During this phase, I have crafted a story on how translating is very important. I have translated for my mother countless of times, and that made me realize that communication is very important. Language and translation effect the US society.
Jahidur Rahman
Growing up in America and learning two languages fluently is something I am proud of. I was raised in a home where the majority of the time was spent speaking Bengali. My family and I came a long way with languages that now we speak both English and Bengali at home or with extended family. It was no trouble for me to learn two languages. However, it wasn’t the same for my mom. She couldn’t speak English very well. I had to translate for her throughout my life from phone calls to face to face conversations.
A specific moment I recall was when I was in high school and it was report card day. I was very confident in myself and wanted my mom to see all my teachers. Teachers would say nice things about me such as never being late and always doing my work. I would always translate it and make myself sound very good and as a result, my mom would be proud of me. “Oh amar baicha, ami kushi” is what I would hear, this translates to “Oh my child, I am happy”. Most of my grades matched up with the good things my teachers said. Unfortunately, in this one class, I didn’t do so well and had to translate the negative feedback to my mom. As soon as the teacher even mentioned a negative word such as failed, my mom gave me the look. She says “What?! Fail?! What you fail?” I thought I could’ve played it off until the teacher showed my test scores to my mom on the computer. The teacher was talking to my mom in English. I was feeling nervous and didn’t want my mom to know the situation I was in. What did I do? I translated and watered it down as much as I could to avoid trouble. “Ami bala kortesi, kali ehktu bhad.” Because of my body language, my mom knew that I was up to something right away. I was smiling nervously and spoke lower while translating the teacher’s context. From my test scores from the computer to my translation to my body language, she added things together and knew I didn’t tell her the whole truth. She looked at the teacher and said “Is he good? Is he pass? What will he do to pass.” That was when the teacher just kept rambling on about what had to be done without taking a breath. Study this, study that and then pulled out a huge textbook for me to take home. Such an amazing gift wasn’t it? Language plays a huge role. If my mom went without me to meet my teachers, she wouldn’t have understood much of what my teachers would say. This might not have been a sentimental moment, but it was definitely memorable.
There’s significance to this. Why is translation so important? One primary reason is that it allows for communication. Communication is key because it helps with the spread of ideas which is beneficial for any society. English is the most common language however, many don’t realize that there are a plethora of people that don’t speak or understand it well. If someone can speak a little English, it doesn’t mean they can understand all English. People always respond better to the language they grew up speaking and that’s what is most preferred. A quote I read by Ann Rusconi was “Words travel worlds. Translators do the driving.” What this means is that words, regardless of language, always find its way around this world. Rusconi mentions translators doing the driving in a figurative manner in order to convey that translators get from point A to point B. If translators “didn’t do the driving”, that means there wouldn’t be a way to connect with people from other parts of the world or get information.
There are various types of understanding and visuals that can help a lot in learning a new language. I speak Bengali fluently however, there are many variations of Bengali. My friend and I speak two different versions of Bengali, but she doesn’t understand my version as much as I understand hers. This minimal example is enough to prove how intricate language can be, and how translators help others to get from point A to point B. To add on, she is currently taking an Italian class. My friend so far has retained a great amount of information on this language she knew absolutely nothing about just three short weeks ago. This is possible because of her understanding as well as her teachers who deliver the translation best-suited for her and her classmates.
A lesson to be learned is that people take advantage when they see a weak spot. Many can take advantage of non-native speakers someway by not translating fully or eroding things wrong. It’s very unfortunate but, a lot of the time, people don’t take immigrants that speak broken English seriously. They are ignored and not “respected” as much. I was young and didn’t want to disappoint my mom with a failing grade so I translated in a way that would be to my advantage. My father understands standard English but instead, his boss at work uses colloquial expressions leaving my dad baffled after any conversation with his boss. He always calls or texts me to ask certain meanings of words or phrases just so he can understand his co-workers and boss. He believes that his boss continues to do it on purpose because, after years of working there, his boss continues to give him a hard time if he didn’t understand a task given to him. All in all, there are many forms of languages and sublanguages which can be a challenge to communicate. However, if we work together to help translate, our words can travel anywhere in this world just like how Rusconi mentioned.
