Bal Ram Adhikari, PhD in Translation Studies, is a lecturer in English Education at Tribhuvan University. He is a Translation Studies researcher, translator, editor and creative writer. He is involved in designing English Language Teaching courses and editing academic reading materials for different universities in Nepal. balaramadhikari77@gmail.com
The purpose of this paper is to explore author-translator interaction enacted in the translation ... more The purpose of this paper is to explore author-translator interaction enacted in the translation of literary texts. Set against the poststructuralist approach to authorship and its implied plea for the emancipation of the translator as a reader from an authorial injunction, the paper presents literary translators' voices and experiences of consulting their authors during translation. The qualitative data collected from Nepali-English literary translators through semi-structured interviews were analyzed thematically. Findings reveal a discrepancy between the theoretical questioning of authorship and translation practitioners' desire and necessity to get connected with their authors. Accepting the author's centrality to the text, literary translators seek authorial involvement as a last semantic resort to resolve an interpretive crisis during translation. In accepting authorial authority, translators are equally aware of their translatorial agency. Authors are called upon to play a supportive, rather than a domineering, role to accomplish the translatorial goal.
Globe: A Journal of Language, Culture and Communication, 2020
The Faculty of Education under Tribhuvan University, Nepal, has recently shifted to a diversified... more The Faculty of Education under Tribhuvan University, Nepal, has recently shifted to a diversified approach to the selection of texts for its Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) and Master of Education (M.Ed.) English reading courses. Apart from the conventionally prioritized native English texts, the courses incorporate texts in nativized varieties of English from international target cultures as well as texts in the emerging variety of English from students’ home culture. However, in Nepal, there is a lack of research on the potential pedagogical contribution and cultural significance of texts originating from different cultures. In this respect, the present paper aims to explore university teachers’ voices with regard to different types of texts and their experiences of dealing with such texts in the classroom. The qualitative data collected from six reading teachers through a semi-structured interview were analyzed thematically. Findings reveal the teachers’ awareness of functional complementarity of texts stemming from target culture, international target cultures and students’ culture. As reported, different types of English texts are assumed to have complementary functions to inscribe and express local and global experiences. However, despite valuing each type of text, reading teachers tend to ascribe greater linguistic value to native English texts than nonnative texts, with the implication that the weight of native English texts continues to dominate ESL/EFL reading courses.
The present article concerns two fundamental aspects of research, namely problemposing and sourc... more The present article concerns two fundamental aspects of research, namely problemposing and sourcing the topic. The former identifies six key areas that the researcher can probe to generate research questions whereas the latter proposes four sources of research topics. The article primarily draws on my experience as a researcher and thesis supervisor of Master's students in English Education. The purposively selected cases are presented to illustrate the sourcing of the topics.
Translation scholarship abounds in strong views against literal translation, questioning its viab... more Translation scholarship abounds in strong views against literal translation, questioning its viability and creativity. The present paper problematizes the relegation of literal translation and makes a case for its viability in the translation of literary texts. To this end, the paper analyzes 600 culturebound and collocational expressions extracted from a corpus of thirty Nepali short stories in English translation carried out by Nepali EFL student translators. The findings demonstrate the accuracy of literally translated expressions and further illustrate the creative potential of literal translation. Finally, the study points out the necessity of incorporating literal translation as a viable strategy in translation pedagogy.
This study attempts to assess the quality of English translations by English-major M.Ed. students... more This study attempts to assess the quality of English translations by English-major M.Ed. students specializing in Translation Studies. The study adopted the combination of error analysis and holistic method to assess the quality of target texts (TTs) elicited through the production task carried out by 30 purposively selected students. Findings show that most of TTs were undermined by grammatical errors and syntactic inaccuracies revealing student translators' substandard English competence. The study thus sees the urgency of incorporating English teaching into the translation course to strengthen student translators' production skill in English.
