Translation Denies Expression of Figurative Language

Abstract

Literature in the native language of any country is a rich repository of cultural and linguistic artefacts. Very often, this literature remains unexplored due to the inaccessibility of these authors to a larger audience. It has necessitated the birth of a translator. Translation is the process of communicating the meaning of a source text into a target language. André Alphons Lefevere, a translation theorist postulates that translation is a re-writing of a story. He implies that any text which is translated tends to deploy unconsciously a certain pattern. The pattern could be the use of literary and figurative language or ethnographic ideas. A translated work is unable to explore the metonymic, syntactic or morphological elements of a story. This research paper will argue that translated works deny expression to figurative language. It will do so, by carrying out a comparative and qualitative descriptive analysis of the original work of Marathi Dalit writer Babytai Kamble’s autobiography ‘Jina Amucha’ with that of her translated work ‘The Prisons We Broke’ by Maya Pandit.