Translating Ecology and Material Culture: Understanding Strategies and Shift in The Ballad of Ayesha

The current study exposes the translation strategy of ecology and material culture in The Ballad of Ayesha (2018) and the resulting translation shift. This novel is Inam Ahmed’s English translation of the Bengali novel Ayeshamangal (2010) by Anisul Hoque. Ayeshamangal is a Bengali novel written in a fully Bengali context and it is quite difficult for the translator to translate the issues of ecology and material culture by keeping the flavor of the original text intact. The current paper attempts to evaluate whether the translator is successful or not in conveying the sense of the original text to the translated one. This research also investigates the translator’s attitude to equivalence in the TT as well as the problems and dilemma he faces in dealing with various cultural aspects of the novel as we know that English and Bengali languages have different structures. Peter Newmark’s concept of cultural categories in translation is a key to the discussions attempted in this study. The paper foregrounds the translating issues of ecology and material culture in the TT, attempts to investigate the procedures and strategies used by the translator, and probes the possible translation shift.


INTRODUCTION
Cambridge Dictionary defines translation as "the process of translating something, from one language to another" (dictionary.cambridge.org). It is an activity of mind in which the meaning of a linguistic discourse is rendered from one language to another and a process through which the content of a text is transferred from the source language to the target language. The translator is required to have enough knowledge of both the source and the target language with a high linguistic sensitivity as he/she has to transmit the author's intention, opinion and thoughts in the translated version precisely and faithfully. According to Ghazala (2008), "translation is generally used to refer to all the process and methods used to render and/or transfer the meaning of the source language text into the target language as closely, completely and accurately as possible …" (2008, p. 1). For Catford (1978), "translation is the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL)" (p. 20). Yowell and Mutfan (1999) describe translation as a product since it provides us with other different cultures, ancient societies and in fact, it is the most complex set of habits that any culture exhibits. Language reflects the culture, provides access to the culture and in many respects constitutes a model of the culture" (Nida, "Sociolinguistics"). So, cultural knowledge and cultural differences play a vital role in the field of translation. Translation is the bridge in language learning and it helps learners experience not only new things but also new culture. The translator should know the context and the cultural background. Oey Vella Valencia W and Rahmanti Asmarani in their paper "The Translation Procedures of Cultural Expressions Applied in 'A Game of Thrones'" refers to Vermeer's idea that "a translator is required to be bilingual or multilingual and also to be bicultural or multicultural, armed with good knowledge of as many culture as possible". (Oey Vella et al., "The translation procedures").
This paper would investigate the issues of ecology and material culture in the novel Ayeshamangal and their English translations in The Ballad of Ayesha. Ayeshamangal, published in 2010, is a Bengali novel written by renowned Bangladeshi author Anisul Hoque. The Ballad of Ayesha, published in July 2018, is an English translation of Ayeshamangal. It has been translated by an eminent Bangladeshi journalist Inam Ahmed. The novel tells the story of Ayesha's quest to find out what happened to her husband Joynal Abedin, who worked in Bangladesh Air Force. It reflects the phenomenon of the newly created nation and the tales of its people. In the original novel, the author uses a lot of culture specific terms that are sometimes difficult to understand by the target text readers. So, the translator, Inam Ahmed, faces certain difficulties in translation and always seems aware of using proper translation strategies in translating the source language into target language. The translator tries to make the target text readers understand the cultural expressions of the source language. The goal of this study is to find out the issues of ecology and material culture in the novel and expose the strategies devised by the translator in translating them. At the same time, this research investigates his struggle to create equivalence between the source text and the target text. So, this qualitative research is an endeavor in the field of translation studies and sets three objectives-firstly, to find out the ecological and material cultural issues in The Ballad of Ayesha; and secondly, to probe the procedures and strategy adopted by the translator in translating ecology and material culture. Thus, this paper studies the ecological and material culture issues in the source text, then studies the use of procedures and strategies used by the translator, and finally, analyzes the translation shift in the target text.

