Writing is the phenomenon of providing bodies to the thoughts. The thoughts / ideas are the souls. They require bodies to become tangible or comprehensible to others. Language is the medium or material with which the sheath that the idea receives is made of. Authoring is writing down one’s own ideas and thoughts. Since it is his own thoughts that the author is penning down, he has the luxury of choosing the words to convey what he wants to. He also has the liberty for re-thought before actually writing them down. Translation on the other hand is the rewriting of an already expressed idea in a different medium. No doubt, one has to be mature in thought and clear in expression for writing effectively, but translation is much more difficult. Difficult because, the translator has the onus of carrying the author’s ideas to another language without adulterating them with his own. Difficult because, the translator has no liberty to put his own views or add his own color to the picture that the author has already painted. While authoring is like painting a new picture on a white canvas, translating is like duplicating the same picture on a different type of canvas using a different brand of colors. It is like providing a glass of different color through which the viewers can view the same picture. At the end of the exercise, the end product should have no residue of the process of translation. When the fundamental ideas expressed and the purpose behind the original work is still alive in the end product, the translation can be said to be fruitful.
Writing is the phenomenon of providing bodies to the thoughts. The thoughts / ideas are the souls. They require bodies to become tangible or comprehensible to others. Language is the medium or material with which the sheath that the idea receives is made of. Authoring is writing down one’s own ideas and thoughts. Since it is his own thoughts that the author is penning down, he has the luxury of choosing the words to convey what he wants to. He also has the liberty for re-thought before actually writing them down. Translation on the other hand is the rewriting of an already expressed idea in a different medium. No doubt, one has to be mature in thought and clear in expression for writing effectively, but translation is much more difficult. Difficult because, the translator has the onus of carrying the author’s ideas to another language without adulterating them with his own. Difficult because, the translator has no liberty to put his own views or add his own color to the picture that the author has already painted. While authoring is like painting a new picture on a white canvas, translating is like duplicating the same picture on a different type of canvas using a different brand of colors. It is like providing a glass of different color through which the viewers can view the same picture. At the end of the exercise, the end product should have no residue of the process of translation. When the fundamental ideas expressed and the purpose behind the original work is still alive in the end product, the translation can be said to be fruitful.
