National Translation Mission

Origins

English, the primary medium of higher education in India, remains inaccessible to even the literate majority of the country. Therefore, there is an urgent need to translate material in all fields like literary, technical, scientific and business etc. so that such material is accessible to a wide range of different language speaking population across the country. Translation, thus, is seen not just as an instrument of democratizing and secularizing knowledge, but also of empowering languages and speech communities.

NTM intends to establish translation as an industry in the country. Its main objectives include generation of translation tools such as dictionaries and thesauri; development of software for translation, memory, etc.; promotion of machine translation and machine aided translation; translator education through orientation programs & courses; fellowships & grants for research projects, etc. Bringing visibility to translators and translation activities by organizing book launches for translations; instituting prizes and fellowships; organizing Regional Festivals of Translation; book exhibitions, etc. also are part of the activities of NTM.

Project Advisory Committee (NTM-PAC) of NTM is the highest decision making body of NTM. It is a committee of 25 members representing various sections of the academic community, ministerial bodies and publishing houses related to translation. NTM-PAC is supported by four sub-committees in matters related to copyrights and legal matters; selecting knowledge texts; fixing rates for translators, copy editors etc.; and Grant in Aid schemes of NTM.

NTM Website in 23 languages

NTM is in the process of establishing itself as the clearing house of all translation related activities in the country. Interaction with the public is a requisite and NTM has developed its website (www.ntm.org.in) in 23 languages for the purpose. NTM website introduces the Mission, its objectives, beneficiaries, and structure etc. Updates on list of books selected for translation, experts consulted, announcement of translation assignments etc. are available for the public here. The Discussion Forum facilitates the users to discuss various topics like the books selected for translation in a subject, an existing translation, and terminology issues in Indian languages etc.'

Translation & Publication of Pedagogic Material

105 titles have been approved for translations in 21 disciplines (Botany, Chemistry, Computer Science, Economics, History, Law, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Medical Science, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology and Zoology) so far.

To know more about the books taken up for translation, visit - www.ntm.org.in

NTM Databases

NTM also maintains National Register of Translators(NRT) through its website. NRT is a databank wherein translators register themselves online. NRT is a searchable directory of translators, evaluators and discipline experts with classified information on profession, experience, languages known and expertise in translation, etc.

Lists of the most prescribed texts in Indian universities in various disciplines are generated out of the Knowledge Text Module, another major facet of NTM-databases. Two searchable database components have been created under it: Indian Universities Database and Knowledge Text Database. Indian Universities Database furnishes information on courses, syllabi and textbooks etc. of over 350 Union Grants Commission (UGC) accredited universities and institutions. Knowledge Text Database provides complete details of the prescribed books. When made public, this would become one of the first state initiatives to provide information about all the universities/institutions and courses which can be accessed through a single window. It would help scholars and academicians from various regions to access the latest information on courses and syllabi of any university/institution of the country. University Boards can review the course details and syllabi structure of other universities before revising their curriculum. This may help in creating parity among universities of rural and urban regions.

NTM-databases, created in Microsoft SQL 2005, can contain a maximum of 2^31 objects and span multiple Operating System-level files with a maximum file size of 220 Terabyte. Control mechanisms have been incorporated to the database for concurrent access to shared data, for ensuring data integrity. NTM aims to increase the usability of the databases by making them both as web and standalone applications.

Basic Bilingual Dictionaries

The bilingual dictionaries are modelled after the hugely popular Longman Corpus Network - based Basic English-English dictionary. Six bilingual dictionaries developed by the NTM in collaboration Pearson Education, India were launched on 10 March 2012.

The dictionaries are the first publications from the NTM stable. In fact, the project had begun before the coming of NTM. Dorling Kindersley India Pvt Ltd (publishing as Pearson Education) and the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) had agreed to develop bilingual dictionaries in 11 languages. The work started in 2006. Later when NTM was launched in the year 2008, the lexical build activities were merged with NTM. The dictionaries are modeled on the British National Corpus based hugely popular Longman Basic English Dictionary. Following are the dictionaries that were launched:(listed alphabetically)

The dictionaries can be bought from popular online retailers like www.flipkart.com, www.homeshop18.com, www.pearson.vrvbookshop.com etc. or book sellers across the country.