ECOLOGY IN AYESHAMANGAL AND THE BALLAD OF AYESHA
Ecology in Ayeshamangal (ST) and The Ballad of Ayesha (TT) are important aspects. In general, "Ecology is the study of the relationships between plants, animals, people, and their environment, and the balances between these relationships." (Collins dictionary). There are various ecological issues used in the novel Ayeshamangal, and in cases of translating them, the translator follows certain strategies. In most of the cases, the translator goes for literal translation, while at the same time, he skips translating some terms, and some lexical contents are omitted in the TT, which the translator finds untranslatable in the TL.
There are some names of fishes in the ST which are omitted in the TT, such as "shol" ( ‡kvj) and "boal" ( ‡evqvj). On the other hand, the fish "koi" (KB) is not translated, while "kholsa" ( ‡Lvjmv) is translated as "catfish", though "catfish" refers to a freshwater or marine fish with whisker like barbells around the mouth, typically bottom-dwelling.

ISSUES OF MATERIAL CULTURE IN AYESHAMANGAL AND THE BALLAD OF AYESHA
Translating material culture requires special attention in any culture oriented text and such is the case in The Ballad of Ayesha. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, material culture refers to "tools, weapons, utensils, machines, ornaments, art, buildings, monuments, written records, religious images, clothing, and any other ponderable objects produced or used by humans." (britannica.com). In A Textbook of Translation (1988), Newmark narrows down the idea of culture, and has made five cultural categories. They are 1) Ecology, 2) Material Culture, 3) Social Culture, 4) Organizations, Customs, Activities, Procedures, Concepts and 5) Gestures and Habits. (p. 95). He divides material culture into four groups and they are: foods, clothes, houses and towns, and transport. This section of paper will investigate the terms related to material culture mentioned in the ST and their translations in The Ballad of Ayesha. According to Newmark (1988), "food is for many the most sensitive and important expression of national culture; food terms are subject to the widest variety of translation procedures". (p. 72). In the novel Ayeshamangal, the author mentions different kinds of food items related to Bengali culture and tradition. In the very first page of the first chapter of the ST, the author mentions the food item named "aaush dhaner vat" (AvDk av ‡bi fvZ) which is the staple food of Bangladeshi people and the translator translates the term as "boiled aaush rice". (Hoque, 2018, p. 9).
Another food item mentioned in page no 17 of the ST is "jhalmuri"(Svjgy wo), which is available only in Bangladeshi context and in case of translating it, the translator gives a small description of the item in the TT, so that the TT readers can understand. He translates it as "Jhalmuri, puffed rice mixed with bits of onion and green chili".
Food items like "chocolate"(PK ‡jU), "chewing gum"(Pz B-sMvg),"biscuit"(we¯‹z U), are found almost all over the world, and they are in English in the ST, so they cause no problem in case of translation. Fruits like "kola" (Kjv), "daab" (Wve), "apple" (Av ‡cj), are translated like "banana", "green coconuts", and "apple" but the term "kola kadi" (Kjv Kvu w`) is omitted in the TT. In page no 22 of the ST, the author mentions "sharbat" (kieZ), which is a kind of drink, and in the TT, it is translated as "lemonade". "Rasgulla" (im ‡Mvjø v) is another food item that represents Bengali culture and tradition. The translator keeps the term untranslated as the TT readers are not familiar with it.
Clothes play a significant role in material culture, and it represents the culture of a particular community. The ST is full of words of this category and they are gender-specific and religion-specific. In the ST, the author mentions the names of clothes that convey Bengali tradition, for example, "sari"(kvwo), "Panjabi"(cvÄvex), "pyjama"(cvBRvgv), "lungi"(jy w½), "kameez"(KvwgR), "gamcha"(MvgQv) and the translator keeps them untranslated in the TT.

ECOLOGY AND MATERIAL CULTURE: TRANSLATION STRATEGIES AND PROCEDURES
While translating, translators use different strategies as every text is different to each other. Some translators try to create equivalence between ST and TT, and on the other hand, some translators focus more on semantic translation. In case of translating Ayeshamangal, the translator, Inam Ahmed focuses more on the search of equivalence as we assume from our initial idea. For that purpose, he uses some strategies and procedures.
Regarding translation, Vinay and Darbelnet present a model and point out some procedures. He was influenced by earlier work of theorist and Russian translator Andrei Fedorov (1953), as described by Mossop (2013) and Pym (2016). (Munday, 2016, p. 88). Vinay and Darbelnet identified different translation 'strategies' and 'procedures'. Munday (2016) has pointed out: In the technical sense, a strategy is an overall orientation of the translator (e.g. towards free or literal translation, towards the TT or ST, towards domestication or foreignization), where as a procedure specific technique or method used by the translator at a certain point in a text (e.g. the borrowing of a word from the SL, the addition of an explanation or a footnote in the TT). (Munday,p. 88). Vinay and Darbelnet identified two strategies of translation -i) direct translation and ii) oblique translation which we can compare with Nida's concept of "formal translation" and "dynamic translation". The direct or formal translation is very similar to the idea of literal translation, where oblique or dynamic translation conforms to the idea of free translation. Vinay and Darbelnet then discusses seven procedures of translation.
The first procedure is 'borrowing', and in case of The Ballad of Ayesha, use of borrowing is very much evident. "Borrowing" is taking a word or expression from another language without translation. Here, the translator directly transfers the SL words to the TL. For Vinay and Darbelnet (2004), "Borrowing" is used to "introduce the flavor of the source language (SL) culture into a translation". (p. 129).
In translating the ecological terms, the translator borrows some words from ST to TT, as he finds these terms as non-existing in the target culture. For example, the translator borrows the terms like "bothua shaak" (eZz qv kvK), "napa shaak" (bvcv kvK), "kanchfal" (Ku vP dj), as the TT readers are not familiar with them. The translator translates "kadam gach" (K`g MvQ) as "kadam tree" and "sheuli gach" (wkDwj MvQ) as "sheuli plant". Here, the translator makes a conscious choice to use the same word in the TT, as it is found in the ST, since he does not find any equivalent words for these terms in the target language. The translator here follows the process of borrowing in order to preserve the local color, meaning, significance and intention of the words. Furthermore, the translator fears that, if these terms are literally translated, they will lose both their semiotic and cultural aspects.
In most cases, the translator goes for literal translation. Literal translation is the word-for-word translation, which Vinay and Darbelnet (2004) describe as "being most common between two languages of the same family … and culture." (p. 130). Again, "literal translation is the author's perception of good translation. Literalness should only be sacrificed because of structural and metalinguistic requirements and only after checking that meaning is fully reserved". (Munday, 2016, p. 89).
In case of literal translation, the translator goes for wordfor-word translation, rather than providing the sense of the original. For this reason, literal translation usually mistranslates the idioms. For example, here, the translator translates the term "paner boroj" (cv ‡bi eiR) as "betel orchard", though the contextual meaning of "boroj" (eiR) and "orchard" is different. The ST author uses ecological terms like "bashjhare horiyaler dak" (evu k Svv ‡o nwiqv ‡ji WvK), "ghunpokar kutur kutur" (Ny b †cvKvi Kz Uz i Kz Uz i), for which the translator goes for literal translation. He translates them as "the green pigeon's gentle crooning in the bamboo bush" and "the monotonous drilling of borer insect into the wood". Here, the translator does not take into account the differences in culture or contextual knowledge between readers of the original in the original language and readers of the translation in the target language. The translator translates the term "kutur kutur" (Kz Uz i, Kz Uz i) as "drilling" though these two does not provide the same meaning. In English, "drilling" is a cutting process using a drill bit to cut a hole of circular cross-section in anything solid. Different languages have different ways of expressing the same thing, and here, the translator fails to convey the original expression of the source language. The translator translates the term "kola gacher donga" (KjvMv ‡Qi †Xv½v) as "banana leaves" following literal translation. Here, the ST and the TT do not provide the same meaning.
