Learning Translation-2: The Building Blocks

We just spoke about kernel sentences. In the translation process, we could look at simple sentences when we begin. Those are the easiest to translate for the beginner. But the moment, you add few things to that simple sentence, your beginner translation student starts getting fidgety and doesn't know where to turn.

Ok, let us look at few examples. We are going to use Hindi examples as an illustration. I'll write Hindi in Unicode, so, it would be easily accessible. I'll also try to give a transliteration as far as possible.

1. A simple S-V-O sentence would be: I am a teacher. The Hindi would be मैं एक शिक्षक हूँ [Transliteration: main ek shikshak hun] --where the sentence is written in Hindi as 'I (Subject) a teacher (Object) am (Verb)'.

Now, we can complicate issues a bit. Let us look at the simple sentence: I am a teacher and now, let us add one more sentence to it.

2. The new sentence would be: I am a teacher and my name is Roomy. This is still not a very difficult sentence to translate but it is more difficult than the earlier one. The Hindi would be मैं एक शिक्षक हूँ और मेरा नाम रूमी है [Transliteration: main ek shikshak hun aur mera naam Roomy hai]--where the sentence is written in Hindi as 'I -- a teacher --am --and --my name -- Roomy -- is.'

The second sentence is still not a difficult one. But we can further complicate issues now. So, let us add few things more to the second sentence and see how the third one looks to us.

3. The new sentence would be: I am a teacher and my name is Roomy and I was named after Rumi.. This is slightly difficult than the earlier one. But there is some ambiguity inbuilt here. The Hindi would be मैं एक शिक्षक हूँ और मेरा नाम रूमी है और मेरा नाम रुमी के ऊपर रखा गया था [Transliteration: main ek shikshak hun aur mera naam Roomy hai aur mera naam Rumi ke upar rakha gaya tha]. Of course, the audience should be aware of Rumi.

Now, we can make the sentence even more difficult. Let's look at the next one.

4. The fourth sentence would be: I am a teacher and my name is Roomy and I was named after Rumi, the great poet and Sufi and I am quite proud of my name. This is getting difficult now. This is the point when the beginner translation student would normally throw up his/her hands in despair. The Hindi would be: मैं एक शिक्षक हूँ और मेरा नाम रूमी है और मेरा नाम रुमी के उपर रखा गया था, जो एक बड़े शायर व सूफ़ी थे और मुझे अपने नाम पर गर्व है [Transliteration: main ek shikshak hun aur mera naam Roomy hai aur mera naam Rumi ke upar rakha gaya tha, jo ek bade shaayar v sufi the aur mujhe apne naam per garv hai].

I'm going to publish this post but I'm going to further illustrate the same point in another post soon. I would like to further complicate the fourth sentence.