National Translation Mission

National Translation Mission (NTM) is a Government of India initiative to make knowledge texts accessible, in all Indian languages listed in the VIII schedule of the Constitution, through translation. NTM was set up as per National Knowledge Commission's recommendation. The Ministry of Human Resource Development has designated Central Institute of Indian Languages as the nodal organization for the operationalization of NTM.

Origins

English, the primary medium of higher education in India, remains inaccessible to even the literate majority of the country. Therefore, there is an urgent need to translate material in all fields like literary, technical, scientific and business etc. so that such material is accessible to a wide range of different language speaking population across the country. Translation, thus, is seen not just as an instrument of democratizing and secularizing knowledge, but also of empowering languages and speech communities.

NTM intends to establish translation as an industry in the country. Its main objectives include generation of translation tools such as dictionaries and thesauri; development of software for translation, memory, etc.; promotion of machine translation and machine aided translation; translator education through orientation programs & courses; fellowships & grants for research projects, etc. Bringing visibility to translators and translation activities by organizing book launches for translations; instituting prizes and fellowships; organizing Regional Festivals of Translation; book exhibitions, etc. also are part of the activities of NTM.

Project Advisory Committee (NTM-PAC) of NTM, with Joint Secretary(L), MHRD, as the Chairperson, is the highest decision making body of NTM. It is a committee of 25 members representing various sections of the academic community, ministerial bodies and publishing houses related to translation. NTM-PAC is supported by four sub-committees in matters related to copyrights and legal matters; selecting knowledge texts; fixing rates for translators, copy editors etc.; and Grant in Aid schemes of NTM.

NTM Website in 23 languages

NTM is in the process of establishing itself as the clearing house of all translation related activities in the country. Interaction with the public is a requisite and NTM has developed its website (www.ntm.org.in) in 23 languages for the purpose. NTM website introduces the Mission, its objectives, beneficiaries, and structure etc. Updates on list of books selected for translation, experts consulted, announcement of translation assignments etc. are available for the public here. The Discussion Forum facilitates the users to discuss various topics like the books selected for translation in a subject, an existing translation, and terminology issues in Indian languages etc.

NTM Databases

NTM also maintains National Register of Translators(NRT) through its website. NRT is a databank wherein translators register themselves online. NRT is a searchable directory of translators, evaluators and discipline experts with classified information on profession, experience, languages known and expertise in translation, etc.

Lists of the most prescribed texts in Indian universities in various disciplines are generated out of the Knowledge Text Module, another major facet of NTM-databases. Two searchable database components have been created under it: Indian Universities Database and Knowledge Text Database. Indian Universities Database furnishes information on courses, syllabi and textbooks etc. of over 350 Union Grants Commission (UGC) accredited universities and institutions. Knowledge Text Database provides complete details of the prescribed books. When made public, this would become one of the first state initiatives to provide information about all the universities/institutions and courses which can be accessed through a single window. It would help scholars and academicians from various regions to access the latest information on courses and syllabi of any university/institution of the country. University Boards can review the course details and syllabi structure of other universities before revising their curriculum. This may help in creating parity among universities of rural and urban regions.

NTM-databases, created in Microsoft SQL 2005, can contain a maximum of 2^31 objects and span multiple Operating System-level files with a maximum file size of 220 Terabyte. Control mechanisms have been incorporated to the database for concurrent access to shared data, for ensuring data integrity. NTM aims to increase the usability of the databases by making them both as web and standalone applications.

Translation Tools

Basic Bilingual Dictionaries

The bilingual dictionaries are modelled after the hugely popular Longman Corpus Network - based Basic English-English dictionary. In the first phase work on six languages- Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya and Tamil is completed. English-Hindi, English-Bengali and English-Kannada dictionaries are already published by Pearson Education India. The second phase includes four other Indian languages– Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi and Telugu, out of which work on the first two languages has been completed.

NTM has extended the work to 8 other Indian languages also- Assamese, Konkani, Maithili, Manipuri, Nepali, Sanskrit, Santali and Urdu.

Bilingual e-dictionaries

e-dictionaries of NTM are based on ‘Longman Advanced Bilingual Framework’(LABF). LABF Dataset will be used through the Dictionary Production System(DPS), originally developed by Longman and marketed by Ingenierie Diffusion Multimedia(IDM), France. The NTM-Longman e-dictionary deals with 338,000 words, phrases and meanings; 78,000 head entries, 5,400 encyclopaedic entries, 54,000 phrases, over 515,000 examples and 26,000 synonyms, antonyms and related words.

