BETTER LISTEN TO LISTEN BETTER

                          BETTER LISTEN TO LISTEN BETTER

            Listening is a complex process. It should not be confused with the physical process of hearing. Listening involves a variety of complex skills. Unfortunately it has not been taken seriously by many, who aspire to improve their linguistic competency and communicative skills,

            Listening is not a passive activity. It is a two- way process. As the characteristics of a good listener remain invariably invisible, the learner of a new language is prone to mistake mere hearing for listening. Unless a learner is consistently trained to listen consciously he or she may find learning a new language a tedious undertaking. This is the reason for many learners giving up after a surge of initial enthusiasm.

         Every learner may have to be sensitized towards LISTENING, so that it becomes a participating prolific activity. 

 The five different aspects of listening are:

• Hearing

• Understanding

• Remembering

• Interpreting

• Evaluating  

I t has been scientifically proved that our ability to down load information through listening is quantitatively much more than speaking.

   .Barriers to listening are:

·        Taking listening for granted ( we often forget that we are listening)

·        Failing to concentrate ( Brain can listen to and process 600-800 words/min)

The following are some of the Tips to improve your listening:

v     Always imagine you are going to repeat the speaker’s message.

v      Try to visualize the message.    

v      Know to avoid prejudices

v     Hinder the temptation to rebut

v     Create eye contact

v     Take notes sparingly

v     Respect the speaker

v     Pay attention to surroundings especially the location, size and arrangement of furniture.

v      REMEMBER .Listening is NOT a passive activity!

v     Listen for unspoken fears, concerns, moods, and aspirations.

v     Good listening requires great wisdom.

v     Listen to others with respect and validation.

v     Listen without thinking about how you're going to respond.

v     Listen for tell-tale signs of impending trouble.

v     Listen with positive regard for people's strengths & abilities

v     Always listen for the real bottom line of what some one is saying. Sometimes this calls for listening with the third ear.

v     Be aware how the style and level of impact the speaker uses affect you emotionally.

v     What people see influences them more than what they hear

v     Listen with your eyes as well as your ears to pick up nonverbal clues.

v     Some non-verbal communication takes place at a subconscious level.

v      Pay attention to body movements and gestures..

v      The face sends many non-verbal clues.

v     The eyes send the most non-verbal signals.

Ø      “Looking someone in the eye” is regarded with favor though excessive

eye contact may be regarded as staring, hence rude.

Ø      Focusing eyes straight ahead is regarded generally as no-involved listening.

Ø      Looking up to the right indicates that some one is correlating the information with some relevant facts.

Ø      Looking to the left implies that some one is remembering the past experience.

Ø      Focusing the eyes on the ceiling suggests that some one is analyzing the topic under discussion.

Ø      Casting eyes downward indicates emotional involvement with the message being sent.

Ø      Looking away for an extended period of time shows disengagement and withdrawal from the topic.  

-         Ronald E.Dulek& John S. Fielden (1990)

Studies indicate that some non-verbal communication at our subconscious level and one has very little or no control over the sending or receiving of basic behavioural signals.

 Brownell (2006) identifies the following nonverbal behaviors as behaviors that will say “I LISTEN”

1. Direct eye contact
2. Smiling
3. Nodding
4. Eyes wide open.
5. Forward lean
6. Positive facial expression.

 On the other hand the following behavioral patterns impede effective communication:

1. Staring
2. Yawning
3. Looking away
4. Nervous habits, fidgeting
5. Shaking the head negatively
6. Moving away from speaker
7. Negative facial expression (such as frowning or pouting) & Crossed arms.

Hence, when we choose to listen, really to listen, we make a conscious decision to focus all our mental energy on a specific source of potentially meaningful sound.

TRANSLATION OF CLASSICS

TRANSLATION OF CLASSICS

TRANSLATION OF KURUNTOKAI -

THE AKAM VINTAGE CLASSIC

            Man thinks in pictures and the conversion of these visual thoughts into speech is the most intrinsic form of translation activity. Translation thus becomes the mother of language, verbal and non-verbal, because expression of thought involves the unconscious and spontaneous process of translation. This cardinal component of all types of communication is a progressive phenomenon that defies definitions and theories both old and new, because being a creative imitation, translation is more creative than creativity itself.

