Vasrha Gajendragadkar is a creative writer and translator. She has authored and translated more than 25 books including children's  books, creative prose, fiction and non- fiction works and environment related writing. She is also the recipient of two state literary awards.

Q: Can you tell us anything about yourself and your job that would surprise us:)? 

A: Basically I am a creative writer and a translator. The number of books authored and translated by me is 25+. As a professional, I am in the field of content creation and development for last 25 years. Besides literary writing and translation I have dealt with variety of assignments like script writing for educational documentaries, storyboard writing for E learning courses, copy writing for advertisements, case study report writing, technical and scientific translations and many more.

I am glad to mention that my story book for children has received the state literary award in the children’s literature section in 2013 and my translated fiction has received the state literary award for best translation in 2014.

Q: What is your personal relationship to language and/or translation?

A:  I am blessed with a strong and rich legacy of literature. My father (Dr. R. C. Dhere) was an erudite literatieur and scholar in the field of ancient literature, culture and folklore. I am born and brought up in a house where books are regarded as a major asset. Naturally I have a closer bond with language and literature. It is not just a medium of expression for me; but language is my identity. So in spite of having a post -graduate degree in science stream, I chose to focus on writing.

As regards translation, I have an intense passion for it. At the age of 22 I dared to start translating a classic and the best seller Gone with The Wind. It was my first ever translated work (It took 11 more years to see the light. It was published in 2009.) I have been in both literary and professional translations for last two decades and madly love translating fiction, especially children stories. My science background is an added advantage for me, since I am able to translate STEM content with more ease.

 Q:  When you’ve been given a story to translate, what’s your process, and how long does it generally take?

A: I read the entire story, first as a reader, to enjoy it. Second time when I read the same, I start retelling it to myself. It helps me to avoid the literal, word to word translation. Then I begin with actual translation. Even after completing the entire story, I read and re read it loudly to bring it maximum close to the original work, still giving the flavor of Marathi language and culture.

It is really difficult to tell the time required for a translation. It can happen so that a seemingly simple and short story is too difficult to translate. In such cases it requires more than 3-4 drafts to make it final and satisfactory.

Q: What do stories in translation bring to young readers?

Similar to original works, translated stories are treasures of entertainment for children. But more than that translations abate the young readers to know different regions with different cultures. In short they introduce children to the broader world and connect them with the distant people. These bonds help for their intellectual and emotional development. Moreover, translations increase the vocabulary and linguistic skills of children, since many a times new word are either coined or used creatively by the translator to bring the exact sense of the original content.  

Q: How did you cultivate the skills needed to translate books for children?

Right from my school age, I happened to read variety of translated books. I read translations of Rabindranath Tagore, Sharadchandra Chattopadhyay, Premchand, Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky, Arthur Conan Doyle and many more. When I began with the translations it was at the back of the mind that the young readers must enjoy the translations like I did. The translated work should be as enriched and interesting as the original work so that children will be able to relate themselves with it. I consciously make it a habit to retell a story to myself, assuming that I am a child. This makes me think and select the appropriate words and phrases that would be close to the children’s world. I am always agile that my translations should help them cross socio-cultural boundaries without feeling they are doing so. I am of the opinion that translation is not entirely related to developing skills. It is related to your ability to unite with soul of the original author and what it requires is sensitivity, more than the skills.

Q: You’ve translated many stories for us. Which has been your favourite to work on?

A: I have translated more than 30 stories for Pratham Books. It is really a wonderful bouquet of variety of stories originated by writers across India. Actually it is difficult to name any one but I have enjoyed translating ‘’What Happened to the Old Shawl?”  and 'Neelumbera on a Full Moon Night”.

Q: What is the hardest thing about translating from English into Marathi? How do you navigate words or phrases that are tricky to translate?

A: There are two major challenges in translating English fiction. Socio-cultural disparities and different literary expressions create hurdles in translation process. Secondly, it is as difficult as a rope walk. On one hand you have to stick to the original work (means you have limited freedom) and on the other hand you should be careful not to create a corrupt copy.

When there are no parallel words or phrases in Marathi, I squeeze out the essence of the content and re formulate the same so as to bring an original flavor. The words I use may not be of the same meaning but they underline the same emotions.

Q: How do you feel when your story reaches the child?

A: It is an ultimate delight when your creation is the hands of those for whom it is targeted. I do feel that translation is a creation just like the original work.  In fact, it is more difficult and complex a creation since you have limited freedom.

Q: How else do you think we can join hands to take more stories to more children in more languages.

