Unit -1
વિશ્વ સાહિત્યની વિભાવના અને લક્ષણો
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Unit -2
1. છદ્મવેશી નું રક્તિમ મુર્ત્યું - એડગર એલન પો
2. નાતાલ વૃક્ષ અને લગનસમારંભઃ - ફ્યોદોર દોસ્તોએવ્સ્કી
3. ઈશ્વર સત્ય જાણે છે પણ મોડું કરે છે - લીઓ તોલ્સટોય
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a movie
a novel
a short story
a song
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Language is not a closed or pure system; it constantly interacts with other languages. One of the most common outcomes of such interaction is borrowing. In multilingual societies like India, borrowing plays a crucial role in shaping everyday language as well as literary and academic discourse. Especially in the context of Indian Writing in English, borrowing reflects historical contact, colonial influence, cultural exchange, and modern globalization. Words travel from one language to another due to necessity, prestige, power relations, and communicative efficiency, resulting in what is often called a mixed or hybrid language.
Term borrowing refers to the process of adopting a word or lexical item from a source language (SL) into a target language (TL), either with or without modification. As noted in translation studies, borrowing involves lexical transfer, where a word is taken over because the target language lacks an exact equivalent or because the borrowed term carries specific cultural, social, or symbolic value.
Susan Bassnett views borrowing as part of an evolutionary and intercultural process, where languages grow through contact and dialogue rather than remaining isolated systems.
Based on linguistic and translation theory (as reflected in your boardwork), borrowing can be classified into the following types:
Loan Words
Words taken directly from another language with little or no change.
Loan Translation (Calque)
The structure or meaning of a foreign term is translated literally into the target language.
Loan Phrases
Entire phrases borrowed due to cultural specificity.
Hybrid Words
Words formed by combining elements from two languages.
Acronyms and Abbreviations
Borrowed technical or institutional terms.
Code-Mixing and Code-Switching
Mixing elements of two languages within the same sentence or discourse.
Borrowing does not happen randomly. Several social, cultural, political, and linguistic factors influence it:
Language Contact
Continuous contact between languages through trade, education, media, and migration leads to borrowing.
Pidgin and Creole languages emerge from intense contact situations.
Power Relations
Dominant languages (often of colonizers or global powers) influence subordinate or oppressed languages.
English gained authority in India due to colonial political and military dominance.
Cultural and Social Factors
Prestige, fashion, urban lifestyle, and westernization encourage borrowing.
English is often associated with modernity, education, and upward mobility.
Need-Based Factors
New objects, technologies, and concepts require new vocabulary.
Domain-Specific Usage
Fields like science, governance, law, pop culture, and technology rely heavily on borrowed terms.
Linguistic Factors
Ease of pronunciation, absence of equivalent terms, and morphological compatibility encourage borrowing.
In the contemporary world, borrowing has accelerated due to globalization, digital media, and technology:
Technology and Digital Culture
Words like App, Login, Upload, Link are widely used across languages.
Indian languages often incorporate English tech vocabulary without translation.
Governance and Administration
Terms such as Policy, Scheme, Portal, Dashboard are borrowed into regional languages.
Youth and Pop Culture
Slang and internet language spread rapidly.
English as a Lingua Franca
English functions as a global connector language, influencing vocabulary across cultures.
Media and Advertising
Advertisements deliberately borrow English terms to sound modern and aspirational.
Indian Writing in English
Writers consciously use Indian words to retain cultural identity.
Term borrowing is not a sign of linguistic weakness but a natural and creative process of language evolution. It reflects cultural contact, social change, power dynamics, and communicative needs. In translation and Indian Writing in English, borrowing allows languages to express realities that cannot be fully captured through direct equivalence. As Susan Bassnett suggests, borrowing strengthens intercultural dialogue, making languages richer, more flexible, and more expressive in a globalized world.
Adaptation occupies an important and sometimes controversial space in translation studies. While traditional translation aims at linguistic equivalence, adaptation goes beyond literal transfer to address cultural, linguistic, and contextual mismatches between the source text and the target audience. In multilingual and multicultural contexts, especially in India, adaptation becomes essential for effective communication. It allows texts to survive across cultures, genres, media, and historical moments, making them meaningful and accessible to new audiences.
Adaptation refers to a set of translational operations in which the target text deviates from strict equivalence in order to achieve functional or cultural adequacy. According to Georges L. Bastin, adaptation results in a text that may not be accepted as a traditional translation but is still recognized as representing the source text. Adaptation becomes necessary when the source language text cannot be reproduced directly due to cultural gaps, genre differences, or linguistic constraints.
In simple terms, adaptation modifies the form, structure, or content of a text to retain the intended effect rather than the exact wording.
