|
>The audience seems to be the Non-Assamese
speakers in other states.
My point is if somebody has taken
the trouble of translating Assamese literature into English, then why limit the
audience to non Assamese English speaking Indians only. Why not try to make the
International English speakers the audience. If not now may be later or expand
gradually. After all it is the mailing cost to Mumbai or to London or New
York. So the name should be selected carefully. If it is an English
magazine, my first suggestion will be to name an straight English
name. Pick some catchy word from Shakespeare (say) so that an
international English reader anywhere will understand and be
interested. Once we have good name, and good content, then it can be
marketed and mailed to anywhere in the world. An English name will be
better accpeted even in the other NE states who will have hard time
undertsanding either Jatra or yatraa. Why we are torturing the non
Sanskrit and non Assamese reader? Frankly speaking with a name like 'Jatra' or
'Yatraa' it will be difficult for any of us to push in the English world.
And frankly speaking what that Assamese or Sanskrit name will serve? Why not
pick up a Latin name may be, the parent of English language. May be the
Latin word for Journey will do better. Why we cannot get out of Sanskrit
world even when we have the chance and freedom? This is what I call being
chained which is like being influenced with an invisible glue.
RB
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 3:15
PM
Subject: Re: [Assam] Yaatra, Garioshi
etc
Barua,
>If your audience
is English speakers in the broad world, why not give an English name like
A >LITERARY JOURNEY
Apparently they are not. The
audience seems to be the Non-Assamese speakers in other states. They of course
would understand 'Yatraa' as opposed to 'Jatra'.
But being a guy who wants to please all
quarters, I suggest (taking a cue from you), the name ought to something like
this:
Jatra
(An Assamese Journey)
That should explain all to the casual observer,
don't you think.
But I do join you in congratulating the author
for taking the pains to translate the literary works into
English.
> I see how our Assamese
mind is influenced and rather chained by pan Indian pan Sanskrit
culture
Influenced, yes. But chained? I
am not sure. Assamese literature has been thriving with and without the help
of other languages. But languages do influence each other.
--Ram
On 2/14/06, Rajen
Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>But if the language is English, the audience is non-Assamese, then
Jatra may not sell as much - from a
marketing stand point. The word 'Jatra' may not carry the
>meaning journey in some other languages, but Yatraa
might.
Now if the magazine is really
meant for English speaking audience, what an American or British will
reader understand by the word Yatraa or Jatra?.
Nothing. Both are equally
meaningless to him. If your audience is English speakers in the
broad world, why not give an English name like A LITERARY
JOURNEY or something else in English? Why you are bringing a
Sanskrit word in between the Assamese literature and English
audience?
From that angle
actually the name Yatraa is even more meaningless,
because looking at the name a non Indian English reader will never buy that
magazine unless there is a quick 5 second explanation in every front cover
of the magazine first how to pronounce Yatraa (That Y as in Yes, a as in UP,
aa as in father etc) then what is the meaning (Journey), a completely non
profitable proposition I would say. By that time probably the customer will
loose his attention to something more catchy.
Now while being critical of the
name I really laud the idea and the effort and adventure in trying to
publish such an magazine, Assamese literature in English translation, which
we need very badly. I simply hope the producers would not take my criticism
for the magazine but just for the name of the magazine, I think they are not
deeply thinking about how the name will be received by an American or
British or Japanese reader looking at the magazine suddenly in their
libraries (say).
Please don't mind, in all
these, I see how our Assamese mind is influenced and rather chained by pan
Indian pan Sanskrit culture. We need to come out free as an Assamese
soul.
RB
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 2:25
PM
Subject: Re: [Assam] Yaatra, Garioshi
etc
Barua,
In Assamese we pronounce it as 'Jatra' and thats as it should be. I
have no problems with your arguements there, and agree that the magazine
be named as such.
But let us look at it from a different angle. The magazine 'Yatraa'
is an English language magazine (so I guess the audience is the rest of
India). If they were targetting an Assamese audience, then Jatra would be
the right way.
"An English
language journal named Yaatra is all set to bring
Assamese literature to readers, writes Utpal Borpujari"
But if the language is English, the audience is non-Assamese, then
Jatra may not sell as much - from a
marketing stand point. The word 'Jatra' may not carry the
meaning journey in some other languages, but Yatraa
might.
