National Translation Mission

Technical and scientific knowledge is an important domain of the field of knowledge. Translation of these is an important aspect of the development of both the individual as well society. Uniformity should be there among the citizens in the usage of Indian language terminology. There is a lot of variation between different languages, such as languages like Bangla containing multiple sources of technical terminology. In contrast, some of the languages don’t have a definition or glossary to serve them. The idea behind the development of the National Translation Mission is to work toward the standardization of Technical Terminology in Indian languages. It works in collaboration with the Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT). Currently, NTM is working on translating all instructional resources for higher education into 22 Indian languages. By translating the higher education texts, which are primarily available in English, into Indian languages, NTM seeks to expand access to the immense corpus of knowledge. This approach is anticipated to eventually open the door for the creation of a diverse knowledge society.

Origin of National Translation Mission: 

Dr. Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister of India was the founder of the idea of the National Translation Mission in India (NTM). He mentioned the importance and the need of the hour to access and promoted the usage of translated journals. His major idea was that the rising translations would lead to an increase in access to knowledge in various key domains. It would also encourage the people’s participation in education and enhance continual learning. He raised his ideas in the first meeting of the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) chaired by Shri Sam Pitroda. He agreed with the raised ideas and recognized the need to have an autonomous mission in order to promote the cause of translation for easy and widely available knowledge in India.

Aims & Objectives of National Translation Mission:

A. Short-term Goals of the National Translation Mission:

• Short-term orientation courses to be undertaken in lieu of the Translator Education Programme.
• Machine-aided translation will be promoted between various English and Indian languages. 
• Dictionaries and thesaurus are to be developed further in order to increase the availability of translation tools. 
• Coordinating the creation of technical and scientific words in Indian languages with the Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT).
• Promoting and disseminating translations of information in all the major academic fields taught in universities.
• Six databases were also generated as an objective to establish the National Translation Mission : 
  • Bibliography of Translations
  • Dictionaries
  • Glossaries Database
  • Publishers Database
  • Indian Universities Database
  • Faculty Database / Experts Repository

B. Long-term Goals of the National Translation Mission:

• Constructing a reservoir of literary works based on Translation Studies. 
• Encourage and support the industry of R&D based on the topics of translation memory, word net, word finders, etc. 
• Provide fellowships and grants for research projects linked to translation and natural language processing.
• Grants should be provided to the Universities offering Degree/Diploma courses on translation.
• Be enthusiastic about supporting journals for publishing and/or translating related texts and simulating their analysis. 
• Giving a rise to the translation industry and recognizing it as a reputed professional. 
• Organizing more events related to the translation activities, like book discussions and translations, book exhibitions, and so on. 

Beneficiaries of the National Translation Mission:

The creation of a diverse knowledge society is the goal of NTM. By facilitating the translation of important literature from one language to another, the mission is to encourage the equal spread of knowledge. Students who struggle to acquire knowledge due to a language barrier will be better equipped as a result of this. NTM also seeks to provide benefits to a sizable population from a variety of backgrounds.

• Teachers of various subjects at various levels.
• Publishers and authors looking for interesting ventures. 
• Departments of Linguistics
• Translation software developers,
• Radio houses airing different languages
• Movie makers interested in multilingual releases
• Literature scholars.
• Public health workers and NGOs working on civil rights.
• Readers trying to enhance their own languages
• Agencies or individuals looking for different types of interpreters. 

Executive Bodies of the National Translation Mission:

The nodal agency behind the National Translation Mission is the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL). The mission is currently operating from the CIIL premises in Mysore. The working of NTM is regulated in proper coordination with the working of national organizations, for instance, the Centre for Scientific and Technical Terminologies (CSTT), the National Book Trust, etc. However, the National Translation Mission is believed to soon become an autonomous entity. CIIL director is the Nodal Officer of the NTM. 

National Translation Mission also has a Project Advisory Committee (PAC). PAC is believed to be the main decision-making body of the mission. PAC is constituted by a committee of  25 experts including people of high intelligence, that is, scholars, authors or presidents of academies. It may also include the vice-chancellors of various institutions, or IT representatives and IIT professors as well. 

The NTM is also regulated by the working of four smaller committees responsible for guidance in the tasks pertaining to the mission. The sub-committees are made in the following four major domains : 

• Rates
• Grant-in-Aid
• Copyright and Legal Matters
• Knowledge Texts

Related Frequently Asked Questions and Answers:

1Q. State the importance of various Translation activities?

Ans: Translation activities are important because of the following reasons : 

• Generation of direct and indirect employment
• Encouraging the unemployed youth who pose significant knowledge to take up this remunerative profession. 
• Increasing the literacy rate of India.

2Q. Who are considered to be the beneficiaries of NTM?

Ans: NTM seeks to provide benefits to a sizable population from a variety of backgrounds like:

• Teachers of various subjects at various levels
• Publishers and authors looking for interesting ventures. 
• Departments of Linguistics
• Translation software developers,
• Radio houses airing different languages
• Movie makers interested in multilingual releases
• Literature scholars.
• Public health workers and NGOs working on civil rights.
• Readers trying to enhance their own languages
• Agencies or individuals looking for different types of interpreters. 

3Q. What is the role served by the Central Institute of Indian Languages?

Ans: The Central Institute of Indian Languages is responsible for : 

• Assisting the State and Central government authorities in translational matters. 
• Contribution to the development of content and corpus in all plausible institutions.
• The teaching of all the Indian Languages to non-native learners would lead to the promotion of linguistic harmony. 
• Documentation as well as protection of the Minor, Minority, and Tribal Languages. 

4Q. How did NCERT play an important role in translation?

Ans: NCERT has done the following things : 

• The National Curriculum Framework has been converted into all 22 languages. 
• Translation of all its textbooks till class 12th into languages, Hindi and Urdu

5Q. What are the points to remember during translation?

Ans: The following key points should be covered while undertaking translations : 

• Coverage of source words.
• Proper communication about the ideas taken from the source.
• High similarity with the source article.
• Should read like a translation.