Translation, Colonialism and Rise of English (original) (raw)
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Translation Colonialism and the Rise of English
RETHINKING ENGLISH Essays in Literature, Language, History, 1991
The introduction of English education in India is inextricable from the process of subjection/subjectification under colonialism. The colonial 'subject' constructed through practices or technologies of power/knowledge, participates willingly, like the boys from Comercolly, in his/her insertion into the dominant order. As the historian Ranajit Guha suggests, English did not owe its importance as "an emblem of power" within the education system to official sponsorship alone. English becomes a mark of status through a complex production of the colonial subject within multiple discourses and on multiple sites. One such site" is translation. Translation as a practice shapes, and takes shape within, the asymmetrical relations of power that operate under colonialism. What is at stake here is the representation of the colonized, who need to be produced in such a manner as to justify colonial domination, and to beg for the English book by themselves.
India and European Modernity: English Language an Instrument of Cultural Imperialism
Isara solutions, 2023
It is out of season to question at this time of day, the original policy of conferring on every colony of the British Empire a mimic representation of the British Constitution. But if the creature so endowed has sometimes forgotten its real significance and under the fancied importance of speakers and maces, and all the paraphernalia and ceremonies of the imperial legislature, has dared to defy the mother country, she has to thank herself for the folly of conferring such privileges on a condition of society that has no earthly claim to so exalted a position.
How English Came to India: Language Education Policies in Colonial India
Journal of English Language Teaching 62(5), 2020
In an increasingly globalized world, English has emerged as one of the primary languages of global communication. The influence and dominance of English are evident in the realms of popular culture, media, science and technology, and commerce, to name a few. In this context, India is considered to have an English advantage over countries such as Japan, China, and even parts of Europe, as it has 125 million speakers of the English language as a first, second, or third language (Krishnaswamy & Krishnaswamy, 2006; Times News Network, 2010). How did a country which is defined by multilingualism and linguistic diversity come to speak a language that does not originate in the Indian subcontinent? This paper attempts to understand the answer to this question by conducting a historical analysis of the introduction of English language education in India during the colonial period and the language policies in the education system of India at the time.
Cultural Imperialism in Translation: An Indian Perspective
When we live with savages and speak their languages, learning to represent their experience to ourselves in their way, we come as near to thinking like them as we can without ceasing to be ourselves -Godfrey Lienhardt (quoted in Niranjana 1992:69)
The East India Company and the Politics of Translation
18th century India saw a sudden onslaught of activity in the area of translation, especially from Sanskrit to English. This paper explores the motives and ideologies that guided this Oriental interest and the role of the likes of Warren Hastings and Nathaniel Halhed in the same.
Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice, 2022
The discourse on translation in Manipuri literature – the first Tibeto-Burman language listed in the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution – is primarily descriptive in nature and has focused on the central narrative that Manipuri literature enriched itself through translation, oblivious to the question of linguistic and cultural hegemony that preoccupied twentieth-century Manipur. The issue of asymmetrical transaction and dominance between the source languages and the target language remains ignored and shrouded in obscurity. Through mapping out two trajectories of translation projects in Manipur during the colonial era (1891– 1945), this article aims to explain this asymmetrical transaction and argues that translation served as a modernising agent via projecting the Indo-Aryan culture as modern/legitimate as opposed to the indigenous culture as traditional/outdated. The first trajectory traces the implications of the translations of textbooks as a direct result of the introduction of modern education in colonial Manipur, while the later discusses the translations of Sanskrit religious texts as an indication of the merging of the Indo-Aryan hegemony within the tradition of colonial modernity in Manipur. Thus, this article explores the role of translation in a marginal state (Manipur), where colonial modernity was constituted via non-native hegemonic languages.
1998
The introduction of English as 'high' language and the designs to reshape the 'native vernaculars' under its influence through colonial educational policy altered the universe of communicative and cultural practices on the subcontinent. Colonial bilingualism also introduced hierachical and ideological divisions between the newly-educated and 'illiterate', 'English-knowing' and 'vernacular-speaking' sections of native society. On the basis of an analysis of the possibilities for a laicised literate order opened up through the severely elitist project of colonial education, the thesis proposes an argument about the structural links between these crucial cultural shifts and the strategies adopted by the colonial intelligentsia in western India to achieve a hegemonic position. The main argument of my thesis is set against a discussion of the relations between linguistic hierarchies, textual practices and power in precolonial western India. My thes...
The research study critically traces the historical background of the introduction of the western education system with English as the medium of instruction in the Indian subcontinent and its impact on the teaching of various subjects and local languages in the postcolonial phase. It analyzes the transitional shift from the indigenous/regional vernaculars to engraftment (translating western knowledge into indigenous languages for teaching) and eventual shift to English as the medium of instruction, which thwarted the process of engraftment and development of indigenous languages. The study analyzes that how the education in the subcontinent was affected in the wake of diametrical shift in the British political policy from orientalism, engraftment, conciliation and consolidation to hostility, antagonism and oppression. Although, the study repudiates the popular myth of the revolutionary changes claimed by the British education system in the subcontinent, yet it establishes that how in the longer term it contributed to the academic, literary, social, political and economic advancement of the region. Nevertheless its repercussions for the regional languages were immense. The study reveals that how English, which was the language of power, authority and center, became a means of retaliation, communication and resistance at the hands of natives. The study, in its nature, is descriptive and historical one.
The research study critically traces the historical background of the introduction of the western education system with English as the medium of instruction in the Indian subcontinent and its impact on the teaching of various subjects and local languages in the postcolonial phase. It analyzes the transitional shift from the indigenous/regional vernaculars to engraftment (translating western knowledge into indigenous languages for teaching) and eventual shift to English as the medium of instruction, which thwarted the process of engraftment and development of indigenous languages. The study analyzes that how the education in the subcontinent was affected in the wake of diametrical shift in the British political policy from orientalism, engraftment, conciliation and consolidation to hostility, antagonism and oppression. Although, the study repudiates the popular myth of the revolutionary changes claimed by the British education system in the subcontinent, yet it establishes that how in the longer term it contributed to the academic, literary, social, political and economic advancement of the region. Nevertheless its repercussions for the regional languages were immense. The study reveals that how English, which was the language of power, authority and center, became a means of retaliation, communication and resistance at the hands of natives. The study, in its nature, is descriptive and historical one.