Work is under pogress in other Indian languages - Assamese, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Konkani, Maithili, Meitei, Marathi, Nepali, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Telugu, and Urdu.

Bilingual e-dictionaries

e-dictionaries of NTM are based on ‘Longman Advanced Bilingual Framework’(LABF). LABF Dataset will be used through the Dictionary Production System(DPS), originally developed by Longman and marketed by Ingenierie Diffusion Multimedia(IDM), France. The NTM-Longman e-dictionary deals with 338,000 words, phrases and meanings; 78,000 head entries, 5,400 encyclopaedic entries, 54,000 phrases, over 515,000 examples and 26,000 synonyms, antonyms and related words.

Machine Translation

An English-Kannada Machine Translation(MT) package which bids to break new ground on the MT scene in India is being developed under NTM. The main aim of this project is to automate the translation of a given English sentence into Kannada. This Package is divided into 3 main modules– Parallel Aligned Corpora, Digitization of Source Language(SL) resources and Architecture. The Architecture is divided into 8 modules and implemented using Java with Netbeans Integrated Development Environment(IDE). The front end is designed using Swings and back-end SQL. The dictionary is put into action using random access file. Since Hash tables are particularly efficient when the maximum number of entries can be predicted in advance, this technique is used to accomplish searching. Collection classes are used as data storage structures. NTM has been interacting with several teams (like C-DAC, Pune, Noida, Mumbai; LTRC, ILMT, EILMT, Anusaaraka, Shakti—all at IIIT, Hyderabad) engaged in developing Machine Translation software to explore the extent to which the MT research and NTM can interface for mutual benefit.

Dictionary of Translation Studies

Dictionary of Translation Studies being prepared by NTM intends to serve as a companion to students and scholars interested in and associated with the discipline of Translation Studies. It is a compilation of the technically charged terms used in the discipline. It endeavours to be a comprehensive dictionary, exhausting the technical terms used in Indian as well as western discourse of translation and also the terms used in the sub-domains of Translation Studies like Interpreting, Machine Translation, etc.

Training and Certification of Translators

With an aim to train and orient translators, NTM has been organising 3 weeks Intensive Training Programme – ‘Introduction to Translation’. Translation theoreticians & academicians, eminent translators, linguists and language scholars from across the country have been delivering talks on various theoretical and practical aspects of translation. All the details are available in NTM website

NTM has also started piloting the methods and means of its nationwide Certification of Translators Programme. The certification module is being developed in collaboration with the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB) of the Quality Council of India (QCI) along the lines of the international standards set for Personnel Certification. Training of evaluators will be a major component of the Certification of Translators Programme as a new system of grading translators will be introduced.

NTM Surveys

Knowledge Text Scenario Survey

NTM conducted a survey with the following objectives:

17 languages are covered in the survey and they are Assamese, Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Maithili, Meitei, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. All the finding of the survey are compiled in a report titled Regional Language Knowledge Text Scenario – An Assessment.

Royalty: Industry Practice across India

NTM conducted a nationwide survey so as to find out the prevalent practice among some of the major as well as regional publishers towards the payment of royalty to authors/copyright holders, translators etc. In all, NTM has gathered information from over 100 publishers, which is essential in framing NTM-policies, especially in case of turnkey projects. A detailed report titled Royalty: Industry Practice Across India has been prepared.

Royalty: Lexicography in India

NTM conducted a survey to study the past and present scenario of lexicographic activities in 16 Indian Languages. The languages are - Assamese, Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Meitei, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Sanskrit, Santhali, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. A detailed report titled Lexicography in Indian Languages: a brief report has been prepared explaining the finding.

Medium of Instruction & Medium of Examination (MoI & MoE) in Higher Education in India

NTM has collected data from 239 Universities/Colleges etc., then categorized, analyzed and a detailed report has been prepared and compared with survey report prepared by UPSC. Data provided by UGC on MoI/MoE are also categorized, analyzed and prepared a report.

