Process-Product Interface in Literary Translation from Nepali into English

Abstract

Nepal has more than a six-decade-long history of translating Nepali literature into English. During this period, several Nepali-English translators have played an instrumental role in opening up the Nepali creative voice and vision to English readers. Despite this, there is a paucity of comprehensive studies on Nepali-English translation. Against this historical backdrop, the present study entitled Process-Product Interface in Literary Translation from Nepali into English aimed to explore the processes followed by Nepali-English translators and analyze their products. To this end, the study adopted the mixed-methods design that combined process-oriented and product-oriented translation research methodologies. The study employed qualitative semi- structured interview, and production task, retrospective interview and reflective writing to collect process data respectively from twenty published translators (PTs), and process and product data from thirty learner translators (LTs). Both groups of participants were selected purposively. Product data constituted LT-generated ninety texts comprising thirty English translations of ten Nepali short stories and additional sixty interim versions, whereas process data comprised thirty retrospective interviews with and thirty reflective writings by LTs and twenty interviews with PTs. Different theories of interpretation (e.g. Poulet 1969, Steiner, 1975; Recoeur, 1976; Buhler, 2002), Nida and Taber’s (1982) model of translation process, PACTE Group’s (2005) model of translation competence, and Waddington’s (2001) translation assessment framework served as the theoretical foundation for the study.

Findings were analyzed and discussed under three thematic headings: LTs’ translation process, LTs’ products, and PTs’ translation process. The findings concerning the translation process reveal that LTs did not differ significantly from PTs in the processes they followed in the interpretation of source texts and their regeneration in the target language. Both groups of translators showed the tendency of reading the source text at least twice before regenerating it in the target language and adopted the combination of holistic and atomistic approaches of reading. The analysis of translation products, however, shows the majority of LTs' failure to transfer the process knowledge to translation performance. They failed to employ translation strategies creatively and exploit translation resources optimally to produce English texts exhibiting two-way fidelity. Moreover, two-thirds of LTs’ translations suffered from language and translation errors, revealing their substandard competence in the (re)production of English texts. One of the significant findings to emerge from this study is that experienced translators (i.e. PTs), unlike learner translators, assumed the writerly position during translation and strongly identified literary translation as a creative endeavor, underscoring creative elements such as imaginative reading, decision-making, and aesthetic pleasure inherent in the translation process.

The study is expected to contribute to our understanding of the nature of translation processes and quality of translation products, and an implied interface between them, which, in turn, would contribute to translation teaching and training. Given Nepali learner translators’ substandard competence in the production of English texts, the study sees the necessity of incorporating English teaching into Nepali-English translation courses. Findings also point out the necessity of training prospective literary translators in revising and editing translations to ensure the accuracy of content transfer and the quality of language.