The present article sheds light on key areas of revising and editing the translated text. Against... more The present article sheds light on key areas of revising and editing the translated text. Against the theoretical backdrop, some cases of Nepali texts in English translation are presented and analyzed. The article ends with some rules of thumb for revising and editing the target text (TT).
The paper presents a brief survey of historical landscape of Nepali literature in translation. Th... more The paper presents a brief survey of historical landscape of Nepali literature in translation. The survey mainly concerns the translation of literary texts from Nepali into English, which is further restricted to translation of Nepali fiction.
The present article conceptualizes the process of rewriting the given text in the target language... more The present article conceptualizes the process of rewriting the given text in the target language (TL) as regeneration of the text across languages. Shedding light on similarities and differences between producing a text across languages i.e. transwriting and within a language i.e. writing, it is argued that translation is a creative process almost exclusive to linguistic and textual levels.
Literature on second language reading suggests that the effectiveness of teaching reading depends... more Literature on second language reading suggests that the effectiveness of teaching reading depends largely on theoretically-guided and contextually-informed classroom methodology. In this study, we investigated the classroom methodology adopted by the students of Master of Education (M. Ed.) specializing in English from Mahendra Ratna Campus, Tahachal, who were teaching Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.) reading courses during their practice teachinghence defined as ‘student teachers’ (STs). Foregrounding the role of reading in the overall language development and academic achievement of English as a foreign language (EFL) students, the present B. Ed. English curriculum under Tribhuvan University has adopted a content-based approach to teaching reading. In order to understand how those reading courses were taught, we purposively selected ten M.Ed. STs and observed two classes of each, employing a semi-structured classroom observation scheme. In order to cross-compare STs' classroom performance with their theoretical knowledge about reading pedagogy and overall objectives of the reading courses, we also analyzed the English language teaching course the STs had studied in the M.Ed. program as well as B. Ed. reading courses and coursebooks they were teaching. The collected data were coded and analyzed thematically. The findings show that the teaching methodology adopted by the STs goes counter to the principles of ESL/EFL reading and expectations articulated in the reading courses. These findings illustrate the urgent need to reassess the methodology of teaching reading at the tertiary level and minimize the gap between the M. Ed. English students’ pedagogical knowledge and their classroom performance
The present article concerns the use of peer observation, particularly in the context of microtea... more The present article concerns the use of peer observation, particularly in the context of microteaching, for self-enhancement. The study followed a mixed methods design comprising survey and focused discussion. The data were collected from prospective external evaluators of teaching practice who participated in the training session entitled Find Good Practices of Teaching Demonstrated by their Peers and Adopt and Adapt According to their Needs so as to find out the participants' perspectives on observing their peers' classes and benefits they reaped from the observation. Analysis of the participants' written and oral accounts reveals that peer observation is a rewarding learning experience; and observation is likely to be fruitful when it is preceded by self-inquiry, that is, identification of what the observer himself/herself is lacking and followed by critical reflection on the observed lesson and the observer's own practice. Also, the peer's weaknesses can be employed as a critical incident to question one's own teaching behavior.
Journal of Nepalese literature, art and culture, 2012
The present paper draws on my personal experience of working on A Trilingual Dictionary of the Ma... more The present paper draws on my personal experience of working on A Trilingual Dictionary of the Magar Language: Magar, Nepali and English (Athāra Magarāt). Like any other translators, I ventured on the project with the assumption that the source text lends itself to interpretation. The text can be oral or written, and the interpretation can be direct (when the interpreter/translator can read or understand the text in the source language itself) or indirect (when the translator/interpreter has another person interpret the text for him/her). In my case I had to rely on the secondary interpretation. Karna Bahādur Budā Magar interpreted the Magar words for me. The second assumption, what has been interpreted lends itself to rewriting in any language. However, these simplistic views about translation were later challenged, especially when I was translating cultural words into English. By their very nature, cultural words resisted straightforward interpretation and rewriting in Nepali and English. I often felt my interpretation and rewriting of Magar words were tied more to my own Nepali cultural experiences and formal knowledge of English than to Magar culture itself. This naturally caused distortion and fragmentation in the translation. Here I will touch on three broad areas of my observation: how preservation through lexical codification creates a prestige-based hierarchy; how preservation and promotion of a language through translation leads to cultural distortion and fragmentation; and how translators can employ different strategies to ensure better cultural representation in the face of distortion and fragmentation. Journal of Nepalese Literature, Art and Culture 25
This article opens with a brief survey of some initiatives taken in order to expand the lexicon o... more This article opens with a brief survey of some initiatives taken in order to expand the lexicon of science in Nepali. It mainly presents the analysis of the morphological structures of scientific terms. The terms included in the study are collected from the secondary level science books published in Nepali.
