Divine Spirit. It has the strength of Tyndale's Bible and the beautiful rhythms of Coverdale's version.

The Authorized Version has three portions, the expository portions the narrative portions and the lyrical portions. The expository part has three aspects namely, exhortation, information and advice. The Deuteronomy and the Pauline epistles come under this part.  They are marked by clarity, dignity and precision.

The narrative portion of the Authorized Version consists of the Pentateuch and the Gospels of all the Apostles in the New Testament. The Old Testament is very harsh whereas the New Testament is liberal in tone.

The lyrical portion is the most readable and enjoyable part of the Authorized Version. The Psalms, The Song of Solomon, and The Book of Job constitute the lyrical part of the Authorized Version. The emotional nature of the Jews as well as their rhythms are fully revealed in this part. At the same time, the soar and swing of ecstatic English prose is also reflected in the translation. The images in the lyrical portions are associated with such everyday objects as the sky, the stars, the running water and birds and beasts. For example, in The Book of Psalms the soul is described as panting after God just as the hart pants after brooks.

The influence of the Authorized Version: The Authorized Version has influenced readers as well as writers. Many expressions used in everyday life are from the Authorized Version. The eleventh hour, a thorn in the flesh, a good Samaritan, sweat of the brow - these are some commonly used Biblical expressions.

      The other influence of the Authorized Version is on writers. Bunyan, Ruskin, Milton, Tennyson, Browning, Hopkins and T.S.Eliot are some of the English writers whose thoughts and language have been moulded by the English Bible.

Value Education 60 MCQ Unit III -V

VE Unit III 60 MCQ

Value Education 60 MCQ Unit IV

Value Education Unit V

Equivalence - Popovic, Eugene Nida, J.C.Catford and Roman Jakobson

       What is equivalence? - Popovic on equivalence- Eugene Nida on equivalence - Catford on equivalence- Roman Jakobson on equivalence - Faithfulness or Fidelity in translation-Adaptation.

What is equivalence?       

         Similarity in thought and style between the source language text and the target language text is called equivalence. Sapir says that equivalence is not possible in translation because no two languages represent the same social reality. Jakobson recommends inter-lingual and intra-lingual transposition to achieve equivalence to the maximum extent.

Popovic on Equivalence:

           Popovic identifies four types of equivalence. They are discussed below.

a) Linguistic Equivalence: Linguistic equivalence is a synonym for word-for-word translation. Linguistic equivalence is possible only when there are lexical substitutes in the target language for the words in the source language. For example, in the sentence 'one should support one's parents', the words 'one and 'one's cannot be directly translated into English.

b) Paradigmatic Equivalence: Paradigmatic equivalence lies in similarities between the grammar of the source language and that of the target language. There are, for example, many differences between the grammatical systems of English and Tamil. For example, the words ‘it’ and 'there’ are used as dummy subjects in English, as seen in the following sentences:

        It rained heavily yesterday. There are many flower-plants in our garden.

There are no such dummy subjects in Tamil

c) Stylistic equivalence: This is functional equivalence of elements in both the source language and the target language. Stylistic equivalence between English and Tamil is not always possible. For example, the words 'rain’ and ‘water’ can be used not only as nouns but also as verbs in English.

The rain was heavy. (noun)

It rained heavily. (verb)

This water is sweet to taste. (noun)

She is watering the plants. (verb)

But in Tamil these words are used only as nouns and never as verbs.

The' is used as a Definite Article in English.

       The mango which she bought yesterday is rotten.

But there is no Definite Article in Tamil.

D. Textual (Syntagmatic) Equivalence: This is equivalence in form and shape. When there is no similarity in form and shape, there is no textual equivalence. Plutarch's Lives is in prose. Shakespeare used these prose tales to write his Roman plays. As there is no similarity in form, there is no textual equivalence between the two.

3) Eugene Nida on Equivalence:

     Nida has divided equivalence into two kinds - Formal Equivalence and Dynamic Equivalence.

In Formal Equivalence, the translator is concerned with translating the form of the SL text into the same form in the TL text, poetry into poetry, drama into drama, prose into prose, concept into concept, etc.

In Dynamic Translation, the translator seeks to convey to the reader of the target language the same effect that the reading of the source language text had on him. lf the SL text saddened or enlightened the translator, he tries to communicate the same saddening or enlightening effect to the reader of the TL text.

Problems in Formal Equivalence: Formal Equivalence has to have equivalence in form, lexis and context - formal consistency verbal Consistency, and contextual consistency. They are discussed in some detail below.

Formal consistency: Formal consistency requires consistency in reproducing the form of genre of the SL text in the TL text. Generally speaking, this is possible. But it is difficult to use the same rhyming scheme in the translation of a poem.