Adaptation is marked by the following features:
Modification beyond literal translation
Functional equivalence rather than word-for-word accuracy
Structural changes such as expansion, omission, or reordering
Genre shift, for example, novel to film or play
Semantic reframing, where meaning is reshaped for cultural relevance
Emphasis on reader or audience response
Based on translation theory and as reflected in your boardwork, adaptation can be classified into the following types:
Intralingual Adaptation
Adaptation within the same language.
Example: Simplified or abridged versions of classics for students.
Interlingual Adaptation
Adaptation between two different languages.
Example: Translating Indian rituals or social practices into English with explanation or substitution.
Intersemiotic Adaptation
Adaptation across different media or sign systems.
Examples:
Novel to film
Play to movie
Text to graphic novel
Genre-Based Adaptation
Change in literary or communicative genre.
Example: Epic → Film, Novel → Advertisement.
Metaliguistic Adaptation
Required when texts play with language itself.
Examples:
Joyce’s Ulysses
Cultural Retelling
Stories retold in new cultural contexts.
Examples:
Ramayana retellings
Shakespeare’s Othello adapted as Omkara
Macbeth adapted as Maqbool
Adaptation becomes unavoidable in the following contexts:
Cultural Mismatch
Rituals, food habits, metaphors, and social norms do not align across cultures.
Example: Translating Indian festivals or caste-based realities for a global audience.
Genre Shift
Text to movie, novel to advertisement, prose to drama.
Metaliguistic Context
When language itself is the subject of the text.
Media Transformation
Dubbing, subtitling, and audiovisual translation.
In contemporary times, adaptation has expanded significantly due to technology and globalization:
Digital & UX Localization
Adapting app interfaces and navigation labels.
Transcreation in Advertising
Creative rewriting of slogans for emotional impact.
Streaming Platforms
Subtitling and dubbing adapted for humor, idioms, and speech rhythm.
Internet Culture & Memes
Slang adapted across cultures.
Examples: vibe, cringe, savage, OP.
Multimedia Adaptation
Video games, graphic novels, anime adapted into films and series.
Adaptation challenges the rigid boundaries of traditional translation by prioritizing meaning, effect, and cultural resonance over literal accuracy. It acknowledges that translation is not merely a linguistic act but a cultural and creative negotiation. As theorists like Bastin argue, adaptation ensures the survival and relevance of texts across time, space, and media. In the modern globalized world, adaptation has become not an exception but a necessary strategy in translation practice.
Translation is not merely the act of replacing words from one language with another; it is a complex process that requires linguistic competence, cultural awareness, and access to reliable reference materials. To ensure accuracy, clarity, and contextual appropriateness, translators depend on various tools of translation. These tools assist the translator in understanding meanings, grammatical structures, cultural references, and specialized terminology. With the advancement of technology, traditional tools have been complemented by modern digital resources, making translation more efficient and systematic.
Dictionaries are the most fundamental tools used in translation. They provide meanings, pronunciation, usage, and grammatical information of words.
Types of Dictionaries:
Lexicons – detailed word lists with meanings
Glossaries – domain-specific word lists. Glossary of Literary terms by M.H.Abrham
Thesaurus – synonyms and antonyms
Vocabulary Lists – general word banks
General Dictionaries – everyday language use
Special Dictionaries – slang, jargon, technical terms
Trans-lingual (Bilingual) Dictionaries – word equivalents between languages
Subject-Specific Dictionaries – medical, legal, education, science, law
Dictionaries help translators choose accurate lexical equivalents and avoid ambiguity.
Grammar is essential for producing structurally correct and natural translations.
Provide rules of syntax and morphology
Help with verb forms (–ing, –ed, have + ed)
Assist in sentence restructuring from SL to TL
Prevent ungrammatical or awkward constructions
Grammar books help translators adapt sentence patterns rather than translate word-for-word.
Encyclopaedias provide background knowledge and contextual understanding beyond mere word meanings.
Types:
General Encyclopaedias – broad knowledge (e.g., Wikipedia, Britannica)
Special Encyclopaedias – subject-focused knowledge
Provide cultural, historical, scientific, and literary context
They are crucial when translating texts with references unfamiliar to the target audience.
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These sources assist in accurate translation of place-related information.
Maps
Atlases
Globes
Gazetteers
They help in translating travel literature, historical texts, and news reports accurately.
Used to verify names, titles, and life details of individuals.
Biographies
Author profiles
Who’s Who references
These tools are essential in literary, academic, and historical translations.
Handbooks guide translators in maintaining consistency and standardization.
Style manuals
Usage guides
Technical handbooks
Instruction manuals
They ensure uniformity in formatting, tone, and terminology.
With globalization and digitalization, modern tools have transformed translation practice.
