English does not have the vocabulary for translating ancient Tamil literature, says Tamil Nadu Governor
The Hindu
English does not have the vocabulary for translating ancient Tamil literature, says Tamil Nadu Governor
On Saturday, Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi said that European languages, especially English, did not have the vocabulary to accurately convey the depth of the meaning present in ancient Tamil literature during translations.
Addressing ‘eminent Tamil personalities’ as part of his ‘Think to Dare’ series of interactions at the Raj Bhavan here, he said that the European civilisation has not evolved to the level Indian civilisation had. Consequently, the need to create such a vocabulary. For instance, he said that he could not find an equivalent for Tamil word aram in English, which he termed as a language of much recent origin.
He said that even other Indian languages did not have sufficient vocabulary, with the only exception being Sanskrit, which he said were the two most ancient languages. He said that there was a huge responsibility to take the knowledge present in ancient Tamil literature to other parts of India and the world.
He said while translations needed to be done, people with other languages as their mother tongues should learn Tamil and become proficient in it to appreciate the knowledge it had to offer. He said that he started learning Tamil after he became the Governor of the State, but still had a long way to go.
While translating Tirukkural, he asked the translators not to try to imitate the couplet structure of Tiruvalluvar. He said it may not be possible for others to be as pithy as Tiruvalluvar. Instead, he appealed to the translators to be elaborate so as to convey the full meaning of Tirukkural couplets to readers.
In the endeavour of translating and spreading Tamil language, he said that as the Chancellor of 20 State universities in Tamil Nadu, he could allocate resources for the work if needed. He felicitated scholars who had translated various ancient Tamil literature to other languages at the function.
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