1. Lecture Code: PS_L.9
ENGL 559: Postcolonial Studies UNIT 1: KEY CONCEPTS “Postcolonial Translations” by Susan Bassnett
Min Pun, PhD, Associate Professor
Dept of English, PN Campus
Pokhara
12 November 2018

2. Introduction: Defining Translation
Translation is an act or process of transferring a piece of writing or speech from one language into another. It is also an act of rewriting of a text from one language to another.
In Latin, the word ‘translation’ (translatus in Latin) refers to ‘relocation’ that comes from the verb transferre (in Latin) meaning ‘to carry across’.
3 elements involve in the act of translation: the source, the translator (double responsibility) and the target, which can be presented in this way:
Translator
Target
Source
The Author
Language Context
The Reader

3. The Freedom of the Translator
There always arises the fundamental question of the translator whether he or she is free to translate someone else’s text.
There are two claims about the freedom of the translator. Some translation theorists claim that the translator should have freedom in translating someone else’s text because the translator is fully responsible to translate someone else’s text.
But others claim that the translator cannot translate the culture of the source (original) language. So he or she is not free. In this case, in the dedication to his translation of The Aeneid (1697), John Dryden depicts the translator as unfree, the translator as slave.

4. Translation and Power
Translation is all about the power relationship between two cultures, and between two languages. For instance, some cultures are perceived as marginal, others as dominant; similarly, some languages are considered as marginal, others as dominant.
In The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures, Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin state that the crucial function of language is as a medium of power.
Since the language has power, the colonizers use their language to dominate the colonized people. In the similar way, through the use of language, in translating, the colonized people can neutralize the dominance of the colonizers.

5. Contd….
So translation plays a crucial role in the reclaiming and re-evaluating of a people’s language and literature.
For instance, Shakespeare was considered a model in India not only for great writing but also for moral superiority and his works were translated into Indian languages. This means that European languages and literatures were considered powerful through translation. This translation equally helped empower the colonized peoples as well.
Another example is given in the projection of Caliban character in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. In the play, Caliban is angry because he has lost his own language and is powerless because he was taught another language (English). In this way, like Caliban, the colonized people are powerless because of the foreign language they are taught by the colonizers.

6. The Translated Colony
In essence, colonies were established for valuable raw materials, new markets and commercial gain.
In this process, the colonizers also exported their European culture. For instance, the Bible was translated into many Indian languages. As a result, many Indians were changed their religion and became Christians.
So one of the effective means of establishing colony is through translation. It means that the Europeans used translation to colonize the African, Caribbean, Middle Eastern, and Asian countries around the world.

7. Postcolonial Translation Strategies
The different postcolonial translation theorists have suggested many different techniques of translation. Chantal Zabus suggests two kinds of techniques (strategies) that are used in Africa: cushioning and contextualisation. The technique of cushioning involves elaborating the text with explanatory words or phrases whereas contextualisation involves creating a context in which African words and phrases can function with a significance for readers unfamiliar with them.

8. Postcolonial Translation Strategies
Another technique of translation comes from Latin America. Octavio Paz suggests the idea of setting free the translator to carry across the targeted texts as are composed within certain linguistic boundaries into another space and time.
Similarly, the Brazilian translation theorist De Campos suggests that the translator needs to use the original as a starting point and then having understood the text to produce his own unique work in the form of translation. This method is similar to Caliban’s way of learning language and translating the text by the European colonizers.

9. Cultural Translation
Translation always involves a journey between a point of origin and a target destination, which is called ‘inbetweenness’ of translation. As Homi Bhabha suggests that it is this space that ‘carries the burden of the meaning of culture’. So the problem of translation is cultural because we cannot translate others’ culture.
Similarly, another translation theorist suggests that there is always a tension between textual translation and cultural translation.
In short, postcolonial translation involves complex encounters with new situations such as mixing textures, beliefs, materials and languages, creating hybrid types of texts.

10. Conclusion
In conclusion, postcolonial writers, translators, and literary critics and theorists consistently engage with translation. Here, the politics of language is a key to all sorts of postcolonial activities.
Translation also involves transferring texts across boundaries of language and culture. So translation is a powerful tool to understand each other’s languages and cultures (colonizers to understand colonized peoples and colonized to colonizing countries).

11. Associate Professor, Dept of English Tribhuvan University
Min Pun, PhD
Associate Professor, Dept of English
Tribhuvan University
Prithvi Narayan Campus, Pokhara
Website: