Monitoring Desk
“Bol Keh Such Zinda Hay Ab Tak’ is the Urdu translation of “They Dare to Speak Out’ by US Congressman Paul Findley, a renowned outspoken US diplomat, who dared to break away from the norms of silent subjugation to the Zionist monopoly in all matters of the US government. Paul Findley’ s controversial book is not readily available, for obvious reasons, and Prof, Sultan Mahmood Niazi’s effort to translate the book into Urdu and to familiarize the Urdu readers with its contents, is a remarkable and valiant accomplishment.
Translation is a field, fraught with numerous pitfalls, on account of inadequate command over the target language, unfamiliarity with the cultural and social norms of the users of the source language, traditional syntax of the foreign language and the idiomatic specialties, essential for rendering the message in the second language. Paul Findley, being a seasoned Politician, had the penchant for oratory, in his style of expression and it was no less than a challenge to convey the spirit of his ideas and message exactly and thoroughly in another language. The translated work fulfills all the demands of lucid communication. Richard Murphy summed up the demands as ‘Seven C’s’ of communication. Starting with ‘correctness’. Prof. Sultan Mahmood Niazi has been successful in conveying the contents of the original book as honestly as could be possible. Right from Findley’s embarking on the journey to Yemen (Chapter1) on a rescue mission; to his conciliatory efforts at placating the fierce reaction of the Jewish community of the United States (Last chapter}; the translator has religiously stuck to the policy of stating what was originally presented by the author. Complex lengthy sentences of the original work were broken up into smaller components in order to forestall the likelihood of any ambiguity of expression.
The next essential of communication is ‘conciseness. It is generally seen that translation of works from English is more space consuming. The translator has ensured that that the translated version underlines and highlights the main message by avoiding the use of excessive or redundant words. In this way, he has provided the essential message in limited words to the readers. Concise translated version is more appealing and comprehensible, because it is non-repetitive in nature.
The third essential element of communication is “Consideration’. Every person knowing two languages cannot be expected to be a good translator of material from one language to the other. Intimate knowledge of the culture of the people using the two languages is also needed. The translator must have intimate knowledge of the cultural norms of both the communities in order to translate the contents of material from one language to the other. The translator must have mastery over the idiomatic use in both the languages, otherwise he is likely to produce ludicrous texts in his attempt to translate. An amusing instance can be quoted here to illustrate such absurdities’ ‘To have a fit’ in English means to lose control over one’s temper pr behavior, but if a sign at a tailoring shop says that ladies can have a fit upstairs it, shows utter ignorance of the idiomatic phrase on the part of the proprietor. Prof. Sultan Mahmood Niazi has been very watchful of such pitfalls in his translation. He has been very careful in the selection of idiomatic vocab.
Clarity of the conveyed information through translation is another commendable quality of Prof. Sultan Mahmood Niazi’s work. The readers do not find any piece of information ambiguously presented. His choice of syntax is simple and fluent, leaving little room for the reader to feel that he is perusing the translated version of original text. The reader, rather feels as if the text was just written in the target language. The style of the translator is so simple and the end result is so easily comprehensible that the reader becomes completely engrossed in his study of the presented information.
The translator has maintained the ‘Concreteness’ of the original information by sticking to the facts and figures given by Paul Findley, without adding anything from his own. It is really interesting to read that, once, when the American authorities declined to supply ammunition for the old guns as no longer being produced by the manufacturers, the Israeli agencies pointed out that adequate quality of the required ammunition was stocked at such and such American ordnance depot.
The translator has maintained the flow of ideas presented by the original author so perfectly that the quality of the translated work is automatically sustained. Such adherence to the principle of sticking to the truth without showing any bias is the spirit of Courtesy, which implies taking into consideration both viewpoints as well as feelings of the receiver of the message, while the. sender of the message should be sincerely polite, judicious, reflective and enthusiastic, Prof. NIazi in his capacity of the sender facilitates his readers in grasping the arguments floated by Paul Findley with ease. The readers are continuously filled with a sense of achievement.
‘Bol keh Such Zinda Hay Ab Tak’ is a commendable achievement of Prof. Niazi, as it fulfills all the demands of communicative skills. Every chapter of the book reveal leads the reads into the labyrinth of amazing discoveries as the complex tentacles of Zionist are shown stuck into the jugular vein of Us political framework. All the schemes applied by the Jewish real masters of America have been unveiled in the book one by one. But the American people have been thoroughly programmed to see only what their real masters want them to see that they have plugged their ears and blindfolded their eyes to everything else. It is kept secret from them that Israel destroyed USS Liberty on suspicion of espionage. Some very severe jolts are needed to awaken them out of the stupor. If people like Paul Findley and translators like Prof. Sultan Mahmood Niazi keep on laying bare the truth through their literary accomplishments, may be, the conscious of American people is somehow awakened. Demonstrations against the continuity of Israeli atrocities on the hapless Palestinians have shown the way. Let’s hope that the sympathetic movement in support of the victims of Israeli ruthlessness goes on gaining momentum and the Palestinians are given their fundamental right to live as a free nation.