Editing is integral to translation. Translation has multiple phases: reading, re-reading, draftin... more Editing is integral to translation. Translation has multiple phases: reading, re-reading, drafting, redrafting and finalizing are the most conspicuous ones. Editing is at work in all these phases with varying degrees of necessity and intensity. Editing is necessary to ensure the quality of translation from two major perspectives. From the perspective of interpretation, it ensures that the translator as a reader has interpreted the source text accurately and appropriately taking care of its linguistic, cultural, historical and contextual dimensions that feed meanings to the text as a whole. From the perspective of meaning regeneration, editing ensures that the translator as a (co)writer has (re) written the text in the target language as the source writer has intended and as it is suitable for the target readership. What I'm trying to bring home is that a translation in a real sense of the word is not a translation any more unless it is simultaneously accompanied with the process of editing. Editing completes and complements translation. I'm grateful to Dr. Sanjita Verma, Head of the Department of World Literature and Translation, for realizing the paramount role of editing in translation, and entrusting me with the job. As the title of the anthology suggests, Mosaic is the collection of short stories written in different languages spoken in this culturally and linguistically diverse nation. Many of the stories of this anthology have entered into English directly from the Nepali language while some are via Nepali. In the translation jargon, translation directly from the source language is called primary translation and translation of the translation is called secondary translation. The stories namely, Aborted Trust, Ashaman Baa, Kanchhi Phupu and Her Flower Garden, and Finally were originally written respectively in Limbu, Nepal Bhasha , Magar, and Maithili languages. They were first translated into Nepali and then from Nepali into English. As an editor, I allied with the Nepali versions of all stories. In the secondary translation, the distance between the original story and its English translation and also the degree of mistranslation is likely to be higher. So is the degree of creativity employed by the translators first in Nepali and then in English. For both mistranslation and creativity we both translator (s) and editor are and should be responsible. Editing of these stories in English translation took more time than we had anticipated. I'm thankful to the department for granting me the time that the work itself called for. One of the reasons was that I had to tally line by line the English version of each story with its Nepali version. Because of the constraints imposed by time, I could not follow the interactive mode of editing the translation. The mode involves the
This article is based on the data collected mainly from English
translation of Stories of Conflic... more This article is based on the data collected mainly from English translation of Stories of Conflict and War translated and edited by Govinda Raj Bhattarai. Also some pieces of evidence come from Country is yours translated by Manjushree Thapa. This article explores with examples how an aesthetic approach can be best employed to represent the translated language and its culture (here Nepali) in the translating language (here English). Similarly, how literalness in translation can play a significant role to allow minor languages like Nepali to resist dominant languages like English.
The purpose of this paper is to explore author-translator interaction enacted in the translation ... more The purpose of this paper is to explore author-translator interaction enacted in the translation of literary texts. Set against the poststructuralist approach to authorship and its implied plea for the emancipation of the translator as a reader from an authorial injunction, the paper presents literary translators' voices and experiences of consulting their authors during translation. The qualitative data collected from Nepali-English literary translators through semi-structured interviews were analyzed thematically. Findings reveal a discrepancy between the theoretical questioning of authorship and translation practitioners' desire and necessity to get connected with their authors. Accepting the author's centrality to the text, literary translators seek authorial involvement as a last semantic resort to resolve an interpretive crisis during translation. In accepting authorial authority, translators are equally aware of their translatorial agency. Authors are called upon to play a supportive, rather than a domineering, role to accomplish the translatorial goal.
