Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Lost in translation

Scholars from around the world have been discussing the glory of Tamil this week. Chief minister Karunanidhi has said that all Tamil literary treasures should be translated. Though people translating from Tamil are in the spotlight, the quiet men and women who take masterpieces from other languages and render them in Tamil say there isn't much support for their kind of work.

There are few takers for the idea that a language keeps evolving if enriched by thought from other cultures. "Most people who translate from other languages into Tamil are doing it for the pure love of it. There isn't any recognition, local government support or monetary gain," says E Sriram, former president of Alliance Francaise de Madras who has been translating French books into Tamil from 1980. His repertoire includes works of Albert Camus, Alexandre Dumas, Guy de Maupassant, Jean-Paul Sartre and Moliere.

Full report here Times of India

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