FIRCDEL

© Muzibar Rahaman Biplab

In order to carry out its mission of making contemporary French literature available to Indian readers, the French Book Office organised from the 31st august untill 4th september a translation workshop in collaboration with IGNOU university and the School of Translation Studies and Training and School of Foreign Languages

Considering the shortage of literary translators, of literary translators from the French language, and the even more acute shortage of translators from French into vernacular languages, the aim of the workshop was to create a pool of trained literary translators in 4 major Indian languages : Bengali, Hindi, Marathi & Tamil. Indeed, as Marielle Morin, the director of the Book Office, said “we really need to find young and motivated literary translators who would be good in French, and proficient in their mother tongue. Especially since the demand seems to be growing

The call for applications was launched through Universities, the Alliance Française network as well as through other professional networks (French Teachers' Associations, UGC, Rajbhasha Department, Sahitya Akademis, etc.).

IGNOU, Indira Gandhi National Open University, has thrown open its doors to this initiative and permitted us to hold all the sessions in their convention centre as well as host all the participants in their guest houses.

For the master classes of the workshop, Prof. Marie-Françoise Cachin came from France. Prof. Cachin is not only a distinguished translator into French of English or American classics like John-Stuart Mill, Mary Wollstonecraft, or Henry James, but is also an academic (Professor Emerita of British literature and Book History) and has long taught translation studies at Paris Sorbonne University.

For the practical sessions, the best specialists and practitioners of literary translation in their respective languages were invited. Indeed, the four of them represent the ideal combination “of a fine knowledge of French, a mastery over a regional language and its literary nuances and an interest in French literature” as explained Mrs Morin.

Prestigious translators Dr Sharad Chandra, Dr Chimnoy Guha, Prof Jayant Dhupkar and Mr Venkataraman Sriram all came to attend the program and to teach and pass on the torch to a new generation of literary translators.

After this first ever initiative to train 20 young translators (under 35 years) from French into these four Indian languages, a symposium took place at India International Centre with the presence of HE Jérôme Bonnafont, Ambassador of France to India and Mr Omprakash Mishra, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of IGNOU.

Amongst the panelists were translator Sharad Chandra, writer Ira Pande, publisher Nameeta Gupta, Institut Cervantes New Delhi Director Oscar Pujol. The Ambassador underlined the importance of translation in a globalized context, where as the Pro-vice-Chancellor supported the motion and elaborated IGNOU's special attention in this domain.

The panelists discussed at large the implication of translation directly from the source language and the obstacles of translation in a post colonial situation.

This operation was a great succes and revealed the need for professionalisation of literary translation in the Indian book industry and the emergency of creating a new net of young translators able to convince their publishers.
Considering the emerging interest on this matter the French Book Office is determined not to end this workshop here as a ponctual event, and expect to create an annual national appointement which could be followed by regional events.