The Translator’s Role in Addressing Untranslatability in Poetry: Observing Translations of Kazi Nazrul Islam’s Bidrohi

Abstract

Among the many concerns about poetry translation, untranslatability is the most critical one. Translators often face difficulties in offering an authentic translation in target language. It is, after all, the translator who may decide how to address this issue. One phenomenal Bengali poem entitled Bidrohi, written by the “rebel” poet Kazi Nazrul Islam can be regarded as a text that contains untranslatability issues to a large extent. It is to be noted that there are some translation-techniques - both for any type of source text and for poetry in particular –that are suggested by translation theorists like, for example, Vinay and Darbelnet, Andre Lefevere, and Peter Newmark. Whereas Vinay and Darbelnet categorized the general translation procedures into two methods (direct and oblique translation), Lefever suggested a catalogue of seven possible strategies for translating poetry. On the other hand, Newmark’s strategies include semantic and free translation. However, as the translator is the agent of authenticity and closeness in translation, s/he has a huge role to play in assessing, choosing, and combining the existing translation techniques according to the source text. This paper aims to explore the role of the translator and to figure out if there is a certain effective approach that can be made towards a poem that is difficult to translate. In order to achieve that ground, two translations of Bidrohi– one offered by Professor Kabir Chowdhury, and the other by Mohammad Nurul Huda have been analyzed. The findings of this research paper indicate that the two translations in major parts show two different combinations of translation strategies. This paper takes the terms “Direct” and “oblique” translation as coined by Vinay and Darbelnet to show that both the translations tend to switch between these two general translation approaches. In addition, both the translations highlight some poetry translation-techniques like Lefevere’s “phonemic translation” or Peter Newmark’s semantic translation, which too, serve the purpose of overcoming untranslatability. The findings also show that there is no single effective approach in overcoming untranslatability in poetry. Overall, it can be concluded that when a poem appears nearly-untranslatable, a balanced combination of “direct” and “oblique” translation as well as some selected poetry-translation strategies can be an effective standpoint. This paper does not claim to discuss untranslatability issues in any other genre but poetry.