Store previously translated segments
Ensure consistency across texts
Increase speed and efficiency
Examples: MemoQ, Wordfast, OmegaT
Segment-based translation
Integrated glossaries and quality checks
Allow human control with technological support
Examples: SmartCAT, MateCAT
Create and manage term databases
Useful for technical and academic translations
Examples: MultiTerm, TermWiki
Use artificial intelligence for context-aware translation
Helpful for drafts and post-editing
Examples: Google Translate, DeepL, ChatGPT
Analyze real language usage
Help with collocations and frequency patterns
Examples: Sketch Engine, COCA, BNC
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Convert scanned images into editable text
Useful for digitizing source texts
Examples: Google Lens, Adobe OCR, OneNote OCR
Enable team translation and real-time collaboration
Support version control
Examples: GitLocalize, Google Workspace
Tools of translation play a vital role in ensuring accuracy, clarity, and cultural relevance. Traditional tools such as dictionaries, grammars, and encyclopaedias provide foundational support, while modern digital tools enhance speed, consistency, and efficiency. However, tools cannot replace the translator’s skill, judgment, and cultural sensitivity. Effective translation emerges from the balanced use of tools combined with human intelligence, making the translator both a linguistic expert and a cultural mediator.
Workscited :
Bassnett, Susan. Translation Studies. 4th ed., Routledge, 2014.
Catford, J. C. A Linguistic Theory of Translation. Oxford UP, 1965.
Jakobson, Roman. “On Linguistic Aspects of Translation.” On Translation, edited by Reuben A. Brower, Harvard UP, 1959, pp. 232–239.
Indira Gandhi National Open University. Tools of Translation. Unit 9, EGyanKosh, IGNOU,
egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/14122/1/Unit-9.pdf.
Nida, Eugene A. Toward a Science of Translating. Brill, 1964.
Nida, Eugene A., and Charles R. Taber. The Theory and Practice of Translation. Brill, 1982.
History, Growth and Role of Translation in India
Introduction
Translation has always played an important role in shaping Indian culture, literature, and intellectual history. India is a multilingual and multicultural country, and communication between different regions, languages, and traditions has always depended on translation. Unlike the Western idea of translation, which focuses heavily on fidelity and word-for-word equivalence, the Indian tradition viewed translation more as retelling, adaptation, and recreation. Over centuries, translation in India evolved through different historical phases—ancient, medieval, colonial, nationalist, and post-independence periods. Each phase contributed uniquely to Indian literature and cultural identity. This essay traces the development of translation in India from ancient times to the modern era, highlighting key changes, influences, and debates.
In ancient India, translation was not seen as a strict linguistic activity but as a creative and interpretative act. The Sanskrit term for translation is anuvad, which means “to say after” or “to retell.” This itself shows that translation was understood as repetition with variation rather than exact copying.
Ancient Indian culture was largely oral, and texts were transmitted through memory, performance, and storytelling. Because of this, texts were fluid rather than fixed. Translators or retellers freely added, removed, or modified material according to cultural, religious, and regional needs. Fidelity to the original text was not the primary concern. Instead, the aim was to maintain the emotional and aesthetic impact of the text.
A major example of this tradition is the multiple retellings of the Ramayana and Mahabharata. The first interlingual translation of the Ramayana was Paumachariya, a Jain version written by Vimal Suri in Prakrit in the 4th century AD. This version presented Ravana not as a demon and Hanuman not as a monkey, reflecting Jain ideology. Similarly, the Mahabharata was rewritten in almost every Indian language—by Pampa in Kannada, Ezhuthachchan in Malayalam, Sarala Das in Oriya, and Nannayya, Tikkana, and Yerrana in Telugu. These were not exact translations but creative rewritings.
Indian aesthetic theories such as rasa (emotional essence) and dhvani (suggestion) also shaped translation practices. Translators aimed to recreate the same rasa in the target language, even if the words and structure changed. Thus, Indian translation was more about cultural continuity and emotional equivalence than literal accuracy.
During the medieval period, the influence of Sanskrit declined, and new languages and cultures entered India due to invasions and political changes. Persian became the dominant language of administration and scholarship under the Mughal rulers. Translation during this period played a key role in cultural exchange and bilingualism.
The Mughal courts actively encouraged translation. Babur’s autobiography Baburnama was translated from Chagatay into Persian by Bairam Khan. Emperor Akbar commissioned translations of major Sanskrit texts into Persian, including the Mahabharata. Dara Shukoh, Akbar’s great-grandson, translated the Upanishads and Bhagavad-gita into Persian.
These translations had several important results. First, they made people bilingual or multilingual. Second, they led to the birth of new languages such as Urdu, formed through interaction between Persian and local languages. Third, new literary genres like ghazal, qasida, and masnavi entered Indian literature and were Indianised. Writers like Mirza Ghalib wrote in both Persian and Urdu, showing this cultural blend.
Translations in this period also helped Indian texts reach the West through Persian versions. Overall, translation helped shape India’s composite culture and strengthened its tradition of linguistic diversity.
