Microsoft Word Revised Syllabus Ver doc

Importance of Style In Translation
Translating from one language to another language is a difficult task. Here the term 
'difficult' should be explained. A translator should be thorough in the grammatical structure, 
the culture of the country the language shows the usage in day to day communication in 
which he is translating. If not the process of translating becomes a difficult task. Moreover 
when the source language and the target language belong to different family groups the 
problems become still more. For example, Tamil and English belong to different family 
groups the Dravidian and the European family groups respectively. They differ from each 
other in the language structure, sentence pattern and grammatical structure.
Though style can be explained on the basis of the principles of translation there are 
controversial ideas on 'the explanations. Normally a translation should be in the style of a 
translator and a translation should be in the style of the source text are the two ideas which 
came in the basis of principles of translation. Which concept in this should a translator follow 
is not a question but in which style the translator follows is a matter of question. The 
acceptable fact is that there should be a natural flow of language and its factors. Before 
having an idea on this we should have an idea of what a style is, how it is referred in 
literature and what are its limits?
Style
Style refers in common to the walking action of man and his behaviour. Style is used 
as a technical term present day literature. We refer to style as the way in which one brings out 
his thought. Based on the language structure, words, sentence, text, stylistic structure is built. 
The same is the pattern of spoken language where sound, phoneme, morpheme, words, 
sentences and texts are found. Since a long time language style had its connection with 
literature. So whenever we think of style, we feel that it has connection or link with literature. 
Literary entities alone had their connection towards style. So it was said that style had 
nothing to do with the works on technology, medicine, etc. 
Normally a style is formulated by the orator's or the author's mind but in translation 
the language style has many factors which are fundamental. The style differs according to the 
information to be told, the context, and the qualities of the receiver. There are certain 
difficulties to be faced in style while translating. They may be language oriented problem or 
non-language oriented problems and that is the reason why the style of the source language is
not obtained in the target language. In languages like Tamil these problems are plenty 
because of the linguistic variations found in the society on account of social variations. 
Translating a work written using Tamil dialectal features into a foreign language would be an 
arduous task.
Nida's (1969) ideas on language: style should be kept in the mind by a· translator 
while translating: Nida's raises the following questions to decide the style:
1. What are the stylistic features that are most appealing?
2. What are the features and characteristics of style?
3. What techniques are to be used to create a particular language style?
Tamil has a standard variety, a literary variety, a spoken variety and a colloquial 
variety in spoken language. On the basis of the region, caste, socio-economic variables 

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different dialects exist. They have different language use patterns that lead to confusion in the 
selection of appropriate variety of language.
Language structure plays a prominent role in creating a style. Style depends upon how 
a translator selects a particular dialect of a language. Why does he select that particular 
variety? How does he handle it in his work? Today, the style of Tamil writers varies with 
different contexts. The style differs according to the content, its description and its receivers 
(the target language people or the readers).
Let us assume that we translate a novel. The style will vary according to the nature of 
the social structure of the various characters involved in the novel. The style also differs 
while translating verses, legal documents, essays, etc. Style also varies according to the 
community for which the translation is done. When translation is being done for the children 
in school, the language structure and other factors chosen will be according to the knowledge 
level of the target audience. The translation style will differ while translating for college 
students where we may select a language that suits them very much and while translating for 
the public we choose different language, words etc. The style entirely differs while 
translating the information on science because there is no need for the literary taste in 
science. Only the facts without any sentiments are given importance in the translation of 
science texts.
We have seen that style varies according to the content of the work. If the content is 
said in an appropriate manner in a translation, the target language people could understand it 
easily. It cannot be concluded that the context will be rich if the style is good. In translation 
more importance is given to content than to style. In general, content is given priority over 
style. This does not mean that style is unimportant. Next priority is given to style. This means 
that the style chosen for translation has to be different for different target audience. The socio 
economic status, literacy level, etc of the target group have to be taken into consideration for 
finalizing the style of translation of a particular book taken up for translation. Language is not 
only a device for communication but a social identity. A symbol of the culture to which one 
belongs is a token of the cultural heredity which he carries with him when he speaks a