1. The document discusses translation as testimony and examines the relationship between translations and original works of literature. 2. It notes that translations often reveal how translators interpreted and understood the original text differently. Comparing multiple translations of the same work can demonstrate this. 3. The best example provided is the English translations of the novel "Pather Panchali" by Satyajit Ray, upon which he based his famous film. The translations faced challenges in remaining faithful to the original while transferring culture.

1. Translation As Testimony
Name: Jitendra V. Sumra
Roll No. : 16
Semester : 03
Year : 2012-13
Paper No. : 105
Paper Name :Translation Studies
Dept Of English
Maharaja KrishnkumarSinhji Bhavnagar University

2. Introduction
• Translation means the word is “to turn something from one
language into another ”.
• In Addition , translation is always fraught with uncertainties
as well as the potential for inadvertent „ Spilling over‟ of
idioms and usages from one language into other, producing
linguistic hybrids, for example , „ Franglais‟ [French-English],
„Spanglish‟ [Spanish- English], „Poglish‟ [Polish- English],
and „Hinglis‟ [Hindi – English].

3. • Testimony means a formal statement, especially one given a
court of law.
• No reader of a translation who can read the original work
should expect to be wholly satisfied with the translation, but
in examine the relationship between the translation and the
original, he may not only be able to test how “true” the
translation is but also explore areas of literary understanding
which the process of translation often enters, sometimes
unwittingly.

4. • English literature students in India as other literature
students would benefit from a study of the
discrimination practiced by the translator in each
case.
• Literary critics have been known to act superior to
their subjects and profess to know better than the
author.

5. • We might have conceded some benefit of the doubt to
the translators had they not betrayed themselves
abjectly by seeking corroboration “in a live decision
by others who have in different ways been concerned
with the presentation of our story.

6. • It is commonly assumed, even by literary translators , that
prose fiction is easier to translate than poetry or drama.
That, this is a layman like assumption becomes apparent
whenever we compare translated novel or story with the
original work.
• For demonstrating this to those who cannot read the
original, we would require more than one translation into
the same language.

7. • Although, We have at hand there English versions of “
Panther Panchali”, the first two would not compare as
translations since their natures are so different, while the
first and the third are related in a manner that rules out the
kind of precise comparison that would show that the
translator read a text differently or that they vary in the
reader in translation.

8. Best Example of Translation
• Satyajit Ray‟s First film ,The Novel “Pather
Panchali” drew the attention of those who select
books for the Unesco collection of representative
works and it was accepted in the Indian series of
translation collection.
• „Pather Panchali‟ was begun in April 1925 and
completed on 26 April 1928.

9. • English versions of the success of Satyajit Ray‟s film
„Pather Panchali‟ translator has done more than
translate.
• Along With how to translate [i.e. Tackling, problems
such as fidelity to the original, culture-transfer ,
proper names, forms of address‟ etc.]