When literal translation is not possible, Vinay and Darbelnet proposes oblique translation (dynamic or free translation) as the strategy. This leads to four procedures. They are transposition, modulation, equivalence and adaptation. Here, the translator uses equivalence and adaptation more than the other ones.
Translator may fail to translate some terms in literal ways. Then, he can follow the process of equivalence. As this is one of the core concepts of translation, it requires a deep understanding of both SL culture and TL culture. Vinay and Derbelnet (2004) says, "equivalence is particularly useful in translating idioms and proverbs: the sense, though not the image. A translator can render one and the same situation by two texts using completely different stylistic and structural methods by following the process of equivalence." (p. 134).
In The Ballad of Ayesha, the term "balaka" (ejvKv) is translated as "a heavenly white bird". The translator tries to provide the sense, not the image. He focuses on the message provided by the author of the source text. Furthermore, the translator pursues the process of equivalence in translating terms like "bilbaor" (wej evIo), and "sobuj pothobhumi" (mey R cUfwg). "Bilbaor" is translated as "marshlands and muds" and "sobuj pothobhumi" (mey R cUfwg) is translated as "emerald carpet". Here the TL describes the same situation by different structural or stylistic means.
In Ayeshamangal, the author uses the term "shiter gondho" (kx ‡Zi MÜ) and the translator does not find any appropriate word in the TL to translate it literally. Then, he tries to create equivalence by translating it as "winter was silently creeping". Similarly, the translator follows the process of equivalence in translating terms like "kaker jonoshova" (Kv ‡-Ki Rbmfv) as "they were holding a grand rally" and "sheyal kukurer mojlish" ( ‡kqvj kKz ‡bi gRwjm) as "the jackals and vultures had their feast".
Apart from using 'borrowing', 'literal translation' and 'equivalence', the translator uses 'adaptation' especially in case of translating the culture specific terms. Vinay and Derbelnet (2004) indicates that "adaptation can, therefore, be described as a special kind of equivalence, a situational equivalence. Even though translators may produce a perfectly correct text without adaptation, the absence of adaptation may still be noticeable by an indefinable tone, something that does not sound quite right." (p. 135).
For example, the term "mora vashano vela" (gov fvmv ‡bv †fjv) is being translated as "raft". Here the term is expressed in a totally different way in the TT that is familiar and appropriate in the target language culture. Similarly, the translator follows adaptation in translating terms like "bhatful" (fvUdz j), "nishi pawa kukur" (wbwk cvIqv Kz Kz i), "shoda gondho" ( ‡mu v`v MÜ), "baunka" (evDsKv) as these are hermetically related with the SL culture. The translator translates "bhatful" (fvUdz j) as "trees", and thus changes the cultural reference as the term does not exist in the target language culture.
Another culture specific ecological term is "baunka" (evDsKv), which refers to a bamboo stick used for carrying heavy things. It is normally used in the rural areas of Bangladesh. The TT readers are not familiar with this term, and for that reason, the translator substitutes this term with "stick" in the TT, so that the TT readers do not get confused.
Just like the ecological issues mentioned earlier, the translator follows the process of 'borrowing', 'calque', 'equivalence' and 'adaptation' in translating the issues of material culture which includes foods, clothes, houses, towns and transport.
Sometimes the translator goes for 'adaptation' to avoid complexities. For example, he substitutes the term "kafoner kapor" (Kvd ‡bi Kvco) with "shroud". The term "kafoner kapor" refers to piece of cloth used for covering dead body. People of Muslim religion use this term. On the other hand, in Christian religion, it is called "shroud". In Bangladesh, Muslim men usually wear 'topi', and it has a kind of religious significance. In page no. 123 of the ST, there is a line like "topi pora lokjon jacche othoba firche mosjid theke" (Uz wcciv †jvKRb hv ‡"Q A_ev wdi ‡Q gmwR` †_ ‡K) and in the TT, the translator translates it like "Men in topies were strutting to the mosque for their morning prayers." So, here the translator evades from translating "topi" (Uz wc) as "cap" because "topi" has a religious value, and in that sense, "topi" and "cap" are not the same. On the other hand, "Jinnah topi" (wRboe v Uz wc) and "Mostaq topi" ( †gvmZvK Uz wc) are translated as "Jinnah cap" and "Mostaq cap".

