More English works to be made available in Indian languages

CHANDIGARH - In a bid to attract more Indian readers to English literature, the British Council is assisting Indian writers in translating classic works into regional Indian languages.

“There are over 22 nationally recognised languages in India and nearly 1,000 other regional languages. Keeping this fact in mind, the British Council is assisting Indian writers in translating English literature but we have no intention to stock these translated works in libraries,” Ruth Gee, the regional director of British Council for India and Sri Lanka, said Thursday.

“Recently around 45 Indian writers had visited the British book fair. We had talked to many of them and engaged a dozen writers, who will translate English literature in languages like Hindi and Tamil,” she said, adding the process was already on.

In September this year, the British Council had hosted workshops in Delhi and Kolkata for the writers engaged in translation work.

Gee had joined the Delhi office Sep 1, 2009 after working for six years in Hong Kong and is focussing on the new cultural exchange programme.

“Our relationship is all about culture, therefore we are developing a new programme called ‘Connection through culture’, which would be launched in April 2010. This programme would connect artists across India and the UK,” she said.

“From our initial exchanges, we know that this initiative is going to be very popular. We would focus more on musicians and visual artists and have plans to reach more people throughout India, using technology and multimedia in innovative ways,” she said.

On future plans, Gee said: “From April 1, we would start a service of e-library in nine centres and would offer 37,000 new titles online.”

“Seeing a heavy rush on Mumbai roads, we are also starting a new concept of distributive library there from Jan 1. We would hire an agency that would deliver the books at our clients’ address,” she added.