| 423.12.2.8 : OFFICIALESE TRANSLATION |
| Officialese literature is either constitutional or non-constitutional. It can be broadly categorized for the convenience of understanding: |
|
| |
1. |
Non Constitutional material is known as procedural material as well. Earlier the Central Hindi Directorate was responsible for translating all these material into Hindi upto 1970 but it was later handed over to Home Ministry which was responsible for handling all the Official - Language and an agency was set up known as Central Bureau of Translation (CBT) in 1971. This Bureau translated all the official texts of Government of India produced by all the subordinate offices, bodies and companies. The Bureau was assisted in the process of translation by the concerned departments either at the time of preparation of final draft or at the due time of their revision. |
2. |
As far as the translation of the technical draft is concerned CBT has been exempted from this responsibility. Now Post and Telegraph Office / Ministry, Railway Ministry, Defence Ministry etc. have to translate their literature themselves. This decision was due to two reasons: firstly these organizations are very large and it was difficult for CBT to translate their material with its limited sources. Secondly, the nature of translation being purely technical it was not possible to contact the subject experts each and every time to the Bureau. So, it was a wise decision taken by the Government that these Ministires and departments may appoint personnels for translating their literature. |
3. |
Translation of less important material is to be undertaken now within the departments of Ministries by their own staff, appointed for this purpose. Recently several groups have begun developing computer assisted translation systems for official purposes with official idioms and lexis compiled in dictionaries. |
|
| |
| 423.12.2.10 : PROBLEMS OF OFFICIALESE TRANSLATION |
| A few salient Problems of Translation of Officialese literature is discussed here: |
i) |
Terminology- Though various Government institutions and Commissions are working in this field such as CSTT, CHD etc., which have devised the "Samekit Prashaasan Shabdavalii" and consolidated technical terminologies, still there is a tendency of inappropriate use of technical terms. Using more than one term for the same concept is a common problem which is discussed in the forthcoming sub-units of this lesson. One reason may be that the translators are rarely in the habit of consulting a terminology coining their own terms. Newmark (1981) suggests that the knowledge of 'Etymology' is necessary in translating documents. To translate some difficult words, the translator must see the etymology of the SL word which may help him to find out the exact TL word. |
| |
Sometimes for many English words we find only one equivalent in Hindi, which does not convey all the shades of meaning of the same word in SL, creating a problem of ambiguity for readers and translators as well. Legal or technical translation is influenced by this. A few words can be listed to support this view: |
|
| |
|