EVALUATING THE SEARCH FOR EQUIVALENCE IN THE TT
The translator's struggle for providing an equivalent effect in the TT is quite evident. He uses different strategies to achieve equivalence between the ST and the TT. Tanmoy Mazumder (2020) in his article "Cultural Issues in Ayeshamangal and its Translation" asserts that "The Ballad of Ayesha is mainly an attempt for free translation, though the translator often uses literal translation; thus, the approach is an in-between one. He strives for providing an overall equivalent effect in the TT in relation to the source text (ST)" (p. 68). Equivalence in translation involves decoding the SL text and then, attempting to find an appropriate equivalence in the TL to encode whatever has been decoded in the SL. In case of translating the novel Ayeshamangal, the translator first decodes the source text (ST), that is to figure out the meaning, message and intention of the original writer, and then, he tries to encode the same decoded meaning of the ST in the TT. Finding equivalence is the most difficult stage of translation, and to produce a piece of good translation, the translator needs to be familiar with the phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic, idiomatic, religious and cultural systems of both SL and TL to find standard equivalence in order to give an explanation or otherwise convey the author's intended meaning to TL audiences. Here, in case of translating Ayeshamangal, the translator attempts to ensure an overall equivalence between ST and TT, especially in case of trans-lating ecology and material culture though he fails to do so in many cases.

Nida's Formal and Dynamic Equivalence and The Ballad of Ayesha
The Ballad of Ayesha adopts strategies of both formal and dynamic equivalence to deal with the issues of "ecology" and "material culture". Munday (2016) points out to Nida: Formal equivalence focuses attention on the message itself in both form and content. One is concerned that the message in the receptor language should match as closely as possible the different elements in the source language. Formal equivalence is keenly oriented towards the ST structure. (Munday,p. 68).
On the other hand, Nida points out that, in case of dynamic equivalence, "the message has to be tailored to the receptor's linguistic needs and cultural expectation and aims at complete naturalness of expression." (Munday,p. 68). Dynamic equivalence is based on the "principle of equivalent effect", where "the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that what existed between the original receptors and the message." (Munday,p. 68). In translating ecology and material culture of the novel Ayeshamangal, the translator focuses more on dynamic equivalence, though literal translation (the basis of formal equivalence) has been used in many cases. As mentioned in chapter 7, the translator borrows some words from the ST as they do not exist in the TL and also follows the process of equivalence and adaptation to convey the spirit and manner of the original text.
Nida defines the goal of dynamic equivalence as seeking "the closest natural equivalent to the source-language message." (Munday, 2016, p. 68). For Nida, the success of the translation depends above all on achieving equivalent effect or response. While translating Ayeshamangal, the translator tries to ensure the four basic requirements of a translation, which are: making sense; conveying the spirit and manner of the original; having a natural and easy form of expression; and producing similar response.
The translator's endeavor to keep the equivalent effect in the TT is evident though for ecological and material culture issues it is often problematic. Still the issues of ecology and material culture in the TT make sense in relation to the ST. Then, we must say that TT conveys the manner and spirit of the ST in this regard. Next, The Ballad of Ayesha has indeed a natural and easy way of expression as we have seen from our discussion in the earlier chapters. Finally, regarding "producing a similar response", we must say that it is not the case. The target text would not be able to expect a similar response from the TT readers as the ST readers. This is due to the cultural difference between the two types of readers and the translation shift in The Ballad of Ayesha and this shift would be discussed in the next chapter.
