New Delhi: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has released guidelines for translation of books into Indian languages. This is in accordance with the provisions outlined in the National Education Policy- 2020, which also aims to promote Indian languages within higher educational institutions.
It is vital for higher educational institutions to prepare the course structure, syllabus, and course material in various Indian languages which will automatically instil the universities to provide the facility to students to write examinations in one’s own mother tongue or local language.
According to UGC, higher educational institutions can undertake extensive translation work along with the original writing of textbooks into various Indian languages. To pursue this broad task of translation of study materials into various Indian languages, universities may also consider employing machine translation tools as well.However, it is crucial to uphold some language and course-specific standards while translating the study material into various Indian languages.
Guidelines
Translation shall be simple and concise while maintaining the original meaning of the text and concepts. Use of long sentences with multiple clauses may be avoided as far as possible.
‘ANUVADINI’, the Al based translation tool for Indian languages, developed by the AICTE may be used for translation. The Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSM) has developed standard glossaries of various subjects. They may be accessed and used while doing the translation.
The Grantha Academies of different states, the language departments of different universities, and other institutes have also published glossaries in regional languages.
For the easy understanding of the students, the complex technical terms may be given in English within the brackets after the Indian language equivalents of the same if they are available.
Translation shall always convey the complete meaning and concept of the original text. It need not necessarily be a word-to-word translation.