Now if your argument is that
proper name can have any spelling (which is right in a way) , then why we
are trying to change the name of Assam to Asom at all?. Why we changed the
name of Gauhati to Guwahati, Calcutta to Kolkata, Bombay to Mumbai etc .
Why? These are all just proper names after all.
I agree with your
assessment as you had indicated in a previous post regarding the
historical significance to the English names and so they be kept the same
way.
I brought it up because the
example you gave that "Gauhati University" remains the same (even though
the city has changed its name). I think it should be so.
Not being a linguist of any
means, I was thinking only from a marketing point of view.
What if we were to translate
these Assamese language stories for German readers? What title would you
suggest so as to marketl the magazine in Germany?
--Ram
On 2/14/06, Rajen
Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
You are right in a way. We
can right proper name any whichever way we want to write. I can
write Barua in so many different ways.But please think again what you
are talking about.
Gariyoshi is an Assamese magazine. I am
not asking that Gariyashi should change the name because I am saying so.
People will pronounce it GARIOSHI, a pronunciation which does not have
any meaning in Assamese language, and that may be perfectly all right to
Gariyoshi people. Let them rest in haven.
But if you are
saying if it has the proper Assamnese Roman transliteration like
GORIOXI instead of Sanskrit as it is now, Assamese people
will not buy it outside Assam? (If you are right, then I would say that
is the problem of the Assamese people. They want their big brother's
approval. That actually more than proves my point. Assamese people are
suffering from a bigger inferiority complex then I would like to
think.)
Like Gorioxi,
Yatraa is a magazine with an Assamese name with a
meaning. People will pronounce it YATRAA the way it is
written, a pronunciation which does not have any meaning in
Assamese. Now I would imagine, when the producer named it YATRAA
he had some idea probably have the Assamese meaning in mind.
Although these are proper names, these have Assamese meaning.
(Conversely, imagine writing the word JARNI = Journey in Assamese as
JARONI for a name of a magazine, and calling it OK because it is just a
name of a magazine? It is exactly like it. People will pronounce
it as JARONI which pronunciation does not have any meaning in
English. But one may always argue to deaths with backward logic
and win. I have seen many. And life goes perfectly all right.)
But I thought it my sacred
duty to point out to the Assamese people what is right and what is
wrong. So far proper Assamese Roman spelling is concerned,
XADIN, PROTIDIN, JONOMBHUMI, XONGKORDEV, XOTRIA, OXOM, XIBOXAGOR
etc are the proper phonetic spellings which
represent proper Assamese pronunciation. (The letter A as used
by Hindi and Sanskrit for Hosro A, for vowel sound like U as in UP, does
not represent the Assamese O sound of OXOM etc) So if we name
ASOM, people will read USOM and definitely not OXOM. Now that may be
perfectly all right to the Assamese (or shall we say Asomese)
people. And life will go on.
Now if your argument is
that proper name can have any spelling (which is right in a way) , then
why we are trying to change the name of Assam to Asom at all?. Why we
changed the name of Gauhati to Guwahati, Calcutta to Kolkata, Bombay to
Mumbai etc . Why? These are all just proper names after all.
Please think your logic
again.
What I am saying, you are
right just for the sake of argument, but not right for the context we
are discussing.
Assamese peole are doing it
wrong since Yandabu Xondhi. That does not mean we need to conitnue with
our errors. We need to do a beginning for correction.
RB
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006
8:35 AM
Subject: Re: [Assam] Yaatra
Please forgive me for butting in.
Barua, as this a 'proper' name of a magazine, why should any
attempt be made to change it.
A word like 'Gorioxi' in a magazine that is
interested in marketing itself outside the NE might have the same
problems of Asom/Axom we were discussing yesterday.
I think there is a contradiction
somewhere.
On 2/14/06, utpal borpujari <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
Dear Shreejut Barua,
Thanks for your mail. You definitely have a point about how we
should write Assamese words in English. This is the name given to
the journal by its publishers, the North-East Foundation. I am sure
if you also send this mail to Dr Dhruba Jyoti Borah, who is the man
behind this positive endeavour (since this is probably the first
time ever that an independent effort has been made to take
contemporary Assamese literature to the outside world), they will
look positively into your suggestions.
