A refined work - dream of every translator

Harshini PERERA

Translating a piece of work from one language to another is not just a matter of arranging words appropriately, but make it appeal to the readership. Such an uphill task for Nishani Dissanayake, Editor Samudura and Foreign News Editor, Lakbima, is by no means difficult. A journalist by profession she has now translated the most cherished American classic series of "Little Women". She won the Best Female Journalist with Universal Knowledge in 2008, in the first ever Female Journalist Award Ceremony organised by the Ministry of Information.The series of Little Women, written by Louisa May Alcott in 1868 is a piece of art still loved as a classic by the Americans. It consists of a serial which includes Good Wives, Little Men and Jo's Boys. She has well succeeded in translating the series into Sinhala as "Labendi Souriyo 1", "Labendi Souriyo 2,3 and Labendi Souriyo 4,5 respectively which had well received by the Sinhala readership. The Jo's Boys will be out on stalls in September 2009 as Labendi Souriyo 6 and 7. "It is going to be a popular translation among youngsters, for I always get the appreciation from them", Nishani claimed.

The Little Women is a story of a girl and how they were brought up in a conventional society. It relates the life of Jo and her family, March family. Jo is the sheer reflection of Louisa May Alcott's character both in build and nature.

Therefore, it is her interests to write on the issues of the society, which is regarded as out of convention. For example, Jo is a girl who behaves like a tomboy who refuses the false beliefs or pomposity in society, thus the society never accepts her way of criticising the emptiness of pompous society. The smile on her face signifies that she is satisfied with her work as a translator. She says that the originality of the work in the Sri Lankan context and universality it attached and her writing together makes her translations so appealing to youngsters. They are also loved by young people owing to the simple language and techniques used to convey the original text.

When she reflects over the past years she had spent as a journalist, her career was not an obstruction but an identification of her talents. Her superiors had understood her talents and acknowledged her capacity that is not limited to one.

"One has to trust oneself of one's talents before one works on it. She has from the beginning had the trust in her art of translating which had borne fruits today.

She translated both American and British novels. Among them are, The Mother by W. Somerset Maugham translated as "Ammage Adaraya" and More Adventures on Willow Farm and The Children at Green Meadows by Enid Blyton translated as Willow Govipale Apuru Daruwo and Green Meadows Govipale Apuru Daruwo and Let's Get Invisible by R.L. Steins, translated as "Kaluwara Anduna" in Sinhala.

"Money is not what matters but the message a translator can convey to her or his readers," she claims. Oblivious to the difficulties, she has produced a refined work that becomes the dream of every translator. A translator, simultaneously is expected to retain the originality which Nishani has fared well.