PU to get Dept of Translation Studies next year

The interdisciplinary Department for Translation Studies would be set up as a department in the university which would not only undertake literary translations but also help social sciences and sciences departments. The Department for Translation Studies,a brainchild of Professor Shakeel Khan,Dean Languages,Panjab University,said that the proposal had already received a nod from the chairpersons of various departments. “In the recent meeting held this week,the proposal was discussed with all chairpersons and subsequently given a go-ahead. The fact which had been made clear is that this department would not have any commercial affiliations; no translations to be undertaken for ‘business’ purposes.”

But at the same time,he did not rule out the opportunities to be given to the research scholars of any department to be awarded some token remuneration for translation undertaken by them. For instance,if a research scholar of Urdu or Persian translates an entire book or a part thereof for the History Department,he would be awarded some remuneration.

“The aim would also be to increase the reach of literature among students. The students are losing interest in literature except English or Hindi. The attempt would be to make students aware that literature is not only confined to these two languages,” said Prof Shakeel. Also,the content from science and social science subjects would also be translated in foreign languages and vice-versa. It is expected that if all goes well,the Department for Translation Studies would start from the next academic session.

Though the university has made recent modifications in the curriculum of Departments of various languages making it job oriented due to a steep decline in students’ interests,this department on translations would entirely focus on translations. The changes in the languages curriculum included a section for specialisation in mass media and translation added to the curriculum. The students would be required to translate and write these into Hindi and Urdu and vice-versa.