constructing pathways to translation - Higher Education Commission

196
Paul St Pierre reiterates the concept of translation as national building in the following
words:
The importance of translation can
be located on the fact that translation brings the
readers, writers, and critics of one nation into contact with those of others, not
only in the field of literature, but in all areas of human development: science and
philosophy, medicine, political science, law and religion. Translation in the way
plays an essential role in determining how a nation establishes its identity in term
of others, be this through opposition to foreign influences, through ‘assimilation’
or ‘naturalization’ of the foreign, or through imitation of all others, usually
dominant culture…………..Translation is a social practice with a definite role to
play with in the given society, serving in a sense as a form of selection process
restricting, conditioning, and in any case modulating cultural immigration.
Through translation nations define themselves and in doing so they define others’
(Das,1998:68).
With the advent of the British power in the South Asian subcontinent and with the spread
of English education, a new value-structure emerged in Pakistan. In this value structure
everything British was considered to be inherently good. In literature, especially, the
most obvious consequence of this colonial value scheme and system was as
indiscriminate institutionalization of English literature. The basic idea behind such an
indiscriminate translation activity was that
the more the translation from English the
stronger the national status and prestige. When translation activity in a given colonized
language grows disproportionately, it becomes completely out of tune with its natural
growth and development. That is how the indigenous languages get marginalized, and
foreign one’s come to the centre stage. Most of the translations from English into Urdu
are in prose. This colonial legacy is so firmly rooted in the contemporary literary culture
of the sub-continent, that the purely linguistics and neutral theories of translation would
be inadequate to understand the politically motivated colonial translation activity. In
order to achieve a satisfactory analysis of Pakistani translation activity initiated by
colonialism, linguistic theories and practices need to be supported by an awareness of
colonial discourses. This is most noticeable in the translation analysis of ‘Khuda ki
Basti’, and ‘Oddas Neslein’ , which are entirely embedded in post-colonial frame work,