Opinion What a look at academic books available in India reveals about the translation and language debate

There have been sporadic efforts to collate existing material in Hindi and to translate materials into Hindi and some other Indian languages by individuals and in some cases, by organisations. Most of these efforts have been transient and do not have much to show by way of materials available or their quality. There are not many forums for academic sharing where current ideas and new analyses can be presented in Indian languages. Given the fact that most of the schools and even colleges have classes in Indian languages even when the exams have to be written in English, this lack of materials and forums is crippling for knowledge to get internalised and for people on the ground to convert their experience into knowledge.

The experience of the people working with schools and children does not benefit from the reflections of their peers as there is no means by which they can document and share it. The analysis of what they see, struggle and experiment with and achieve remains circumscribed by the knowledge available in books, which is rarely in a language other than English. The ground experiences are, therefore, neither shared nor become widely known. Also, they do not form the basis on which further analysis can be carried out. The absence of forums for sharing ideas in Indian languages leaves little room to document experiences and reflections. Lack of critical feedback will limit the learning process. This is a great impediment to the development of ideas education and learning based on the context of the struggles of teachers and students.

Recognising this incongruity is an important first step towards rectifying it but the way forward is long and difficult. It involves the creation of forums for expressing thought and having discussions in Indian languages. It mandates academic respect for those contributing to knowledge in these languages. It, therefore, requires a two-pronged approach.

One, to have academic seminars and conferences in regional languages and ensure that all seminars and conferences invite papers and comments in these languages. And two, increasing the access to existing materials in various disciplines in these languages by translating quality texts.

There are many challenges in this journey, and they need to be worked upon, but the most difficult part is the non-acceptance of papers and writing in Indian languages as academic work for the purpose of credits in academic circles, including universities. Neither are papers and conference presentations made in languages accorded respect and weightage nor is the work on academic translations accepted as academic endeavour (even though we know how challenging it is to translate a good academic text). It is not just about finding equivalent words, which is by itself complex, but placing the idea in the context of a different language and culture without altering the essence of what the author wants to convey is no easy task.

Another big challenge in this path of making materials widely available is the issue of copyright. Permissions to translate texts that can form the basis of learning for various disciplines are not easy to obtain. The task is even more difficult if the purpose is to make the translation freely accessible. It is difficult to reach people with whom the copyright rests and then persuade them of the usefulness of this accessibility. As a team at Azim Premji University, it has been a journey of learning and discovery to create the possibility of this access through a repository. This is a small part of the effort by the University to make the access to quality higher education inclusive and ensure that the public education system becomes increasingly vibrant, reflective and self-correcting.

Hriday Kant Dewan leads the Translations Initiative, Anuvada Sampada, at Azim Premji University