Machine Translation

An English-Kannada Machine Translation(MT) package which bids to break new ground on the MT scene in India is being developed under NTM. The main aim of this project is to automate the translation of a given English sentence into Kannada. This Package is divided into 3 main modules– Parallel Aligned Corpora, Digitization of Source Language(SL) resources and Architecture. The Architecture is divided into 8 modules and implemented using Java with Netbeans Integrated Development Environment(IDE). The front end is designed using Swings and back-end SQL. The dictionary is put into action using random access file. Since Hash tables are particularly efficient when the maximum number of entries can be predicted in advance, this technique is used to accomplish searching. Collection classes are used as data storage structures. NTM has been interacting with several teams (like C-DAC, Pune, Noida, Mumbai; LTRC, ILMT, EILMT, Anusaaraka, Shakti—all at IIIT, Hyderabad) engaged in developing Machine Translation software to explore the extent to which the MT research and NTM can interface for mutual benefit.

Dictionary of Translation Studies

Dictionary of Translation Studies being prepared by NTM intends to serve as a companion to students and scholars interested in and associated with the discipline of Translation Studies. It is a compilation of the technically charged terms used in the discipline. It endeavours to be a comprehensive dictionary, exhausting the technical terms used in Indian as well as western discourse of translation and also the terms used in the sub-domains of Translation Studies like Interpreting, Machine Translation, etc.

NTM Survey

Knowledge Text Database Fieldwork

NTM has been collecting syllabi directly from universities through extensive fieldworks and also through virtual search. Information and opinion from faculty and students texts prescribed and referred in various courses taught in these universities were also recorded during these fieldworks.

Regional Language Knowledge Text Scenario Survey

NTM has been conducting a survey to study the need and demand for knowledge texts in translation, the availability of knowledge texts, and the general publication scenario in regional languages in order to formulate strategies for productive interventions by NTM. Interactions with various regional publishers, faculty, students, translators, and librarians, etc. were carried out during this survey.

Discipline Experts Inputs

In order to finalise the knowledge texts to be taken up for translation by NTM, experts of various disciplines across the country were contacted and inputs have been collected. NTM has gathered lists of books recommended by the experts in more than twenty disciplines for translation. NTM has also contacted discipline experts with regional language background to ratify the selection of these books.

Royalty Scenario

NTM conducted a nationwide survey so as to find out the prevalent practice among some of the major as well as regional publishers towards the payment of royalty to authors/copyright holders, translators etc. In all, NTM has gathered information from over 100 publishers, which is essential in framing NTM-policies, especially in case of turnkey projects.

Events

Approaches to Translation: Indian and South Asian Perspectives (ATISAP)

In order to ‘project Indian languages and literature in the region and abroad’, NTM has woven a chain of events around the 28 translations earlier published under Modern Indian Novels in Translation(MINT) series by Macmillan. So far NTM has organized national seminars and conferences in Bengali, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Telugu and Urdu languages under the title ‘Approaches to Translation: Indian and South Asian Perspectives’. ATISAP events intend to generate discursive discourse and academic debates on these original-translation pairs. It aims to break fresh grounds on translation scenario and to provide material for South Asian literary courses and programmes and to probe the pertinent contemporary issues in translation discourse.

Workshops and Seminars

NTM has organised workshops in regional languages in different parts of the country involving discipline experts and translators to chalk out strategies for NTM translation assignments. A few seminal knowledge texts formed the focus of discussions in these workshops. NTM has been conducting workshops to assess the existing knowledge text translations in regional languages. These assessment workshops also aim to bring about collaboration between NTM and eminent scholars, writers, translators and publishers in different fields which will help in forming expert panels for its translations. NTM has also been organizing seminars on various aspects of translation with special reference to regional languages in different parts of the country. Apart from these, Translator Orientation Programmes; Publishers, Media and Translators Meet; Book Festivals; Workshops on Literary and Linguistic Terms; programmes on Classical Text and Literary Text Translation have been organized across the country by NTM. These workshops help NTM to popularize its initiatives among beneficiaries.

References

• . http://www.knowledgecommission.gov.in/focus/translation.asp. 
• Rao, K.N. Venkatasubba (16 November 2007). "Translation mission taking shape". The Hindu. http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/16/stories/2007111660120600.htm. 
• "National Translation Mission includes Kashmiri, Dogri". 18 April 2008. http://www.merinews.com/article/national-translation-mission-includes-kashmiri-dogri/132676.shtml. 
• Bennur, Shankar (19 July 2008). "National Translation Mission generates response from all walks of life". The Hindu. http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/19/stories/2008071953690500.htm. 
• Bennur, Shankar (7 November 2008). "National database of translators on the anvil". The Hindu. http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2008110753150600.htm&date=2008/11/07/&prd=th&. 
• Bennur, Shankar (28 December 2008). "For the sake of knowledge". The Hindu. http://www.hindu.com/edu/2008/12/08/stories/2008120850790100.htm. 
• "An opportunity for translators". The Hindu. 9 July 2010. http://www.hinduonnet.com/2010/01/09/stories/2010010951010200.htm. 

External links

• www.ntm.org.in homepage