            Though the intellectual and emotional requisites do not differ greatly from one culture to another, the way individuals perceive and interpret the cultural contexts can differ considerably from one language to another. Hence literary translations not only involve the transference of meaning from one language to another, but also warrant the recreation of cultural situations, though no two cultures interpret the same situations in the same way. Hence translation of texts with their context can be very challenging.

            Translation of poetry is more demanding than the creation of a poem because poetry presents images in order to communicate special feelings, and however concrete the language may be, each image signifies something else. As these images have universal, cultural and personal sources, the translator of poetry cannot make any concession to his reading audience such as transferring the foreign culture to a native equivalent. Hence he is put in a dilemma of deciding whether the expressive or the aesthetic function of a poem is more important. Theories propounded by both creative writer-translators and contemporary theorists of translation highlight the fact that the translation of poetry is not mere transference from one language into other but from poetry into poetry.

            Akam poems have a rich and heavy cultural backdrop, and the poets of akam genre are allowed to articulate powerfully and passionately well within the rigid frame work of akam conventions. Tholkappiyam by codifying rules for the literary produce of the cankam age has also laid down canons controlling the social behaviour of individuals. As a result there is no definite line of demarcation that separates social culture from literary culture. A translator of akam genre hence has to be acutely conscious of the fact that words from an akam verse carry with them the atmosphere and rhythm of a cultural, historical and aesthetic tradition. He should foresee that literary creations which express emotional thoughts and gain rich refinement in Tamil cannot be reproduced with same intensity in English.

            It becomes imperative for the translator of akam literature, here Kuruntokai to repeatedly remind himself that translation of a classical poem is a complex act of sensitive, scholarly reconstruction and interpretation of an emotional text that blends cultural, aesthetic, historical and semantic aspects. Every translator is fundamentally an interpreter, though the latter has to occupy the back seat in the actual process of translation. But, the translator’s inclination to interpret Kuruntokai can help him in recognising that each word in the verse reflects or represents a concept or an emotional landscape. His approach should hence be a sensitive, sensible, and continuous assessment of words as isolated occurrences worth semantic, historical, psychological and cultural boundaries and as they co-exist with other words in the complete context of the given text.

            Words by themselves are harmless and innocent until they gain meanings through their relationships with other words, through their role within the sentence. Hence before venturing into any interpretation of a Kuruntokai text, the translator will have to anticipate the cultural, historical and etymological factors that activate a word within the context of the text. In a poem both the words and the silence of the spaces between the words have meaning and the translator must be prepared to translate the text-behind-the text also.  

            Kuruntokai poets have used words in the most intelligent and imaginative fashion that no word is redundant or irrelevant in its frame of reference. The correctness of the words in their context can cause discomfort to the translator as He realises that he will have to strike a compromise sooner or later with a set of less appropriate words to convey an idea or emotion with the same intensity and immensity. Fallacious and pale renderings are the result of shallow and inadequate comprehension of the ambience with which the words operate. 

            Kuruntokai makes the most effective use of powerful imagery to enhance the emotions exhibited in various contexts. Enriched with a variety of similes, Kuruntokai commissions the imagery to capture every delicate shade of human experience. Implicit comparisons, metaphors and similes are the intrinsic part of the syntax order of a Kuruntokai verse. They are not employed as embellishments and hence the translator should be extremely careful while translating these poetic techniques. As the Kuruntokai poems are both sign bound, any lack of logical harmony between the elements of the sentence May come out glaringly.

            Ullurai, simile, metaphor and other carefully conceived and highly perfected literary techniques are employed for the specific purpose of communicating completely and convincingly the powerful private human experience, which are unique and universal. The translators will have to be clear and thorough with the literary conventions that operate in the akam genre, if they wish to improve their versions qualitatively.

            While translating a Kuruntokai verse, the translator will find himself continuously at work in a problem-solving atmosphere because he will have to draw information from various disciplines in order to do justice to the specific textual situation presented in the verse. In His process of recreating the textual situation as a totality into the cultural context of a new language, he will have to have his contemporary ears well tuned to the voice of the poet of antiquity.

