Kuvempu Bhasha Bharathi Pradhikara President Pradhan Gurudutt has said that 50 major works in Kannada will be translated to other languages, by the Pradhikara. A volume of the translated work will be brought out as a part of the centenary celebrations of senior litterateur S V Parameshwar Bhat, next year.

Speaking at the valedictory of a workshop on Konkani- Kannada translation, organised by Konkani Bhashe mathu Samskrithi Prathishtana and Kuvempu Bhasha Bharathi Pradhikara, at Vishwa Konkani Kendra here on Sunday, he said as per the recommendations of National Knowledge Commission, National Translation Mission has been introduced. With this, the translators will get an opportunity in the coming days.

“Translators get better pay than the original writers. For one word, 50 paise is paid. To translate a short story by Tolstoy, the Pradhikara had to pay a royalty of Rs 1.14 lakh,” he said.

“English language which was rejected three centuries ago could progress due to translation of the English work into other languages. To help the translated literature to grow, there was a need to bring out thesaurus and bi lingual dictionaries.”

The Pradhikara will provide all the assistance, if anyone shows interest in translating work in Konkani to other languages.

Publishing Division

Senior litterateur P Gopalakrishna Pai said that Vishwa Konkani Kendra should come up with a publishing division, to help the young writers to publish their books. “Translation is an attempt to project oursleves to the world. If there was no translation system, then we could not have read the works of Tolstoy.”

He called upon the participants to develop the art of translating the literature of his or her choice.

Vishwa Konkani Kendra President Basthi Vaman Shenoy said that the Kendra will join hands with the Pradhikara in its future endeavour.

Resource persons S M Krishnaraya and Gokuldas shared their experiences. Other resource persons were Na D’Souza, Dr Geetha Shenoy and Kudpi Jagadish Shenoy among others were present.