THE HISTORY OF TRANSLATION

Saturday, 29 October 2022

The need for translation has existed since time immemorial and
translating important literary works from one language into others has
contributed significantly to the development of world culture. Ideas and forms
of one culture have constantly moved and got assimilated into other cultures
through the works of translators.

The history of translation is related to the history of the often invisible cross
cultural interactions of the world. Ideas and concepts from the East notably
India, China and Iraq have influenced the Western culture since as early as
sixth century B.C. when trade ties were first established between India and
the Mediterranean countries.

Many medical theories of Plato and Galen of Greece had considerable

influence from those of India. Many of the philosophical and scientific works of
ancient Greece were rendered into Arabic as early as the ninth century A.D.
This knowledge spread to Europe via Spain which was a predominantly
Muslim country then.

The school of translators of Toledo in Spain established by Alfonso VI of

Castile and Leon in 1085 AD was responsible for translations from Arabic to
Latin and then to Spanish these scientific and technological work which later
led to the European Renaissance. Despite their key contributions, ancient
translators have often remained unknown or in the background and the credit
due to them have not been acknowledged.

They have done their job with painstaking efforts despite many violent
conflicts that have dotted throughout history. Translators have enabled Holy
Scriptures like the Bible written in esoteric languages like Latin to be
understood by ordinary people by translating them into more common
languages without depending on a few elite priests or the members of clergy
to explain what they contained.

Some translators even had to pay with their life for doing it like the famous
Bible translators Willaim Tyndale who was arrested and executed in Holland
by the king in 1536 for translating the Bible from its original languages into the
common vernacular of English.

Chinese monk Xuanzang is supposed to have translated 74 volumes of

Buddhist scriptures originating from India in to Chinese in 645 AD. One of the
earliest recorded translations of considerable effort in English is perhaps
the translation background of the Bible around 1100 AD.

British translator Constance Garnett made the translating community proud

through her brilliant translations of Russian classics including those of
Turgenev, Gogol, Tolstoy, Chekhov and Dostoyevski in late 19th century.
Another famous translator is Gregory Rabassa who has translated many Latin
American fictions into English.

Dr. Arthur Waley is one of the world’s foremost translators of the twentieth
century of Chinese and Japanese literature into English. The importance of
translation in literature is that more recently Gladys Yang translated
many Chinese classics into English over the last 50 years. Thus translators
have made important contribution over the centuries in dissemination of ideas
and information to a larger audience, in shaping of cultures and in a sense
helped unite the world.

ISTRUCTIONS

1. Please make 5 questions from reading passage above

2. Then prepare your own answer.

3. Deadline of submission tomorrow on Sunday 30 October at 19,00 pm