            The Kuruntokai poets have logic and reason behind their careful arrangement of ideas. Their poetic thoughts are conceived in poetic forms which make matter and manner interdependent, sometimes even inseparable. While transferring a human experience into an art experience, emotions become the operation force of the “being” of the poem. Hence the sequence of thought presented in the original becomes extremely significant in the effective communications of the emotion. Insensitive shuffling of essential ideas, indiscriminate use of formats that hinder the spirit of the poem through their spatial arrangements, insufficient knowledge of akam conventions and inadequate insight into the psychology of the akam persona, distort tremendously the quintessence of the Kuruntokai verse.

            Transporting a Kuruntokai verse through the process of translation to a foreign reading audience with minimal detriment to the purport of the poem, is no doubt a very challenging literary mission. If the readers are unfamiliar with the complex cultural background of the original, then the situation warrants not only scholarship but also sensitivity. Kuruntokai poems articulate human emotions though no emotion is directly describable. Hence the translator should equip himself adequately to translate “rasa –kavyd”, where the central feature of context is an emotion. The untranslatable aspect of the akam poems will prompt the translator to make compromises in the form of additions and omissions. But no translator loyal to the art experience of the original will resort to additions and omissions without concrete reasons because he is expected to be sensitive to the inviolability and solemnity of literary masterpieces

            Translators of classical literature helplessly count on the modern commentaries which are readily available, and stay dangerously loyal to the interpretations of the commentators. Most often they tend to follow blindly the commentators without even attempting to verify the accuracy of their statements. The translators will have to be adequately learned in akam conventions as laid down by Tolkappiyam, and should be familiar with the various commentaries on this grammar treatise. Rigorous verification of the facts and suggestions presented by the commentators is very important to ensure correct comprehension of the text.
Turai and tinai sometimes vary from one commentator to another, and hence depending on just one or two commentators for thorough understanding of the text will prove too costly a risk from the translators’ point of view. Most of the factors that lead to faulty translations are easily identifiable and so avoidable, if the translator develops an earnest interest in enriching his comprehension of the classics through exposition to as many interpretations as possible. Ignorance of textual variations is too weak an excuse to save the translator from the offence of projecting akam verses wrongly. Failing to keep in mind the spirit of the poem and its emotional implication will promote misunderstanding of certain words and phrases. Sustained scholarship, acumen, perception, powerful vocabulary, rich imagination and sensitivity to the spirit of the original would have saved many of the English renderings of the Kuruntokai versions from the negative shifts that lead to incorrect translations. Wrongly projected renderings, spoiled verses and bad translations are the direct produce of the callous attitude of the translators.

            Translation of an akam classic is no easy task, and staying ever alive to the ardour of the passion audible in the voice of the speaker is of utmost importance.
Each Kuruntokai poem is filled with fervour felt by individuals who lived two thousand years ago but their voices of love and lament, adulation and agony, concern and caprice, passion and perfidy still find echoes in the hearts of hundreds of readers. In spite of all the challenges an akam classic like Kuruntokai is worth the pains of “translation” in the real sense and spirit of the word, offering brilliant scope for avid translators of the future because it is the most commendable and virtuous way of acknowledging the rich literary plethora of a rare race. 

KALYANJI'S POEMS IN TRANSLATION

ANOTHER CARICATURE

KALYANJI

Translation in to English by Jayanthasri Balakrishnan.

1.                ABOUT THE RAIN

Has the rain ever

made any complaints

to you, so far?

that the green worm

is missing for many days,

that a little girl

has taken away a pebble,

that a rain bow

has withered away

like the feather of a king fisher,

that you have prevented

the little boy of your house

from getting drenched,

that you stay put

in front of the idiot box

without stepping out to see any thing.

It has not, right?

Then why do you,

sitting at home and sipping your tea

keep making so many complaints

to every one about the rain?

2. THE SCENT OF DARKNESS

It was not an unexpected one,

the power cut on the seventh moon night.

Fearing the suburban killings

the leaves stay still.

I know where the match box and the wick are.

Glowworms of the past

flutter inside my closed eyes.

Stopping its chat with the darkness

solitude whispers a song,

reclining on the chair opposite.

The next line of the verse,

which invites God for a debate,

aligns itself and wanders

outside the paper.

The pen narrates the story

of winged horses

to the fingers,

which held and guarded it

from getting lost.

I like the scent of darkness

as it plants a kiss of gratitude

on my lips

for not chasing it away,

but letting it stay.

3. ANY SCAR COULD BE

You could have even forgotten

your earliest pain.

The face of the person,

who bruised you

would have become distant.

