One could begin by translating short pieces and submitting them to online journals and magazines. And a grasp over two languages is absolutely essential. Would you say that people with a good grasp of two languages can take up translation as a career? How would you suggest a young person go about it, in that case?ĪS: I wouldn’t look at translation as a career, for it won’t pay the bills, but certainly as a passion that can sustain one’s intellectual life. I’m not sure about the demand for translations into Bengali, however. The total demand is probably higher now for translations into English, not just from Bengali but from other non-English Indian languages too. Is the demand for translated works – both fiction and non-fiction, literary or otherwise – on the rise? Bengali to English or English to Bengali?ĪS: The demand is of two kinds - from the publishers and from the readers - though the latter influences the former, of course.
The challenges included long sentences, a variety of registers, the use of dialect, the inclusion of verse and the overall sense of magic that had to be conveyed through English.
How has the experience of translating Khwabnama into English been like? What were some of the challenges you faced with this text?ĪS: It was an exhilarating experience because of the excitement of recreating the complexity and beauty of Akhtaruzzaman Elias’s prose.
0 kommentar(er)
