One-Week Skill Development Workshop on Translation Concludes at Jammu University

The one-week skill development workshop on translation organized by the Department of Journalism and Media Studies in collaboration with National translation Mission (NTM), Mysore, and Translation Club concluded here today at University of Jammu.

The chief guest on the occasion was Professor Sucheta Pathania, Dean Faculty of Arts and Prof. Satnam Kour was the guest of honour. Among those present on the occasion were Dr. Sudhir Singh, Director Academic JKBOSE, Prof. Garima Gupta, Head Journalism and Media Studies and Sh. Sunil Choudhary, organizer, NTM.

Prof. Pathania said that we must take the work of translation to the national level. She further added that the goal of a translator should be to produce the text in a receptor language that is idiomatic and has the same meaning as in the source language text. “No two languages have the same structure and a translator needs to identify the challenges. Translators should therefore be bilingual as well as bicultural to understand people better,” she added. She also congratulated the club for excelling under the dynamic mentorship of Prof. Satnam Kour.

Prof. Satnam Kour, Chairperson of Utsah Jammu University Clubs said that it was an important event for the students and a great initiative being taken by the clubs. “Simplicity of language helps in facilitating expressions and such workshops will ensure that more people are able to benefit and receive the message of connecting with roots and become the change,” she added.

Dr Sudhir emphasized on the cultural traditions and their importance in transmitting shared values, stories, and goals from one generation to the next.

The prominent resource persons during the workshop included eminent names in the field of translation both from academia and civil society. Prof. Lalit Malhotra, creative writer, critic, and translator in Dogri; Prof Prakash Premi, acclaimed writer, Prof Vandana Sharma, Head of the Department of English, Central University of Jammu, Prof. Yash Pal Sharma, Department of Botany, University of Jammu; Professor Veena Gupta, Former Head of the Department of Dogri at the University of Jammu, Dr. Preeti Dubey, Govt. College for Women, an expert in Dogri machine translation; Dr. Biswadip Gogoi from NTM engaged the students in different translation activities and also acquainted them with various issues and challenges faced while translating from Dogri to English and from English to Dogri.

Prof. Garima, while presenting the vote of thanks to the participants said that this workshop would not have been possible without their support and added that the translation club of the university is working on a mission to contribute by such initiatives towards the growth of Dogri language and in strengthening the literature.

The workshop started with an activity given to the students by Prof Grima Gupta in which she divided the participants into groups and asked them to write about themselves in Dogri with the help of a Dogri expert of their group. Further, the participants worked to translate Savatribai Phule’s “Magic of Numbers” from English to Dogri.

The participants included students, scholars, faculty and employees from various disciplines like Law, Buddhist Studies, Electronics, Punjabi, Dogri, English and Journalism.

The valedictory program was conducted by Dr. Ravia Gupta from the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, University of Jammu.