Globe: A Journal of Language, Culture and Communication, 2020
The Faculty of Education under Tribhuvan University, Nepal, has recently shifted to a diversified... more The Faculty of Education under Tribhuvan University, Nepal, has recently shifted to a diversified approach to the selection of texts for its Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) and Master of Education (M.Ed.) English reading courses. Apart from the conventionally prioritized native English texts, the courses incorporate texts in nativized varieties of English from international target cultures as well as texts in the emerging variety of English from students’ home culture. However, in Nepal, there is a lack of research on the potential pedagogical contribution and cultural significance of texts originating from different cultures. In this respect, the present paper aims to explore university teachers’ voices with regard to different types of texts and their experiences of dealing with such texts in the classroom. The qualitative data collected from six reading teachers through a semi-structured interview were analyzed thematically. Findings reveal the teachers’ awareness of functional complementarity of texts stemming from target culture, international target cultures and students’ culture. As reported, different types of English texts are assumed to have complementary functions to inscribe and express local and global experiences. However, despite valuing each type of text, reading teachers tend to ascribe greater linguistic value to native English texts than nonnative texts, with the implication that the weight of native English texts continues to dominate ESL/EFL reading courses.
The present article concerns two fundamental aspects of research, namely problemposing and sourc... more The present article concerns two fundamental aspects of research, namely problemposing and sourcing the topic. The former identifies six key areas that the researcher can probe to generate research questions whereas the latter proposes four sources of research topics. The article primarily draws on my experience as a researcher and thesis supervisor of Master's students in English Education. The purposively selected cases are presented to illustrate the sourcing of the topics.
Translation scholarship abounds in strong views against literal translation, questioning its viab... more Translation scholarship abounds in strong views against literal translation, questioning its viability and creativity. The present paper problematizes the relegation of literal translation and makes a case for its viability in the translation of literary texts. To this end, the paper analyzes 600 culturebound and collocational expressions extracted from a corpus of thirty Nepali short stories in English translation carried out by Nepali EFL student translators. The findings demonstrate the accuracy of literally translated expressions and further illustrate the creative potential of literal translation. Finally, the study points out the necessity of incorporating literal translation as a viable strategy in translation pedagogy.
This study attempts to assess the quality of English translations by English-major M.Ed. students... more This study attempts to assess the quality of English translations by English-major M.Ed. students specializing in Translation Studies. The study adopted the combination of error analysis and holistic method to assess the quality of target texts (TTs) elicited through the production task carried out by 30 purposively selected students. Findings show that most of TTs were undermined by grammatical errors and syntactic inaccuracies revealing student translators' substandard English competence. The study thus sees the urgency of incorporating English teaching into the translation course to strengthen student translators' production skill in English.
The present article sheds light on key areas of revising and editing the translated text. Against... more The present article sheds light on key areas of revising and editing the translated text. Against the theoretical backdrop, some cases of Nepali texts in English translation are presented and analyzed. The article ends with some rules of thumb for revising and editing the target text (TT).
The paper presents a brief survey of historical landscape of Nepali literature in translation. Th... more The paper presents a brief survey of historical landscape of Nepali literature in translation. The survey mainly concerns the translation of literary texts from Nepali into English, which is further restricted to translation of Nepali fiction.
The present article conceptualizes the process of rewriting the given text in the target language... more The present article conceptualizes the process of rewriting the given text in the target language (TL) as regeneration of the text across languages. Shedding light on similarities and differences between producing a text across languages i.e. transwriting and within a language i.e. writing, it is argued that translation is a creative process almost exclusive to linguistic and textual levels.