Verbal consistency: Verbal consistency requires the Use of the verbs of the SL text in the TL text. If passive voice is used in the original text, the same voice must be used in the translation also. This kind of consistency cannot be maintained always.

Contextual Consistency: Formal equivalence requires using the idioms and proverbs in the SL text without altering them in any way in the TL text. But dynamic equivalence allows necessary changes to suit local conditions. For exmple, the axion "Mountain laboured and gave birth to a mouse is translated into Tamil as மலையை கிள்ளி எலியை பிடித்தது போல. ‘Similarly, the Tamil saying’ பிள்ளையார் பிடிக்க குரங்காய் போனது’ is translated into the rather flat English saying ‘Man proposes, God disposes'. Thus, we have to modily the SL Text in accordance with the context.

4)Catford on Equivalence:

      In his book A Linguistic Theory of Translation, Catford talks of two types of equivalence - textual equivalence and formal equivalence.

  By textual equivalent, he means changing a part of a sentence in the TL text in accordance with the need to change a part of a sentence in the SL text. He gives an example from English and French languages. In English in the two sentences -

My son is six.

Your daughter is six.

only the words ‘My son' and ‘your daughter’ are changed. The other parts of the two sentences remain unchanged. In French also, only a few changes are required.

Monfils (my son) a six ans.

Voltre (your daughter) fille a six ans.

Catford's point is that textual equivalence is not hard to achieve. Catford's observations are superficial.

Catford on Formal Equivalence:

       Catford says that there are broad equivalents in some matters between some languages. He points out that the prepositions in English and French are broadly alike. But there are major differences in parts of speech between English and Arabic. He points out that there are eight parts of speech in English whereas there are only two in Arabic. So there can be no formal equivalence between English and Arabic.

5) Roman Jakobson on Equivalence:

    Jakobson holds that poetry, with its cannotative, symbolic touches,is untranslatable. According to him, even an expert translator cannot work out an exact equivalence of the poet's message in the SL text when translating it into the TL

6) Faichfulness/ Fidelity in Translation:

    One school demands that the translator should be cent percent faithful to the original. No deviation from and no modification of, the original text should be allowed. The translator should not distort the original according to his personal likes and dislikes or to suit the culture of the target language

7) Adaptation:

          A translator resorts to adaptation when the target language or the culture of the target language impedes the translator. The translator compromises with the source language when the culture of the target language is opposed to that of the source language.

       Transcreation is also a kind of adaptation. For, the transcreator widely differs from the original in order to accommodate the culture of the target language. Kavimani Desika Vinayakam Pillai is a transcreator. He adapts Fitzgerald's translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in such a way as not to militate against Tamil culture.

Kinds of Translation

KINDS OF TRANSLATION

Outline : Many critics have propounded many kinds of translation.

We discuss some of them below.

(A) Roman Jakobson talks of three kinds of translation in his essay

On Linguistic Aspects of Translation. They are the following:

) Intra-lingual translation:

This kind of translation consists in translating one form of

literature into another form within the same language. Plutarch s

Lives is in prose. Shakespeare turns this into drama. This is an example

of intra-lingual translation. Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb turning

Shakespeare's plays into tales is another instance of intra-lingual

translation. Many American editions of our time have replaced the

English of the past with modern English. Similarly, Puliyur Kesikan

had rendered much of Cangam poetry (especially Ahanaru and Puranaru)

into easy modern Tamil. Students of history turn the Tamil in

ancient stone edicts in Hindu temples into modern Tamil.

Chaucer's Canterbury lales is in Middle English. This has been rendered

into modern English by Neville Coghill. All these are examples of

intra-lingual translation or translation from one shape to another within

the same language.

i) Inter-lingual translation:

This is translation from one language into another language.

This is translation proper. Turning of the Bible from Greek into English

and from English into Tamil are instances of inter-lingual translation.

The translation of the Gitanjali from Bengali into English and then

from English into Tamil is another worthy inter-lingual translation. In

this type of translation, the verbal signs of one language are replaced by those of another.

i) Inter-semiotic translation or transmutation:

In this type of translation, the verbal signs of one language are

changed into non-verbal signs such as dance, music, pictures, etc.

Thus the Ramayana can be conveyed through dance sequences, a

series of paintings, songs, lectures etc. Religious discourses on the

Ramayana or the Mahabharata constitute one kind of translation. Raphael's paintings of important Biblical incidents, the pictures on

the walls of Sri Meenakshi Amman temple, depicting the lilas of Lord

Shiva are all non-verbal translations. Non-verbal translations appeal

to children and illiterates.