With regards,
Utpal Borpujari / New Delhi
Yatraa
????
This Roman
spelling is another creation of Ignorant Assamese
scholars!!
Assamese
language has only one a-kar
pronounciation (unlike Hindi and Sanskrit).
Therefore the
'yatraa' in Assamese Roman Script should be written by a
single vowel a as written for the first
vowel. In Hindi and Sanskrit, they have two a
sounds. Don't follow them.
Second, in
Assamese Y is pronounced as YO not JO.
So the correct Roman translation of the word Yatraa should be Jatra.
Similarly the
name of the megazine GARIYOSHI should
be GORIOXI.
Ignorant
Assamese scholars should try to learn and stand for original
Assamese creation and not follow big brother Indian
brothers.
Rajen
Barua
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, February 13,
2006 4:56 AM
Subject: [Assam]
Yaatra
Hi all. I had recently written an article on Yaatra in my
paper. The journal, I feel is a nice and first-time effort. -
Utpal Borpujari / New Delhi
| A Yatraa into light |
|
An English language
journal named Yaatra is all set to bring Assamese
literature to readers, writes Utpal Borpujari.
|
| |
| While Indian writing in
English in recent years has gone to gain international name and
fame, writers who have chosen to express themselves in their
mother tongues in different corners of India have not been
fortunate enough despite giving their readers a huge number of
masterpieces. The culprit has always been the lack of
proper translation of the incredibly rich regional literature.
And even when translated works are published, like those from
organisations like Bharatiya Jnanpith and Sahitya Akademi, often
they fail to reach the masses adequately because of
non-aggressive marketing. Private publishers, of course, also do
come up with the odd translated work, but they are merely a
sampler of the great treasure trove of literature that we have.
Compared to Bengali, Tamil or Malayalam literature, the
writings from the North-East, and particularly Assam, are a
major victim of this lack of translation, and the great
tradition of Assamese literature is virtually unknown to those
outside the region. In the backdrop of this scenario, a
non-governmental organisation called the North-East Foundation,
has launched Yaatra, an English language journal that will
solely concentrate on bringing before the readers translations
of both contemporary and classic Assamese literary work.
Based in
Guwahati, the foundation is quite aware that it has a daunting
task in its hands, specially as it will not be easy to market
the journal all over India from Assam. But the enthusiasm of the
people associated with the project are quite high, as was
visible when the first issue of the journal was launched
recently at the Sahitya Akademi in Delhi by Akademi Secretary K
Satchidanandan in the presence of Jnanpith Award winning
Assamese author Dr Indira (Mamoni Raisom) Goswami, Assam Chief
Minister Tarun Gogoi and noted intellectual from the state,
Amalendu Guha. Says Foundation chairman and Yaatra
editor Dhruba Jyoti Borah, "It has been a long-standing
resentment of the people of Assam that very little is known in
the outside world about the rich literary and cultural heritage
and the present cultural scene of the state. At the same time,
avid curiosity is noticed about these in the rest of India and
also abroad. Yaatra is a project that seeks to
popularise Assamese literature and culture outside the state and
each issue of the journal will contain a wide selection of the
best in contemporary Assamese literature and culture." Launched
as a non-profit venture, Yaatra will not be available in
newsstands like other magazines but will be distributed in the
literary and academic circles both within and outside the
country. The journal, says Borah, will have several
sections that will focus on different areas. Assamese novels,
poetry, short stories, drama, classics, criticism, book reviews,
folklore and culture will be the focus areas of the project
which will also seek to include literature and culture from the
other North-Eastern states in it. "Assamese literature
has developed considerably over the years. It has drawn its
sustenance from the great Bhakti movement of Srimanta Sankardev,
the 'buranjis' and the folk traditions of myriad groups of
people that inhabit the region," he says. For more info
contact; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Too much spam in your inbox? Yahoo! Mail
gives you the best spam protection for FREE! Get Yahoo! Mail
_______________________________________________
assam
mailing list
[email protected]
http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
|