Literature on second language reading suggests that the effectiveness of teaching reading depends... more Literature on second language reading suggests that the effectiveness of teaching reading depends largely on theoretically-guided and contextually-informed classroom methodology. In this study, we investigated the classroom methodology adopted by the students of Master of Education (M. Ed.) specializing in English from Mahendra Ratna Campus, Tahachal, who were teaching Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.) reading courses during their practice teachinghence defined as ‘student teachers’ (STs). Foregrounding the role of reading in the overall language development and academic achievement of English as a foreign language (EFL) students, the present B. Ed. English curriculum under Tribhuvan University has adopted a content-based approach to teaching reading. In order to understand how those reading courses were taught, we purposively selected ten M.Ed. STs and observed two classes of each, employing a semi-structured classroom observation scheme. In order to cross-compare STs' classroom performance with their theoretical knowledge about reading pedagogy and overall objectives of the reading courses, we also analyzed the English language teaching course the STs had studied in the M.Ed. program as well as B. Ed. reading courses and coursebooks they were teaching. The collected data were coded and analyzed thematically. The findings show that the teaching methodology adopted by the STs goes counter to the principles of ESL/EFL reading and expectations articulated in the reading courses. These findings illustrate the urgent need to reassess the methodology of teaching reading at the tertiary level and minimize the gap between the M. Ed. English students’ pedagogical knowledge and their classroom performance
The present article concerns the use of peer observation, particularly in the context of microtea... more The present article concerns the use of peer observation, particularly in the context of microteaching, for self-enhancement. The study followed a mixed methods design comprising survey and focused discussion. The data were collected from prospective external evaluators of teaching practice who participated in the training session entitled Find Good Practices of Teaching Demonstrated by their Peers and Adopt and Adapt According to their Needs so as to find out the participants' perspectives on observing their peers' classes and benefits they reaped from the observation. Analysis of the participants' written and oral accounts reveals that peer observation is a rewarding learning experience; and observation is likely to be fruitful when it is preceded by self-inquiry, that is, identification of what the observer himself/herself is lacking and followed by critical reflection on the observed lesson and the observer's own practice. Also, the peer's weaknesses can be employed as a critical incident to question one's own teaching behavior.
Journal of Nepalese literature, art and culture, 2012
The present paper draws on my personal experience of working on A Trilingual Dictionary of the Ma... more The present paper draws on my personal experience of working on A Trilingual Dictionary of the Magar Language: Magar, Nepali and English (Athāra Magarāt). Like any other translators, I ventured on the project with the assumption that the source text lends itself to interpretation. The text can be oral or written, and the interpretation can be direct (when the interpreter/translator can read or understand the text in the source language itself) or indirect (when the translator/interpreter has another person interpret the text for him/her). In my case I had to rely on the secondary interpretation. Karna Bahādur Budā Magar interpreted the Magar words for me. The second assumption, what has been interpreted lends itself to rewriting in any language. However, these simplistic views about translation were later challenged, especially when I was translating cultural words into English. By their very nature, cultural words resisted straightforward interpretation and rewriting in Nepali and English. I often felt my interpretation and rewriting of Magar words were tied more to my own Nepali cultural experiences and formal knowledge of English than to Magar culture itself. This naturally caused distortion and fragmentation in the translation. Here I will touch on three broad areas of my observation: how preservation through lexical codification creates a prestige-based hierarchy; how preservation and promotion of a language through translation leads to cultural distortion and fragmentation; and how translators can employ different strategies to ensure better cultural representation in the face of distortion and fragmentation. Journal of Nepalese Literature, Art and Culture 25
This article opens with a brief survey of some initiatives taken in order to expand the lexicon o... more This article opens with a brief survey of some initiatives taken in order to expand the lexicon of science in Nepali. It mainly presents the analysis of the morphological structures of scientific terms. The terms included in the study are collected from the secondary level science books published in Nepali.