The core of dynamic translation is reader oriented and direct. The translator tries to employ common words and phrases in a new arrangement to make the translation smoother, simpler, clearer, more direct and more conventional. Nida held that, a dynamic equivalent translation must fit the re-

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ceptor language and culture in order to make the translated message intelligible and natural to the target language receptors, and here, in The Ballad of Ayesha, the translator's struggle for dynamic equivalence is very much evident. The translator focuses much on the effect rather than the content. He attempts to make the reading process easier for the TL readers who do not anticipate difficulties or obscurities, and would expect a generous transfer of foreign elements into their own culture as well as their language where necessary, though it often summons translation shifts.

EVALUATING TRANSLATION SHIFT IN THE TARGET TEXT
In the cases of translating ecology and material culture issues The Ballad of Ayesha represents definite translation shift. Translation shift points out towards some changes that occur in any translation process. Shifts may occur not only at the lower level of a language (the lexico-grammar), but also at the thematic level of any text. Catford (1978) says that by shift we understand the departure from formal correspondence in the process of moving from the SL to the TL. (p. 73). He further states that basically, in shift of translation, or transposition it is only the form that gets changed. He argues that the translation shift is done to get the natural equivalent of the source text message into the target text (Catford, 1978, p. 76). However, we can find two basic sources of shifts in translation. Firstly, source language (SL) text-oriented shift and secondly, target language (TL) text-oriented shift. Target language text-centered shift is concerned with achieving effectiveness, pragmatic appropriateness which includes the cultural one, and correctness of information.
Regarding ecology and material culture in The Ballad of Ayesha, the shift is target text centered and in most of the cases it is structural shifts which Catford (1978) says involve mostly a shift in grammatical structure (pp. 77-78), though shift in lexicological level is evident too as we see from the discussions in chapter 2, 3 and 4 of this paper.
The translator in his dealing with the ecology related lexicological and syntactical issues seems to be concerned of the flow of the TT. Some words and syntaxes are kept untranslated and some are ignored totally. This creates translation shift in lexicological and structural level of the TT from the ST, though it does not hamper the overall transfer of meaning in The Ballad of Ayesha.
Issues of material culture pose a greater threat to the equivalence of meaning in translating a culture oriented ST to a target reader oriented TT. Ayeshamangal is a Bengali culture oriented novel and as material culture is one of the most important elements of any culture transferring it in The Ballad of Ayesha often seems untranslatable to the translator. He uses "borrowing" often in these cases to provide a taste of the ST culture, but in many cases, he omits the ST words. This creates translation shift in lexicological level though it does not hinder the overall equivalent effect in meaning in the TT. Structural shift is evident too as the translator tries to keep the flowing nature of the text intact by rearranging sentence structures.

CONCLUSION
It is evident that the translator has tried his best to convey the sense of the original text to the target text in translating ecology and material culture. The translator has devised a flowing and easy form of expression which is useful for the readers with little background knowledge of Bengali language and culture. The translator uses the procedures of 'borrowing', 'calque', 'literal translation', 'equivalence' and 'adaptation' in order to create an overall equivalence. The translator has tried enough to avoid deviation from the ST structure though he has not been successful all the time. Translator plays the role of a bridge to make a connection between the ST readers and the TT readers. The translator stands between the ST and the TT as well as plays the role of a mediator between two languages and two cultures. In order to resolve the conflict of cultural differences and convey the meaning of the original text, the translator has often made lexicological and syntactical adjustments by skipping certain words and lines of the ST in the TT. He has attempted to fill the gap between the SL and the TL by recreating the original text in the target language. He has tried to keep the TT readers close to the source text culture though he has not been successful always. Here, the approach of the translator resembles Nida's dynamic equivalence though his strategy can be better described as a fusion of formal (literal) and dynamic (free) translation. As a result, translation shift has been found in The Ballad of Ayesha. The shift is mainly structural one which is his attempt to create a target language and target culture centered orientation, and also, to some extent, in the lexicological level which points towards his inability to find proper opposites in the target language. The paper has its limitations and suggests further study in this field. The possible cultural shift in translation has not been studied here and it can be probed for further research.