(B) Goethe, in his book West-Osflicher Divan, talks of three kinds of translation, based on transference of cultural values.

 (1) In the first type, the translator is keen on transferring the

culture of the source language to the reader directly.

ii) In the second type, the translator absorbs the culture of the

foreign work and then conveys it to the reader not directly but through

a substitute or surrogate. During the freedom struggle, many English

books were conveyed to Indian readers through such surrogates

iii) In the third type of translation the target language text is a

perfect replica of the source language text so much so that nobody

wishes to read the original. Kavimani's translation of Fitzgerald*s

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is such a perfect translation. It has done

away with the need to go to the original.

(C) John Dryden, in his, Preface to Ovid's Epistles, classified

translation into the following three kinds.

i) Metaphrase:

Metaphrase is word-by-word translation. It is a most faithful

translation as every word in the original gets translated. Nothing

escapes the translators notice. The translator pays a great deal of

attention to find words in them target language that are exactly

equivalent to those in the source languae text.

1) Paraphrase:

This is a sense-for-sense translation. In this translation only thé

sense of the original is taken into consideration. Words that are

considered superfluous or unimportant for conveying the sense are

omitted. Waller's translation of Virgil's Aeneid is considered as a free

paraphrase.

ii) Imitation:

The imitator takes liberties with the original. He alters the

language or the form and even the sense of the original, if necessary

in many of his odes, Abraham Cowley imitates Pindar. Sometimes an imitation

surpasses the original in parts, if not as a whole. Thus Milton's similes

in Paradise Lost are superior to the Homeric similes which served as

his model.

Dryden prefers the paraphrase to the other types of translation

as it gives ample freedom to the translator.

Metaphrase or word-for-word translation has an advantage. It is

effective in translating one or two sentences But the word order or

syntax of the original language cannot be followed as it is in the

target language. For example, it is absurd to translate the English

sentence 

I ate three idlis' into Tamil 

நான் சாப்பிட்டேன் மூன்று இட்லிகள். The SVO sentence pattern in English has to be changed

into SOV as நான்  மூன்று இட்லிகள் சாப்பிட்டேன் . In

the same way idiomatic expressions in English are absurd if transated

literally in the target language. Thus the sentence 1t rained cats and

dogs yesterday will sound absurd if translated literally into Tamil as

அது மழை பெய்தது பூனைகளும் நாய்களுமாக நேற்று

The correct translation in Tamil would be நேற்று பலத்த மழை பெய்தது.

(D) J.C.Catford, in his book A Linguistic Theory of Translation has

suggested many kinds of traslation and they are discussed one by one

below.

i) Phonological translation:

In this type of translation, the phonology of the source language

is replaced by the phonology of the target language. This is not

always possible. There are ditficulties in replacing the phonology of

English proper nouns as they are when translating them into Tamil

For example, the proper noun 'Caroline' can be represented only as

காரலின் or கேரலின்sit in Tamil. Both these phonological

representations in Tamil are wrong. Similarly, the Tamil place name

angsnt is phonologically translated as 'Sattur'and not as 'Sathur'

ii) Graphological translation

Graphology is the science of studying people's handwriting to

learn about their character. Graphological translation bristles with

difficulties. A writer's handwriting as seen in his handwritten

manuscript cannot form the basis of an accurate translation.

Graphological translation is bound to be unscientific.

iii) Grammatical translation:

Grammatical translation has only a limited applicability Many

grammatical torms that are valid in English are not used in Tamil

They cannot be literally replaced in Tamil. The following are some

examples.

One should support one's parents. ('One and 'one's cannot be

translated literally into Tamil) They say that democracy is unsuitable

India.

it is wrong to translate them in the above sentence into

'அவர்கள்' Similarly in the sentence It is warm today. It should not

be translated at all into Tamil. It should be omitted.

Hence, not all the grammatical elements in the source language

can be translated into the target language

iv) Lexical translation :

Lexical translation is translation of the meaning of a word. Lexical

one-to-one equivalents are wrong on many occasions. For example,

it is wrong to translate 'dressing a wound' as 'புண்ணுக்கு ஆடை உடுத்துவது'. Similarly, it is wrong to effect a one-to-one translation

of the phrase 'mother tongue' as 'தாய் நாக்கு' and of the sentence

'He is eyeing her'. அவன் அவளை கண் வைக்கிறான்.

v) Full translation and Partial translation:

In full translation, the whole source language text is translated.