Editing is integral to translation. Translation has multiple phases: reading, re-reading, draftin... more Editing is integral to translation. Translation has multiple phases: reading, re-reading, drafting, redrafting and finalizing are the most conspicuous ones. Editing is at work in all these phases with varying degrees of necessity and intensity. Editing is necessary to ensure the quality of translation from two major perspectives. From the perspective of interpretation, it ensures that the translator as a reader has interpreted the source text accurately and appropriately taking care of its linguistic, cultural, historical and contextual dimensions that feed meanings to the text as a whole. From the perspective of meaning regeneration, editing ensures that the translator as a (co)writer has (re) written the text in the target language as the source writer has intended and as it is suitable for the target readership. What I'm trying to bring home is that a translation in a real sense of the word is not a translation any more unless it is simultaneously accompanied with the process of editing. Editing completes and complements translation. I'm grateful to Dr. Sanjita Verma, Head of the Department of World Literature and Translation, for realizing the paramount role of editing in translation, and entrusting me with the job. As the title of the anthology suggests, Mosaic is the collection of short stories written in different languages spoken in this culturally and linguistically diverse nation. Many of the stories of this anthology have entered into English directly from the Nepali language while some are via Nepali. In the translation jargon, translation directly from the source language is called primary translation and translation of the translation is called secondary translation. The stories namely, Aborted Trust, Ashaman Baa, Kanchhi Phupu and Her Flower Garden, and Finally were originally written respectively in Limbu, Nepal Bhasha , Magar, and Maithili languages. They were first translated into Nepali and then from Nepali into English. As an editor, I allied with the Nepali versions of all stories. In the secondary translation, the distance between the original story and its English translation and also the degree of mistranslation is likely to be higher. So is the degree of creativity employed by the translators first in Nepali and then in English. For both mistranslation and creativity we both translator (s) and editor are and should be responsible. Editing of these stories in English translation took more time than we had anticipated. I'm thankful to the department for granting me the time that the work itself called for. One of the reasons was that I had to tally line by line the English version of each story with its Nepali version. Because of the constraints imposed by time, I could not follow the interactive mode of editing the translation. The mode involves the
This article is based on the data collected mainly from English
translation of Stories of Conflic... more This article is based on the data collected mainly from English translation of Stories of Conflict and War translated and edited by Govinda Raj Bhattarai. Also some pieces of evidence come from Country is yours translated by Manjushree Thapa. This article explores with examples how an aesthetic approach can be best employed to represent the translated language and its culture (here Nepali) in the translating language (here English). Similarly, how literalness in translation can play a significant role to allow minor languages like Nepali to resist dominant languages like English.
It is the opening essay of the book Erasure. It depicts metaphorically how the war began in Nepal... more It is the opening essay of the book Erasure. It depicts metaphorically how the war began in Nepal and lasted for ten years.
This paper recounts my professional journey as a university teacher that I started nearly one and... more This paper recounts my professional journey as a university teacher that I started nearly one and a half decades ago. In this narrative account, by exploration I mean textual exploration, experience stands for direct contact with language, working in and through language, and expression has to do with communicating ideas through writing.
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Papers by Balram Adhikari
article primarily draws on my experience as a researcher and thesis supervisor of Master's students in English Education. The purposively selected cases are presented to illustrate the sourcing of the topics.
translation of Stories of Conflict and War translated and edited
by Govinda Raj Bhattarai. Also some pieces of evidence come
from Country is yours translated by Manjushree Thapa. This
article explores with examples how an aesthetic approach can be
best employed to represent the translated language and its
culture (here Nepali) in the translating language (here English).
Similarly, how literalness in translation can play a significant
role to allow minor languages like Nepali to resist dominant
languages like English.
article primarily draws on my experience as a researcher and thesis supervisor of Master's students in English Education. The purposively selected cases are presented to illustrate the sourcing of the topics.
translation of Stories of Conflict and War translated and edited
by Govinda Raj Bhattarai. Also some pieces of evidence come
from Country is yours translated by Manjushree Thapa. This
article explores with examples how an aesthetic approach can be
best employed to represent the translated language and its
culture (here Nepali) in the translating language (here English).
Similarly, how literalness in translation can play a significant
role to allow minor languages like Nepali to resist dominant
languages like English.