Challenges of Translating Indigenous Proverbs, Idioms and Metaphors into English Language

Abstract

India is a multilingual country, where all the regional languages exist simultaneously. It is the home of people speaking 22 recognised languages, hundreds of mother tongues and dialects. But the dominance of English continued over the years, English became the only means of communication. In political, economical, cultural and educational affairs, therefore it becomes essential to understand English and our mother tongues to connect to our communities. In Indian context the role of translation is very significant. It is through translation that we can communicate with one another. Indian languages have rich treasure of indigenous idioms, metaphors and proverbs. Translating these into English presents multifaceted challenges and these challenges are rooted in the interplay of cultural, social, linguistic worldview. Indian indigenous expressions are drawn from different languages like Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Bengali etc, as well as tribal tongues such as Santali, Gondi, Bhill, kolamikoraga, soliga etc.