Translations should not : Strain the brain

An interview with Chandana Mendis  

Chandana Mendis

 

 “What does a dentist know about literature? Sorry we cannot publish your book,” is what several publishers said when rejecting his debut translation. He wasn’t discouraged and started to publish his own books. The publishers who rejected him regret their decisions now. “Looking back, that rejection was also a great blessing,” said Chandana Mendis.

Best known for the translations of Sherlock Holmes, the magnificent character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Chandana Mendis is also a novelist as well as a short story writer. His translated short story collection Veena Wadakaya was awarded the best translated book award at the 2013 State Literary Festival. His work was presented with the same award in 2008, 2009 and 2011 and that was for Shreshta Lekakayange Wishishta Keti Katha (Finest short stories of greatest authors), Sonduru Sithuwam, and Muthu Ataya respectively. His novel Nishchala saha Chanchala Depala translated into English by Vijitha Fernando was short listed for the Gratiaen Award.

“I received my primary education from Gonapinuwala Saralankara Vidyalaya and then at Richmond College, Galle. There was an interest for literature building up from that time. But my parents wanted me to study science,” he recalled.

“Our school principal at that time was Mr. Shelton Weerasinghe, an English literate who later became the principle of Wesley College. He had a great interest in art and tried to develop an interest in art in the science students. The person who mostly inspired us on Sinhala and the universal literature was our teacher WS Bandara, a great artist. He established a class library with his own books and encouraged the class to read,” he said as he remembered the people who inspired him.

“Other than that, as science students we didn’t get much of a chance to explore literature and write. In fact during school years I only wrote one article when I was 14 years old, about Anton Chekhov and that was also for a school magazine,” Mendis added.

After the Advanced Level examination Chandana Mendis got selected to the Dental Faculty of Peradeniya University. “When I was at the university also I didn’t have much time to spare for writing or studying literature. In 1970s, when I joined the Colombo dental hospital my chief was Gunadasa Amarasekara, the veteran writer. But our relationship was entirely official and nothing about literature,” he said.

Mendis continued to work in the government dental hospitals for over 10 years before he left the country for a long period. When he returned he opened a private dental clinic where he found time to write. “When I first started a new clinic, patients hardly came in. So I started reading and doing translations during my free time. I used to get stacks of books from the British Council library and read. That is how I got into writing and translating,” he described. He retired from dentistry in 2006 and now he gives all his time for literature.

His debut translation was also a master piece of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; The lost world, which was translated into Sinhala as Sangawunu Lowe Sawariyak. Although there are many translations, Chandana Mendis’ translations of the popular Sherlock Holmes adventure series are popular among the young generation in the country. His dedication towards searching and creating new adventures of Sherlock Holmes is evident by the recorded sales and the enthusiasm of Holmes fans each year at the annual Book Fair.

“I wasn’t the first person to translate Sherlock Holmes into Sinhala. In 1955 Mr. RNH Perera translated The Hound of the Baskervilles into Sinhala as Baskerville Ruduru Baluwa which was also the first translation I ever read. RNH Perera was such an excellent translator that his translations attracted me to the character of Sherlock Holmes as well as inspired me to translate. The sign of four was translated by Mr. MDN Ostin was also there. I also got to read a Nuwana magazine collection from Bandara sir’s class library which included detective short stories like July hatha by WA Silva based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. Replacing Holmes and Watson there were two localized characters; Inspector Samarasena and Sergeant Ranathunga. Other than that, the original stories of Sherlock Holmes were not very common among the readers,” he explained.

As mentioned earlier when he first translated The Hound of the Baskervilles, nobody wanted to publish it since he was a stranger to the field. “I published it with the sponsorship of Library and Documentations Services Board. It was a long, time consuming process,” he said. In the meantime KG Karunathilake also published his translation of The hound of the Baskervilles; Baskerville Dada Balla.

Mendis’s Sherlock Holmes translations continued even after the final Sherlock Holmes story of Sir Doyle. After Doyle’s last SH book His Last Bow, translated into Sinhala as Oben Samu Ganimi, Mendis started a new series called ‘The private and confidential files of Sherlock Holmes’. “Most of these stories are translations of stories which other people authored based on the character Conan Doyle built. Some of these are Conan Doyle’s son Adrian Conan Doyle’s. But he was not as skilled as his father. Most stories included in Sherlock Holmes Apasu Ei (Return of SH) are his work,” he iterated.

In the beginning of Sherlock Holmes Apasu Ei, Mendis wrote that he found an old trunk box containing old notes of Dr. Watson when he was in England. “I did not find such a box,” he confessed. “That is where my fiction begins. It is true that I was there in England. Even the people mentioned in the story truly exist. The only thing was that I was not given an old trunk full of Dr. Watson’s notes but got to read lots of stories based on that character. In fact Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson never really existed neither did they live in 221B Baker Street,” he revealed the bitter truth Sherlock Holmes fans still refuse to believe.

He said one reason his translations of Sherlock Holmes was popular could be the language he used in his translations. His language is simple with short sentences which are easy to understand. “I always try to use simple language since my aim is to produce a translation which could be understood by everyone. I read one sentence two or three times before I translate. Rather than translating the complete English sentence into Sinhala, I see what the easily understandable way is for the Sinhala reader,” he explained.

According to Mendis translating something exactly as it is, is not a successful translation method. “In some translated books there are paragraph long sentences. After reading the sentence the reader cannot remember the beginning of the sentence. I object to this completely. The main point is that the reader should understand what he or she is reading. I have seen questions presented to writers asking why their writing is so difficult to understand and they admit it saying ‘yes, it is hard and if you want to understand good things you have to force your brain to grasp it’,” he exclaimed. “I think it should be the other way around. The writer should be capable of conveying his idea without making the reader strain the brain.

