Google सन्देशानां संस्कृतमध्यपातभाषया अवतरणं करोमि इति अलिखं। google.public.translatorsसभायै एतत्‌ पत्रं प्रेषितवान्‌ अहं।

I would like to get in touch with people who are developing the Google interface in संस्कृतं. I have made my contribution to Google Main Search Site in संस्कृतं. I am also working on GMail UI.

A Translator's Apology (Google Public Translator for संस्कृतं)

I am no great scholar of संस्कृतं. But, what I lack in learning I make up with my passion and dedication. I have translated many, many new Google phrases and messages into संस्कृतं. I have also made extensive changes in the rendering of others. Firstly, I have changed all संस्कृतं text from English letters to देवनागरी. Secondly, I have unabashedly rejected many of the translations which I found to be incorrect, misleading, ungrammatical or inelegant.

The words of the ever-changing English language are like a rich, fashion-conscious, beautiful woman who has an inexhaustible wardrobe of meanings. For example, window, load, link, web etc. are ordinary words which have acquired very special meaning now. Not to speak of Americanisms like "cool stuff". If one translates this as शीतवस्तु it would make no sense whatsoever. So it becomes रुचिकरविषयः, which is very correct and, alas, very prosaic. Like the editor who emended Shakespear's lines in As You Like It:

And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones and good in everything.

to

And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in toads, stones in the running brooks,
Sermons in books and good in everything.

Very proper, true, but Shakespeare has vanished. I face the same problem in trying to tame technical English to fit into the संस्कृतं idiom. Not that it is not possible, for संस्कृतं is more than a match for English, but I will lose my audience.

I try to drape familar संस्कृतं words with new clothing, a la technical English, e.g. (html) frame becomes आवेष्टनं (fence). Sometimes, the computing dictionary drives me into a corner and I can hardly find room there for pixel which expands to चित्राल्पिष्ठभागः, which is like Johnson's meaning of network in his Dictionary: Anything reticulated or decapitated with equal intersections between interstices. Which is as amusing as the definition of net given by a frustrated angler: A number of holes sewn together.

Anyone who translates from English to संस्कृतं soon realizes the difficulty of catching the lithesome nimble-footedness of the English idiom. One is reminded of the delightful anecdote in Boswell where Goldsmith is telling a children's fable of fishes. Johnson, standing at a distance, is listening with condescension. After a while, Goldsmith, smarting under Johnson's attitude, turns to him and says: "Dr Johnson! It is not easy to tell a fable of fishes talking. If you tell it, your fishes will talk like whales!". It takes quite a bit of effort to make fishes talk plain संस्कृतं prose. That is why it is said with great perspicacity: गद्यं कवीनां निकषं वदन्ति। (Prose is the touch-stone of a Poet.) One wonders how to measure Milton if one compares his prose of Aeropagitica with his poetry of Paradise Lost. What a long distance has English Prose travelled in a short time from Milton's prose to that of Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy. संस्कृतम्, too, has to travel a long distance and I am convinced that modern instruments like Google's interface language will make it fleet-footed।

Language grows by usage. Some people think that पाणिनि put संस्कृतं in a grammatical strait jacket which stunted its growth. I do not think so. He has given ample space for the language to grow. He himself meticulously notes down the exceptions to his rules, which, in my view, proves that संस्कृतं was a vigorous and fertile language and पाणिनि accommodated all variations on a theme. He is not to be blamed if people have not followed his lead and the unhappy turns of fortune in the history of India in the past millenium have also contributed in no small measure to the decline of संस्कृतम्. And, of course, the ubiquitous English, which, NOT by itself, but because of modern Mathematics, Science and Technology, has edged out or marginalized other languages. But I am selfish in my grief and I grieve only for my संस्कृतम्.Yet, I am not crest-fallen and I am certain that संस्कृतं will find a safe haven not only in the currently inhospitable secular India but in the West also. That is possible if and only if संस्कृतं boldly ventures into technical literature. I am happy that my efforts, however feeble and unworthy, may encourage some young minds to seek that adventure.

I owe an apology to कालिदासः for vandalizing his celebrated opening phrase in रघुवंशं : वागर्थाविव संपृक्तौ। A word is a bridge between the Seen and the Unseen, between the Tangible and the Intangible. The unseen and the intangible is boundless:

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

And so we need more bridges - and to continue the metaphor - or to broaden existing ones with more lanes of meanings. The phrase वाचां अगोचरं - beyond the reach of words - expresses succintly - but not in desparation - the need for greater articulation. And that yearning is well expressed in Keats:

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter far.

Words are islands where the boat of consciousness, tossed in a turbulent sea of sensations and emotions, drops anchor. Some islands are described by Shelley:

It is an isle under Ionian skies,
Beautiful as a wreck of Paradise!

Some are deserted and others are horribly over-populated by those who have never read a book or - horror of horrors! - read only newspapers. In modern times, they are like the myriad nameless volcanic Pacific islands, which appear and disappear.

However, I readily concede that my efforts can be improved still further, which is an adequate admission of inadequacy.

I also maintain a web site where I have translated technical articles, which I found interesting, from English into संस्कृतं :

http://mrrao.0catch.com/index.html

My references:

1. The Student's Sanskrit-English Dictionay by V S Apte
2. Sudent's English-Sanskrit Dictionary by V S Apte
3. रघुकोशः by Raghunathadatta Bandhu
4. A Higher Sanskrit Grammar by M R Kale
5. Sanskrit Composition by V S Apte
6. Glossary of Mathematics, Commission for Scientific & Technical Terminology, Govt. of India
7. The Concise Oxford Dictionary, Fourth Edition
8. Sanskrit, Tamil and Pahlavi Dictionaries - http://webapps.uni-koeln.de/tamil/
9. http://foldoc.org/
10. कम्पुटर् विज्ञान्‌ परिभाषा कोश्, Commission for Scientific & Technical Terminology, Govt of India

m r rao
mrraoh@vsnl.com
01-Jun-07