You would have kept

in your unforgettable list

the smile of the nurse,

who applied the first medicine.

It is important that

you were able to wipe away

the pus infected stench

with your blood stained dress

of that day.

You,

who keenly watch

the healing wound

like a baby

sleeping in the cradle,

can kiss any scar, hereafter

including those of your enemies.

4. ON THE COMPOUND WALL

Never expected, at all

that the compound wall

of the new house

of that poet

would be studded with  glass pieces

making it impossible

for any bird

or kitten

to sit on.

5. A FEW MORE THINGS

I could not believe

how this was possible.

The book

my co-passenger had for reading

was the one

I had signed and given

Late Yamuna.

She had ticked

the titles of some of the poems.

Some were marked X.

Here and there

to the left of two or three lines,

Yamuna herself

stood like a pencil wall.

Some of the words were

underlined, specifically.

There were corrections

for some print errors too.

She has even rewritten

the last lines of a poem,

differently.

While turning the pages

I found that

there were no markings of any kind

after the 53^rd.

Did the pencil tip break away?

Didn’t Yamuna read the rest of the pages?

Or

was it between

this and the 80^th page

that Yamuna

started swallowing

the sleeping pills?

In a book of verses

thus lies hidden

an unwritten suicidal note

and a few more.

6. THAT YOU SHOULD NOT

Do pray

that you should not

come upon

your long lost childhood school friend

when

either your friend or you

wait at the corridor of a bank

to repay a jewel loan,

when

either your friend or you

for a post-operative review

get down from an auto

with the support of some one,

when

either your friend or you

on a day of torrents

in between two long journeys

in an unknown liquor shop

drink wildly nibbling nuts

with the lips harrowed by loneliness,

when

either your friend or you

wait at the mortuary

of a general hospital

to collect the body

of a woman dear,

when

your friend or you

turn insane

and walk under the gazing sun

as if all the world

were your home town.

7.  THIS THURSDAY

You come today

by the path

through which you usually go by your vehicle.

You like

the clouds on the west

brimming in the brilliance of the sun,

that wraps up the showers.

Your sense of smell

crawls along with the desire

for the stench of

some dead creature of water.

Your eyes expect

a water snake, at least.

Know not

from whence came

this tawny calf.

It is at the middle of the road ,

as if today it’s business is

to lick you up.

You think of

caressing it too.

An excitement overwhelms

as you move

closer and closer towards it.

At one point

the calf and you decide

that neither of you

would lick or caress the other.

Letting you go past,

the calf with ears erect

stands watching,

the East sans you.

On this Thursday evening

nobody,

including you,

saw an earthworm

getting crushed

under the tip of your umbrella stick.

8. EVEN NOW

A dense darkness

imposed by the power cut.

I was seated like Sidhartha,

who in his final moment

was musing over

the Budha in his initial second.

Between

the eternal tranquility

and noiselessness

was

the distant Bodhi tree

with it’s magical stillness.

·         

The Budha appreciates

your genius in moving him

like a chess coin.

You throw your dice

making him a pawn

in the sixty four black and white squares.

·         

I stood like the Budha.

It was not possible.

I sat like the Budha.

I was not able to.

Thinking that it  would be easy,

I smiled like the Budha.

It is the Budha

who keeps smiling

at me,

even now.

9. WHEN IT BROKE

With the tongs

I picked

two ice cubes

and dropped them

in to the glass.

They began

sinking into

the golden hued uneasiness

that comes

while drinking alone.

Lungs were getting filled

with the puff of guilt

caused by the cubes,

which neither floated

nor sank,

but just disappeared,

irretrievably.

When the glistening liquid

rose by the displaced cubes

and

the last bubble of the soda broke,

it occurred

that it was impossible

to take

even a gulp of this.

10. ANOTHER CARICATURE

Time

has finished drawing

a caricature

of me.

 

I thought

Time

would certainly take into account

my height

and the gap between my front teeth.

It has not.

It has not

taken into consideration

my blunt nose too.

Even without

my heavy spectacles,

the semblance of my face

has been captured.

The entire body language

of mine

was interned within its lines.

Though

I could appreciate

the caricature of mine

more than my portrait,

I could not unravel

the mystery

as to which identity of mine

has it kept hidden.

By then,

on the next day

Time

has finished drawing

another caricature