He also explained the process of getting permission for translation from the original writer or the proprietor of the book. Even if the author of a particular book has passed away, the proprietorship of the book belongs to his family or the publisher for 70 more years. A book cannot be translated without proprietor’s permission according to international law. After 70 years it becomes something of a common asset. “It is a very important as well as a complex process. I started applying for permission to translate Daphne Du Maurier’s Jamaica Inn even before I returned to Sri Lanka. Du Maurier had passed away in 1980 and to wait for another 70 years is a long time,” he said.

When he first applied, the proprietors had asked him to pay more than 1,000 pounds to grant permission. “I was not capable of parting with such an amount at that time. I tried again and again and after several attempts they granted me permission for 400 pounds. When I paid that amount through a bank they sent an agreement form. Even then there were many conditions. I could not make any movies based on the book, no television or radio drama. And I can only print the book in paperback,” he explained the process.

“The same goes for Roald Dahl’s short stories. I took permission for each short story I translated for the short story collection Harima Pudumai. Same with the translation of the book The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (Sihinayaka Randi Rahasak), which was also a major movie hit,” he added. Sri Lankan authors have equal rights for their creative work. “I used Martin Wickramesingha’s Madol Doova characters Upali and Jinna in the Abirahas Dupathe Nidanaya. Before publishing that I wrote to the Martin Wickramasinghe Trust to get permission,” he pointed out.

Although there is a law to prevent people from translating or adapting stories of another writer, there are still people who are not aware of this international law. Maybe these are people who simply ignore laws. “Before the publishing process of the translation of the Jamaica Inn, Yakage Nawathena was over; there was a book in the market which claimed that another translation of Jamaica Inn will soon be available to the readers. On one hand it was illegal and in the other it was going to be a huge loss for us since we have already undergone immense trouble to get permission. We immediately contacted the translator as well as the publishing company and informed them about the permission he have with a copy of the agreement. If I were to inform the proprietors they could have taken legal action against him where I wouldn’t even be involved,” he explained his experience.

A common accusation against the translators is that they omit chunks from the original book when they translate. Chandana Mendis admitted that he also has omitted some details from the books he had translated. “There are instances where I had to omit certain information concerning the culture of our country. There could be a single sentence in a huge book which insults a particular religion. For an instance Daphne Du Maurier was a Christian but in some instances she wrote against her religion which I omitted when I translated Jamaica Inn,” he explained. He further said that sometimes those facts are not even relevant to the stories but just the personal ideas and beliefs of the authors and omitting something like that would not harm the story value. “If someone says it is unfair to the original piece there is nothing to be done. I believe that this is the right way. Therefore I am very selective when I choose a book to translate,” he stressed.

He also pointed out that some information in western books is not suitable for Sri Lankan culture. “If you go to a book shop today there are enough books translated into Sinhala directly with all the information unedited,” he said. “If someone is to make a movie out of those stories, it would create a big issue. Many will be marginalized as ‘adults only’. Some stories are not suitable for children at all. No one points out that aspect of it” he argued.

He further said that a translator should be more careful and responsible when they choose a children’s story to translate as the value system of children depend on the messages they derive from books. “I remember when I was translating Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I had to omit a part where Violet Burigard, the little girl who always chews gum, pasted gum on elevator buttons. Imagine a local child taking after her and pasting gum on the elevator buttons at a hospital. A patient’s life may depend on one of these buttons,” the doctor in him spoke.

Mendis also mentioned that a writer should always think about giving the right values to children. “There is no doubt that Roald Dahl is an excellent writer. Children admire his books. But sometimes it is questionable whether the stories are suitable for kids. Some of his books are still banned in some schools in England. The story of Fantastic Mr. Fox or Danny who steals pheasants with his dad which justifies stealing is one such example. It teaches a kid to steal. I have rejected to translate some of these books,” he urged.

He also spoke about the frauds in the field. “The Sherlock Holmes book based on Jekyll and Hyde; Abhirahas Dostara Samaga Sherlock Holmes was not a direct translation. There was an American book call Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Holmes. I initially started translating this book, but it was not satisfying. Therefore I constructed my own version of the story based on these characters. Few months later there was a book on sale named Yaksha Wiyaruwa which claimed to be a translation, but turned out to be the story I wrote. Even the names I made up weren’t changed. We got through to so-called author and later he admitted he copied my book and destroyed all the copies. This is just one example,” he complained.

He also mentioned that the laws regarding this are not strong enough within the country. “There were incidents like this in the past too. Madawala S Ratnayaka’s translation of Robinson Crusoe and KG Karunathilaka’s Dada Balla are just two small incidents. And there is no process to catch these thieves,” he pointed out.

He also said that this is one of the key reasons writers wait for the Book Fair to publish their books. “There is a group who wait till genuine writers get their books out so that they can make fake copies. It’s a huge loss for us. That is why we wait until the book fair even if the book is completed,” he claimed.

In conclusion Mendis said it would be unfair if a translated book is not compared with the original when it is considered for an award. “The jury should be thorough with the English original. Otherwise it would be unfair. Translators might make mistakes, he could change the story, give a different idea or misunderstand the original idea of the story,” he pointed out. “When my books were nominated the judge boards asked for the English copies which I translated. I believe that they went through them before delivering judgment. Yet I doubt that they go through the originals each time,” he said.

Pic by Chandana Wijesinghe

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