A Multilingual Nation

Language and Translation Dynamics in India

Lecture by Professor Rita Kothari, Ashoka University.

Abstract

The phrase "multilingual nation" sounds like an oxymoron. Nations are often based on a single language; at least, the European principle shows us that. Nations also have a national language. What is a nation without a national language?

The talk will show how India's multilingualism is not simply the presence of a multiplicity of languages, but a constitutive principle in every language. In that sense, the many languages are not discrete and bounded, but intertwine in intimate and even uneasy ways.

Languages in India jostle with each other, rub shoulders with each other and also become echoes and memories. Through both textual and everyday examples, the talk will take the reader through situations that demonstrate the quotidian nature of linguistic interactions. It will complicate the idea of 'source' in the context of translation. Arguing that a 'source' is not monolingual and sedentary, the talk hopes to demonstrate that we need to revise our understanding of source and target text in the Indian context. 

Bionote

Rita Kothari is one of India’s leading multilingual literary theorists, scholars, and translators. Her monographs and edited volumes have been noted for shifting discourses on communities, identity, language politics, border studies and most importantly, translation. She has been the recipient of several awards and fellowship in India and overseas.

Her noteworthy works include The Burden of Refuge and Unbordered Memories, based on the Sindh region and Sindhi language. Her study Translating India and the edited volume Chutnefying English, as well as A Multilingual Nation, have made a significant mark. Kothari is the translator of Angaliyat: The Stepchild. She is a rare scholar who moves between multiple underrepresented languages and engages deeply with India’s multilingual diversity.

Kothari is a Professor in English at Ashoka University, where she also co-directs the Ashoka Centre for Translation. Kothari is currently curating (along with Abhijit Kothari) The Big Book of Gujarati Literature, and her most recent translation is  Kahe Latif – a Hindi re-telling of Shah Abdul Latif’s sufi poems Shah Jo Risalo.