MACHINE Translation means translating a text from one language to another with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) and without human intervention, experts say. Computer software is used for the purpose.
Machine Translation software for the Urdu language is being developed. Apart from different efforts in the past a project was launched a couple of years ago at the National Language Promotion Department (NLPD), Islamabad. The project, named National Language Processing Lab, is working to develop software for translating texts from and into Urdu. Additionally, image-to-text and text-to-image software for Urdu is also being developed at NLPD. Later on, similar sorts of software would be developed for other Pakistani languages as well, officials at NLPD informed this writer.
The existing software used for translating into and from Urdu, available online, is lacking in certain ways and sometimes the translated text is quite incongruous, even funny. This is because of nuances, idioms and expressions peculiar to a specific language and here is the rub: to train computers to be sensitive to certain linguistic expressions and finer points is the biggest problem. Then come into play computational grammar and linguistics. Some work on computational grammar of Urdu and language engineering has been done by some experts individually, notably by Dr Sarmad Husain (Lahore), Dr Tafseer Ahmed (Karachi), Dr Badr Sami (Karachi) and some others. Some research works on Urdu’s computational grammar, Urdu’s corpus linguistics and natural language processing (NLP) has also been carried out at some universities abroad, too, for instance by Dr Marium Butt and some others. But the hard work of these experts are not properly acknowledged in media as our media is usually more busy with some more interesting things, such as political quibbling and showbiz trivialities.
Meanwhile, the ‘manual’ or ‘human translations’ (as opposed to Machine Translations) into Urdu from different languages are going on at a commendable pace and the Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) is playing a vital role in it. In this regard, PAL’s Chairman Dr Yousuf Khushk, who recently completed his three-year tenure, had launched a project aimed at translating literary masterpieces from around the world into Urdu. As he has been very actively pursuing the project, around 20 such translations were published by PAL during the last couple of years or so and more are in pipeline.
Aside from other Urdu translations, PAL has recently published books under a series undertaking translations of selected short stories from different languages. Titled Muntakhab Kahaniyaan, or selected stories, the following Urdu translations have appeared: Saudi Arab Ki Muntakhab Kahaniyaan (translated by Lubna Farah), Bangladesh Ki Muntakhab Kahaniyaan (translated by Mahmood-ul-Islam), Falasteen Ki Muntakhab Kahaniyaan (translated by Muhammad Iftikhar Shafi), Italy Ki Muntakhab Kahaniyaan (translated by Sarfaraz Baig), Misr Ki Muntakhab Kahaniyaan (translated by Tabassum Minhas), Norway Ki Muntakhab Kahaniyaan (translated by Shaista Hasan), Brazil Ki Muntakhab Kahaniyaan (translated by Muhammad Faisal), Cuba Ki Muntakhab Kahaniyaan (translated by Muhammad Faisal), Philippines Ki Muntakhab Kahaniyaan (translated by Muhammad Faisal), America Ki Muntakhab Kahaniyaan (translated by Muhammad Shiraz Dasti and Umiara Aleem), Finland Ki Muntakhab Kahaniyaan (translated by Arshad Farooq), Jadeed Turkey Afsana (translated and annotated by Khalil Toker and Sameena Toker) and Canada Ki Muntakhab Kahaniyaan (translated by Rubeena Faisal).
As for China, under the aegis of the Pakistan-China Writers’ Association, a separate series was launched for mutual translations from Chinese into Urdu and vice versa. Aside from collaborating for Chinese translations from Urdu literature into Chinese, published in China, of late PAL has published a number of Urdu translations of Chinese works. One of them is Ifsha-e-Raaz. Originally written in Chinese by well-known Chinese writer Mai Jia and titled Decoded, the novel has won a literary prize in China and has also been translated in English. Asim Butt, a senior fiction writer, critic and translator has rendered the work into Urdu.
Though the theme of the novel — set around World War Two — seems apparently bland as it is patriotism, in fact it is quite interesting and deals with defence departments, intelligence agencies and counter-intelligence. The main character, Rong, is a mathematician and has a unique ability to write coded messages and decoding them. He works as a cryptographer for a government agency and decodes ciphers.
In his intro to the novel, Asim Butt has expressed hope that reading this novel would be a pleasant and surprising experience for readers as well as the writers of Urdu. He thinks it is a valuable addition to the body of novels in Urdu.
Last but not least, Main Hua Mulan Hoon (I am Hua Mulan), a Chinese story based on the legendary folk character Hua Mulan, is translated into Urdu by Mujaddid-ul-Arz and also published by PAL. Hua is a brave woman and is regarded as a role model for Chinese children, especially girls.
Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2023
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