With the arrival of the British, English gradually replaced Sanskrit and Persian as the dominant language. The British aimed not only to rule India politically but also to colonize it intellectually. They tried to establish the superiority of English language and literature over Indian languages.
However, for administrative purposes, the British also needed to understand Indian languages and culture. This led to a reverse flow of translation—from Indian languages into English. Ancient Sanskrit texts were translated, as they were seen as representing India’s “classical” past. Sir William Jones translated Abhijnanasakuntalam in 1789, and Charles Wilkins translated the Bhagavad-gita in 1784. These translations had official support and were meant to help the British govern India better.
At the same time, European texts were translated into Indian languages. Many English novels of the 18th and 19th centuries entered Indian languages through translation, shaping Indian literary forms.
After the First War of Indian Independence in 1857, the British Crown took direct control of India. English became the official language of administration and education. Macaulay’s Minute on Indian Education promoted the creation of a class of Indians who were “Indian in blood but English in taste.”
One of the most significant translation activities during this period was the translation of the Bible into Indian languages. This was part of the British mission to spread Christianity. The Serampore Mission Press played a major role in this effort. Bible translations strengthened vernacular languages by introducing simple prose, new vocabulary, and printed texts.
However, Bible translation also introduced a new concept of translation—word-for-word accuracy and fidelity to the original. Since the Bible was considered the word of God, translators believed it must be translated without distortion. This was a major shift from the Indian tradition of free adaptation.
This obsession with fidelity and equivalence was later critiqued by scholars like G. N. Devy, who argued that it was rooted in Western metaphysical ideas. According to Indian philosophical concepts like sphota, meaning is not fixed but contextual. Therefore, translation can never truly “carry across” meaning—it can only interpret and retell.
Alongside colonial rule, Indian nationalism was rising. Translation became a powerful tool for social reform and political resistance. Translations were used to spread nationalist ideas and expose colonial exploitation.
A famous example is Dinbandhu Mitra’s Neel Darpan, which depicted the suffering of indigo farmers in Bengal. Its English translation by Rev. James Long led to the banning of the play and Long’s prosecution. This shows how translation could threaten colonial authority.
Translation also led to the rise of the Indian novel, a genre inspired by English literature but adapted to Indian realities. Early Indian novels addressed social evils, women’s issues, and national identity. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s Anandamath, which included Vande Mataram, was translated into many Indian languages and inspired nationalists across India.
Many Indian translators deliberately adapted foreign texts to suit Indian needs. Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi translated Victor Hugo’s Ninety-three as Balidaan to inspire patriotism. Premchand translated works of Anatole France for ideological reasons. These translations were more like adaptations and played a silent but powerful role in strengthening nationalism.
After independence, the focus of translation changed again. The new nation needed unity amid linguistic and cultural diversity. Translation now had the responsibility of promoting national integration.
Institutions like the Sahitya Akademi and National Book Trust were established to encourage translations between Indian languages and into English. Their work helped create the idea of a unified Indian literature written in many languages.
Individual translators also played an important role. A. K. Ramanujan introduced ancient Tamil and Kannada literature to the world through sensitive translations and detailed notes. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak brought Mahasweta Devi’s writings to international readers. These translations helped promote Indian literature globally.
Despite a strong translation tradition, several issues remain. Most Indian texts are translated into English rather than other Indian languages, reflecting unequal power relations. English provides wider visibility and market value, but this often marginalizes regional languages.
Another issue is the debate over fidelity versus recreation. Indian tradition favours recreating rasa and cultural meaning rather than literal accuracy. Modern translators, however, often face pressure to produce fluent, “invisible” translations, sometimes at the cost of the original text.
Many translations between Indian languages are now mediated through English, making them closer to retellings than direct translations. This continues the ancient Indian practice but also raises questions about authenticity and representation.
The history of translation in India shows a rich and complex tradition shaped by philosophy, culture, politics, and power. From ancient retellings of epics to colonial Bible translations and nationalist adaptations, translation has never been a neutral act in India. It has been a tool of cultural exchange, domination, resistance, and unity.
Indian translation theory, rooted in concepts like anuvad, rasa, and dhvani, challenges Western ideas of fidelity and equivalence. Even today, Indian translators continue to balance creativity and responsibility, tradition and modernity. In a multilingual country like India, translation remains essential—not only for communication but for preserving cultural diversity and strengthening national identity.
Works Cited :
Anisha, Dr. “Translation in India: Then and Now.” Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research, 2018.
Devy, G. N. In Another Tongue: Essays on Indian English Literature. Macmillan, 1993.
Mukherjee, Sujit. Translation as Discovery. Orient Longman, 2006.
Bassnett, Susan. Translation Studies. Routledge, 2002.
Catford, J. C. A Linguistic Theory of Translation. Oxford University Press, 1974.
Gopinathan, G. “Translation, Transcreation and Culture.”
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