On Mon, Nov 25, 2024, 9:39 AM Udhay Shankar N <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 25, 2024 at 7:22 AM Thaths via Silklist > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Fourteen Years with Boss by Ashokamitthiran > > A brisk read. Popular modernist Tamil writer's memoir about his years > working in PR for Chennai's Gemini Studios in the 50's and 60's. > > I note that this has been translated by former silklister Kalyan > Raman, for those old listmembers who remember him. And a very good translation it was. I think Ashokamitthran himself wrote a column in English for the Illustrated Weekly. I wonder if Kalyan Raman was able to get Ashokamitthran to bless his translation. I am currently reading a translation into English of short stories by Sujatha and I am not very happy with it. The translator seems to think their job is to translate the words into English literally, retaining Tamil grammar and idiom (and not picking more appropriate English ones). For example, they translate the Tamil "இங்கும் அங்கும்" as "hither and thither". The former is commonly used in Tamil. The latter is archaic in English. "Scatter shot" might have been a better choice. I had similar trouble reading Ponniyin Selvan in translation (don't remember which one). It read like a work written by a high schooler and I had a hard time reconciling the acclaim my parent's generation had for the series with what I was reading. Thaths
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