A: As far as I know, currently we are translating the stories mostly from English or Hindi. We can also do the other way. Stories from regional languages can also be translated into English and Hindi and then taking them into other regional languages.  As for expanding the reach, we can always join hands with the schools and NGOs working for children.

Q: Can you tell us a bit about the xx translation community?

A: Marathi has a long tradition of translated works. Many known authors have translated very good books from both regional and foreign languages. For last couple of decades many versatile translators have come up in Marathi and they have effectively translated both fiction and non -fiction work from variety of languages. The number of youngsters interested in translations is also on rise. Translation as a profession is also blooming with speed for last few years.

 Q:What type of person do you think makes the best translator for children’s stories? 

A: In my opinion, a sensitive and creative person having literary skills will be able to translate children’s stories.

Q: Do you have any advice for anyone interested in becoming a translator?

 A: I would like to suggest them that keep reading, keep writing and keep rehearsing until you are able to bring the intensity of the original work in the translation. Let translation become your passion, before it becomes your profession.

Q: A book you'd like to recommend to other translators?

A: Stories by Hans Chistian Anderson. He is a Danish author. And his enigmatic fairy tales are translated into English by H. P.Paull and some other writers. Some of his stories have also been translated earlier into Marathi. But there is surely much scope to retranslate those and take up some more. They are really mesmerizing.  

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We're very fortunate to have such an wonderfully enthusiastic community of readers, authors, translators and illustrators. This International Translation Day, we'd like to share with you the reflections of a group of translators who attended our Bengali Hackathon earlier this year. The contributors to this article all belong to the student community. While Sreejita Majumdar did her schooling from Patha Bhavan, graduation from Calcutta University and post graduation diploma in Public Relations and Multimedia. She has also done an internship with the news channel 24 Ghanta and is currently learning Spanish from JU. Her hobby is painting and her passion lies in football, films and animals. Ankita Basu has done her schooling from B.D Memorial and is currently pursuing her graduation from Calcutta University. She's passionate about films, books and writing. Banhi Sarkar has done her schooling from Gokhale Memorial and graduated from Calcutta University. She loves films and books as well and is interested in writing. 

A bunch of us got the unique opportunity to take part in a translation workshop as arranged by StoryWeaver on the weekend of 30th June and 1st July, 2018. The group included people from diverse backgrounds, such as school teachers, students, college professors and language enthusiasts. We had a great time translating quite a few stories over the two days and decided to give a feedback on the same so that it helps in further improving the translation workshops to be held in future.

It was a very unique experience in terms of both learning and working on the given stories set to translate. Even for participants in the group who have been to other translation workshops before, this one was more engaging and enjoyable with a much more prompt delivery of the assigned work. We all got to meet a lot of new people with the same interests and passion in the field of translation. The fact that the participants ranged from school teachers to college professors to students made it a very dynamic group to work with. The coordinators provided a very free and relaxed environment, which made the experience all the more pleasurable.

It was definitely a challenge to work on children’s stories. None of us had realized previously that translating for adults and translating for children could be two completely opposite poles of the same spectrum. But working in small teams and pre-assigned two to three stories eased the way. We could engage in discussions, ask for advice when in confusion and help out others, all within the stipulated time. The two days period seemed to fly by, and though it was tiresome, it was equally productive and satisfying.

However, we did face some challenges in the way which led us to discussions on ways to improve the experience even further for future translators. There were certain aspects we all agreed on regarding the difficulties we faced. We realized since our target audience is children, care needs to be taken to make sure that the words we choose not just have literal significance but that they are both easy and understandable and can fall under the regular vocabulary of a child. For example, in this story there were quite a few words that had to be translated keeping in mind the vocabulary of the children of level 2 in the Bengali translation of  The Louse's New House.

The Bengali language is so vast, rich and diverse that it becomes a further challenge to aptly translate all kinds of work from English to Bengali across the entire expanse of its existence. Throughout Bengal, there exists numbers of dialects and forms of the language. As a result, it is important to keep in mind that the translated work should be universal in the sense that it can appeal to a child of both the urban city and the rural village within the same state. For example, we faced situations where a particular word may sound totally innocent on hearing at first, but on further probe, we discovered it may have a negative connotation in a different dialect. So a detailed knowledge about such contradictory words and situations need to be there within the team for effective translation. Also, in the following story for example, there was much pondering over the correct translated word of ‘smooth’ in Bengali that could rightfully carry over the intended meaning from the English to the Bengali version of the story Stick Your Tongue Out!  

