Lost in Translation: The Beauty and Philosophy of Languages Often Lost When Translated

Travelers to other countries and students of foreign languages often carry translation dictionaries to better understand a language not native to them. Yet, as a trilingual (Hindi/Gujarati/English) individual who also studied Spanish and French, I have come to the realization that language is more than words. Language also expresses subtleties, ideas and concepts that cannot be easily translated by a “word-to-word” dictionary.

Take movie subtitles for example. I often cringe at the English subtitles during songs in Hindi movies as they destroy the beauty and nuances of the original words. Compared to many other languages, English just does not have the depth, an observation with which many multi-lingual friends agree. This idea ties into a recent article in the Times of India I read that Europeans and Americans are coming to Gujarat to study Gujarati to fully understand Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophy.

Their reasoning is quite easy for me to understand as I am confronted with this topic often while discussing philosophy from my guru (spiritual teacher and mentor). While Guruji is fluent in English, his native tongue is Gujarati (along with Hindi and Urdu). To make it easier for me, he often teaches in English. This basically means that he translates from Gujarati to English before speaking. Many times, as the topics and ideas are complex, I ask Guruji to speak in Gujarati as he can explain the subject with greater ease. When he does this, I am the one translating from Gujarati to English. Even though I was born in North America, my first language was Gujarati, and to this day, I still speak it with my parents, but my vocabulary has been limited to common Gujarati, and does not include many philosophical words. With my philosophy classes, my vocabulary has grown, but without a doubt, my learning, particularly in the initial period, was slowed by language.

An article on native versus non-native English speakers from the BBC spoke of how native English speakers could not easily understand the English of non-native English speakers, while non-native speakers easily understood the English of other non-native speakers, regardless of nationality or native tongue. The way native English speakers understand the English is very different from non-native speakers, and I see this divide very clearly in India and during my philosophy classes.

Guruji never formally learned English but, in everyday situations, English communication is never problematic for him. However, there are times during philosophy lectures when I have to ask him to repeat a sentence, as I get thrown off by the grammar or the use of a particular word. The mental process of understanding the meaning of the sentence is hindered because of something that a non-native speaker probably would not even notice.

Just a few days ago, Guruji was speaking to me about the basis of yoga. The topic made its way to the difference between science and spirituality. The difference can be understood through the correct understanding of the words vishmay and akarshan. In a Gujarati-English dictionary, they are given similar meanings: wonder or surprise. However, the words have very different connotations. One has a spiritual dimension, one a physical. English, as far as I know, does not have two separate words for this idea, that have the same meaning but different nuances, suggesting that the English language is limited, particularly in its spiritual/ metaphysical vocabulary.

Ghazals (a poetic form of rhyming couplets with a refrain) and other poetry in Indic languages are another example. They cannot be justly translated into English. Nor can they be readily understood by a non-native speaker without study. Considering how rapidly the world is losing its languages and how immigrant children around the world, particularly in English-speaking countries, are failing to learn their native tongues, there is an important question to be raised about how much of the world's cultural heritage we are losing.

I have been blessed in this aspect. I was raised in a home where Gujarati was and still is spoken today. I was taught Gujarati by my grandmother and continued to study it and earn academic credit for it through high school. I have had the opportunity to visit and live in Gujarat, where I can practice my Gujarati. In fact, I still remember the praise my siblings and I would garner after trips to India because our Gujarati improved.

But this is still not enough. My reading skills are on par with a small child, and my spelling errors know no bounds. I know that at some point in my journey to learn and explore philosophy, particularly Indian philosophy, I too will need to go the way of the foreigners learning Indic languages. If I want to be able to make my own interpretations and develop my own understanding without an intermediary, who to some degree always inserts his or her own bias or understanding, I, too, will have to vigorously learn the language. Until then, there shall be some handicap, which I continue to try to overcome by expanding my vocabulary and fluency and hope that others also will find a reason to learn their mother tongue so they too can experience the richness of their cultural heritage.

Heena is an engineer-turned-musician. She is currently studying philosophy and training to be a professional classical tabla player. She blogs about music and life at rhythmicthoughts.wordpress.com and can be reached at heena.tabla@gmail.com.