Workshops and Seminars

NTM has organised workshops in regional languages in different parts of the country involving discipline experts and translators to chalk out strategies for NTM translation assignments. A few seminal knowledge texts formed the focus of discussions in these workshops. NTM has been conducting workshops to assess the existing knowledge text translations in regional languages. These assessment workshops also aim to bring about collaboration between NTM and eminent scholars, writers, translators and publishers in different fields which will help in forming expert panels for its translations. NTM has also been organizing seminars on various aspects of translation with special reference to regional languages in different parts of the country. Apart from these, Translator Orientation Programmes; Publishers, Media and Translators Meet; Book Festivals; Workshops on Literary and Linguistic Terms; programmes on Classical Text and Literary Text Translation have been organized across the country by NTM. These workshops help NTM to popularize its initiatives among beneficiaries.

Dictionaries

ISBN 978-81-317-3126-0 (Hardback), ISBN 978-81-317-3125-3 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-81-317-3132-1 (Hardback), ISBN 978-81-317-3131-4 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-81-317-3134-5 (Hardback), ISBN 978-81-317-3133-8 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-81-317-3128-4 (Hardback), ISBN 978-81-317-3127-7 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-81-317-3136-9 (Hardback), ISBN 978-81-317-3135-2 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-81-317-3130-7 (Hardback), ISBN 978-81-317-3129-1 (Paperback)

The Longman-NTM-CIIL English English [Indian Languages] Dictionary Series has been published by Pearson Education India

Bengali

Translation of "Fundamentals of Sociology" by P Gisbert,Translator: Himangshu Ghosh, Publisher: Suhrid Publications, Kolkata, West Bengal

Kannada

Translation of “Fundamentals of Molecular Spectroscopy” by Colin N Banwell and Elaine M MaCash. Translator: ಹೆಚ್. ಎಸ್. ಉಮೇಶ್ (H S Umesh), ಎಂ. ಕೆ. ರಾಮಸ್ವಾಮಿ (M K Ramaswamy), Publisher: Vismaya Prakashana, Mysore, Karnataka.

Translation of "Heat Transfer" by J P Holman,Translator: K P Srikantha, Publisher: KSM Trust, Bengaluru, Karnataka

Malayalam

Translation of “Outlines of Indian Philosophy”; M Hiriyanna, Translator: R. Parvathikutty, Publisher: State Institute of Language, Kerala

Marathi

Translation of "The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation" by Granville Austin, Translator: भारती केळकर (Bharati Kelkar), Publisher: Diamond Publications, Pune, Maharashtra

Translation of "Heat Transfer" by J P Holman, Translator: Subash Phadke, Publisher: Diamond Publications, Pune, Maharashtra

Oriya

Translation of "The Penguin History of Early India: From Origins to AD 1300" by Romila Thapar, Translator: ପ୍ରୀତିଶ ଆଚାର୍ଯ୍ୟ (Pritish Acharya), Publisher: A K Mishra Publishers Pvt Ltd, Bhubaneshwar, Odisha

Translation of "Outlines of Indian Philosophy" by M Hiriyanna, Translator: Banbihari Choudhury, Publisher: A K Mishra Publishers Pvt Ltd, Bhubaneshwar, Odisha

Punjabi

Translation of "The Penguin History of Early India: From Origins to AD 1300" by Romila Thapar, Translator: ਕਰਮਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ (Karminder Singh), Publisher: Lokgeet Parkashan (Unistar Books Pvt. Ltd.), Chandigarh

Translation of "Outlines of Indian Philosophy" by M Hiriyanna, Translator: ਪ੍ਰਭਕੀਰਤਨ ਸਿੰਘ (Prabhkirtan Singh), Publisher: Lokgeet Parkashan (Unistar Books Pvt. Ltd.), Chandigarh

Translation of "The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation" by Granville Austin, Translator: ਕਰਮਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ (Karminder Singh), Publisher: Lokgeet Parkashan (Unistar Books Pvt. Ltd.), Chandigarh

Telugu

Translation of "The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation" by Granville Austin, Translator: ప్రభాకర్ మందార (Prabhakar Mandhara), Publisher: Hyderabad Book Trust, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

Translation of "An Introduction to the Study of Indian History" by D D Kosambi, Translator: ఎన్ వేణుగోపాల్ (N. Venugopal), Publisher: Hyderabad Book Trust, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

Dictionaries

Assamese

Bodo

Kannada

Malayalam

Nepali

Oriya

Telugu