Three Non-European Languages For English Speakers

There's a trend for language learners in the English-speaking world to stick to Western European languages. Who can blame them? English shares a considerable amount of vocabulary with both romance and Germanic languages - this makes them a bit easier to pick up. It's no different than a Hindi speaker learning Bengali, Gujarati, or even Persian.

More adventurous learners have attempted branching out into East Asian languages like Japanese and Chinese, especially for those interested in anime or business.

But here are five more languages that can broaden your horizons:

Short-Form: Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore is far more well-known as a Bengali writer (among other things) than as a translator. And shouldn't he be? He was the first non-European to receive a Nobel Prize for Literature. In addition to literature, he was skilled and insanely influential to Bengali music and art. As an Indian nationalist, you'll find his compositions as national anthems.

But resources on his views of translation are fairly scarce. He did, however, write to the Spanish translator Joan Mascaró on his translation of the  Upanishads, a collection of Hindu philosophical texts.

Into India: Happy Holidays

Nestled at the foot of the Western Gnats, the controversy over at my alma mater, the University of Tennessee appeared pitiful at best. I don’t mean that the students and faculty are wasting their time fighting for a more inclusive environment. But rather that our representatives are making a mockery of the citizenry once again – by claiming that respecting all folks regardless of belief is discriminating against Christen values. I say this, not to be political, but because, quite frankly, from the other side of the globe, the idea that saying “holiday” rather than “Christmas” devalues the latter is absurd. And often “holiday” is the perfect blanket term.

Short Form: Gayatri Spiyak

Gayatri Spiyak’s work on post colonialism and feminism in literature has made a profound impact on the interpretation of Third World literature. You may, in fact, remember her name from my post on Post-Colonialism and the Reader. Spiyak grew up and studied in Calcutta, before obtaining her PhD in Comparative Literature from Cornell. She founded the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society at Columbia University, where she is a professor. In addition, she was the first woman of color to occupy the highest faculty position in the entire history of the university.While Spiyak’s primary focus is not translation, the subject cannot be avoided in her field. And while Spiyak’s work centers on feminism, it is important to note that there is no reason her approach to translation can be applied across the board. The primary text I am using for this summary comes from her article, “The Politics of Translation”.

Now in English! "Balika Badhu": a Bengali Anthology

What began as Monish Ranjan Chatterjee’s project to translate ‘The Adolescent Bride’ (‘Balika Badhu’) by Bimal Kar, later became an anthology of Bengali short stories. Balika Badhu: A representative anthology of Bengali short stories spans just over 300 pages. But while it is very cohesive, it is not quite representative. Chatterjee says so much in the introduction. Although all the pieces are well paced and the writers well known in the West Bengal, no woman writer was included. This is an imperfection that the translator points out almost immediately, but regardless, this anthology is certainly worth reading.