old posts

I started this blog in October 2007. Following a series of events I had temporarily frozen the account in February 2008.  I would like to republish a few of the older posts.

1)Domain name suffix now available in Hindi, Chinese…

According to a report published by Christopher Rhoads in Wall Street Journal web users can now write internet addresses in 11 non roman languages. Net users can now type the part of the address like “com” or “org” in Chinese, Hindi, Korean and the like. This development would encourage a huge non English speaking crowd to interact in their native language on the net. Web users in non-Roman language countries need keyboards with typing possibilities in both Roman and local characters to access the Internet. China uses a equivalent, called pinyin, which is then converted into Chinese characters. Surfers with Roman-alphabet keyboards won’t be able to type the non-Roman domain names directly into a Web browser. Instead, they can access the new domain names by clicking on links from search engines or other Web sites.

2)London Agreement

The London Agreement concerning the European Patent translation has generated a lot of debates and controversies in France. It was concluded in London in 2007 between the member states of European Patent organization. According to this agreement pharmaceutical companies implanted in various countries would no longer require to get their patents translated in French. English plays already a predominant role in the European administrative circle. Hence, this agreement which aims at reducing the translation expenditure poses a new threat to” francophonie”. It is yet to be ratified by the French government. Check the following links for details: protocole-de-londres, LondonAgreement

3)From hermeneutics to localization!!

Translation studies and modules in Universities across the world have come a long way. The usual translation studies used to offer (and still do) analytical courses on translator’s point of view. Hermeneutics is one of my favourite approaches where the translator puts himself in the shoes of original author and that of the target reader. The German thinkers and linguists have pioneered this school of thought. As students we use to spend sleepless nights applying Derrida’s deconstruction theory on Kafka’s texts and at the same time learn the basics of international business in interpretation classes. Now the specialized technical translation courses include modules on website and software localization which require the finesse of a translator along with the precision and knowledge of a computer programmer. The range between a software “localizer” and that of a “hermeneutic” translator can be extremely wide. In this era of specialization it can be a minus point. I am trying hard to convert it to a plus!!

4)Necessity of another blog on translation

I am a relative newcomer in the blogging world. In spite of the panoply of blogs authored by professional translators, I realized there are very few serious ones written on the subject by Asians, Indians even fewer. Several discussion threads on relevance and quality of work of Indian translators reveal a strong sense of apprehension. I am not here to champion the cause of professional Indian translators. However it is extremely important for me personally and professionally to explore various reasons of these misconceptions and if possible to clear them. The biggest problem being the “Indian English” which is apparently “no good” for British or American target readers.

5)Translation blues!

I wanted to blog for a long time now, so voilà here is it. I would love to share the ups and downs of translator’s daily life: especially when you deal with no less than 5 languages. There’s literally a world of difference between doing translation in India and in Europe. It took me all of my first year of Masters in France to understand the importance of being a native speaker. It might sound strange and even stupid, but it’s true. When I did a Masters in India (in one of the leading institutions) on translation no one ever raised the issue of how it would be if we live abroad and want to earn our living as translators “there”. Well probably it’s different in U.S. or England, but in France in order to be a credible translator you need to be a native speaker first. It is surely possible to do some small time assignments here and there, but to get a foothold on already crowded market needs basic equipment: the mother tongue. Unfortunately for me I can claim almost 3 languages to be my mother tongue. One can debate whether multilingual education becomes an advantage or a disadvantage, nonetheless it’s necessary to choose an argument and stick to it for better or for worse. For the time being I am hesitant: a little lost and looking for the right discourse to convince the professional world.