There were quite a few words related to sound that more or less all the teams came across in one or all of their stories during translation. One such example is Miss Laya Starts Her Fantastic Motorbike in Bengali. That’s when we faced difficulty to find the exact word in Bengali that would correspond to the one already used in English. Since it’s quite common to come across such words in children’s stories, we feel it would be great if there was a reference book where all commonly appeared sound words could be listed along with their regional counterparts and their varying connotations. That would save a lot of time and confusion the next time we translate any story containing such words.

Since this is truly a one of a kind endeavour, it would be highly appreciated if more publicity could be done regarding this platform. More schools need to be aware of it so that they can include the exercise of reading translated stories to their children across different classrooms and thereby lead to a much wider readership. As already discussed at the end of our workshops, many teachers who participated in it decided to take it forward to their schools and start a curriculum based on reading of these translated stories to their students.

It would be very effective if the future workshops could involve people from varying regions and state, in short a cross-regional/national workshop where teachers, translators and writers could participate and interact on a much wider scale to bring about more and more significant children’s stories to light. This could lead to a discovery of more unique works, which usually remain confined within the geographical boundaries, and can reach more children beyond language and cultural barriers.It’s important to keep a balance between the variety of stories being translated and worked upon for children. New ideas and concepts are always welcoming, but we could also work on the classics in each language which may be quite famous in that particular language and thus known to the children of that mother tongue but perhaps remain unknown in other languages. This could help translate the works of authors in regional languages as well.

 

In short, it was a beautiful and cherishable experience that we all hope to continue beyond the workshop in future. We wish all the very best and give our warm wishes to the entire team of StoryWeaver and Pratham Books for their future endeavours.

You can read all the stories translated at the hackathon here. 

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StoryWeaver Spotlight aims to shine the light on members of the wonderful community of translators who help bring stories alive in new languages through their translation efforts. This week, we turn the spotlight on Sarita Sharan. Sarita is a passionate teacher, who uses stories to pass on information in a fun way to her students and her two kids. She works at a primary school in Badami Taluk, Bagalakot district. She often visits underserved communities and strives to convince drop-outs to continue schooling. Science, English and Maths are her favorite subjects. She has translated 11 books to Kannada for Pratham Books including Whpopee Hyperloop, Neelumbera on a Full Moon Night and  Anna's Extraordinary Experiments with Weather.

Q:  What type of person do you think makes the best translator for children’s stories?

A:  Someone who works closely with children: teachers and storytellers, for example.   

Q: Do you have any advice for anyone interested in becoming a translator?

A: If you can revisit your childhood and think and narrate like a child you are almost half way towards becoming a translator.

Q: A Book you'd like to recommend to other translators?

 I don’t see any set rules for this, it really depends on each piece of work and the way you want to communicate. For me, reading updated STEM curriculum, boosts my efficiency.

Q: What is your personal relationship to language and/or translation?

A: It is just like the relationship between a student and a teacher. A language is so rich, so versatile, so essential to communication.

Q: When you’ve been given a story to translate, what’s your process, and how long does it generally take?

A: I read the whole story a couple of times. And, imagine narrating the same to my students before I begin. How long? Ha ha! It depends on my schedule,

Q: What do stories in translation bring to young readers?

I think the highlight of translated stories is that they bring diversity, and introduce readers to different cultures and places. Kids really just enjoy the variety.

Q: You’ve translated stories for us. Which has been your favourite to work on?

I liked Neelambara on a Full Moon Night, Sailing Ships and Sinking Spoons, Who Made Tomato Chutney and the Annamani story. They were were my favourites. I really liked the concepts and the way they were told as stories.

  

Q: What is the hardest thing about translating from English into Kannada? How do you navigate words or phrases that are tricky to translate??

A: I think common sense quotient works here. It’s just about the concept as a whole and the way you narrate in your language. I think my profession has equally helped me in this regard.  

Q: How do you feel when your story reaches the child?

Wow! That’s an amazing feeling. I feel like a student who’s waiting for results.

Q: Translating stories must have required research when it came to STEM related terms and concepts.. How did you explore new objects and concepts?

Like I said, I refer to the latest curriculum related to STEM concepts. So, it clears my confusion and difficulty while translating too. 

Q: How else do you think we can join hands to take more stories to more children in more languages.

My wish is that we reach almost every school in every nook and corner as a group till books reach the last child. I personally prefer print formats for this , as the feel of a book is sacred.   

Q: As a passionate teacher, story teller what do you think is the best way to approach a child?

Be a child while translating, narrating. That’s all!!

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