In Partial translation, only some parts of the SL text are translated

into the target language and the other parts are left untranslated.

vi) Total Translation and Restricted Translation

Translation has many levels such as phonology, grammar, lexis,

graphology, etc. A good translation is one which takes into

consideration all these various levels. A translation which pays

attention to one or two levels only is a Restricted translation. A

Restricted translation is an imperfect translation.

vil) Rank-bound translation:

Rank-bound translations are bound at word or morpheme rank

Translations based on word-to-word or morpheme-to-morpheme

equivalents are rank-bound translations. Translations that are not bound by these factors are called unbounded translations. Free

paraphrases may be called unbounded translations.

E) Some other kinds of translations are author-oriented translation,

text-oriented translation and reader-oriented translation.

The author-oriented translation is the one in which the translator

has direct access to the author. Translations of an author's autobiography,

personal diary, personal speeches, etc. come under the category of author-oriented translation. Translations of Gandhi's My Experiments with Truth.

Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography and his letters to his daughter from

these are some author-oriented translations. Translations of Petrarchan

sonnets to his mistress also belong to this category. Text-oriented

rather than to the author. Translations of reports, research papers,

technical books, etc, are text-oriented translations. 

Reader-oriented

translation are the ones in which primary attention is paid to the

reader*s response. Translations of advertisements, notices

propagandist pamphlets, the manifestos of political parties, etc, come under this category.

F)Andre Lefevere's classification of translation :

In his essay Translation Studies. The Goal of the Discipline

Lefevere classifies translations of Catullus's poems under the following

categories

I)Phonemic translation: This aims at reproducing the sound of

the SL text in the TL Text.

ii) Literal translation: This aims at word-for-word translation.

iii) Metrical translation: This aims at reproducing the metre of

the original text in the translation.

iv) Rhymed translation: This aims at reproducing the rhyme of

the SL text in the Target Language text,

v)Prose rendering: This aims at rendering a poem into a prose

translation

vi) Blank verse translation: This aims at translating a rhymed

poem by turning it into a blank verse poem.

vil) Interpretative translation This translation does not stop

with word-for-word translation.  It aims at the translator interpreting

the SL Text according to his own light.

The above is an exhaustive survey or various kinds of translation.

History of Translation - 17th Century to 20th Century

12) Translation in the Seventeeth Century:

    Thomas Shelton translated Don Quixote, a Spanish work authored by Cervantes into English. In his Preface to his Pindaric Odes, Abraham Cowley, one of the Metaphysical Poets, condemned word-for-word translation. Dryden translated Juvenal and Virgil. In his Prefaces, Dryden disapproves of metaphrase, that is, word-for-word translation and approves of paraphrase, that is sense-for-sense translation.

13) Translation in the Eighteenth Century:

     The most prominent translator in the eighteenth century was Alexander Pope. He translated Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Pope was criticized for not following the spirit of the original. A critic said: "It is a pretty poem, Mr.Pope, but you must not call it Homer”.

        Another notable translation of the period was George Madison Priest's translation of Goethe's Faust. A.W.Wilhelm translated seventeen plays of Shakespeare into German. The Schlegel -Tick in collaboration translated the other plays of Shakespeare.This collaborative translators faithfully translated not only the verse but also the prose of Shakespeare.

The British East India Company arranged to translate many ancient Indian works from Sanskrit into English. Charles Wilkins translation of the Bhagavad Gita into English and William Jones's translation of Kalidasa's drama Sakuntala into English are worth mentioning.

A theoretical work on translation to this period is the Essay on the Principles of Translation by Alexander Fraser Tytler and Lord Woodhouselee. These two authors emphasized that a translation should have the ease and style of the original and also be a complete transcript of the original.

14) Translation in the Nineteenth Century:

       Translations were abundant in the nineteenth century. Thomas Carlyle translated Goethe's Wilhelm Meicester . Longfellow translated Dante's Divine Comedy .Edward Fitzerald translated six plays of Calderon from Spanish into English and Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam from Persian into English. The Rubaiyat is considered as the best translation in English.

      In his Defence of Poetry Shelley discouraged translation, saying it was a futile exercise. He said that the genius of one writer cannot be transfused by another writer just as the secret of the colour and odour of a violet cannot be discovered by casting it into a crucible.In his essay On Translating Homer, Matthew Arnold also condemned translation. He said that translating a great work in order to satisfy the whims of the local reader is like taking a blind man for one's guide.

15) Translation in the Twentieth Century:

         Official efforts are taken in the twentieth century to streamline translation studies. In 1964 a popular Translation Workshop was conducted at lowa in the United States. In 1965 the University of Texas established the National Translation Centre. The plays of Ibsen and Bernard Shaw, the great phonetician, orator and politician, the essays of Bertrand Russell and the short stories of O.Henry and Anton Chekov, the Russian Writer have been translated into many languages.New trends such as structuralism and Deconstruction have also facilitated translation.