PENANG, 14 November 2016 – Translating major literary works from Malay to English and vice versa is a big responsibility upon those who have the capability of doing so.

According to academician and National Laureate Emeritus Professor Dr. Muhammad Haji Salleh, seeing the importance of such an endeavour, he continued to translate books because he believes that through such efforts, the wisdom of a nation could be properly brought forth onto the world stage.

"Although I do not have any formal training in the theories of translation, but with a strong linguistic background and the soul of a writer especially in areas of poetry, I have always pushed myself into doing such work," he said when delivering a lecture on his experience in translating the book ‘Malaisie’ written by the French writer Henri Fauconnier here recently.

The translated book with the title ‘Nurani Tanah Melayu’ is published by the Institute of Translation and Books Malaysia (ITBM). The book has also been translated into English by Eric Sutton with the title ‘The Soul of Malaya’.

According to him, the novel which had garnered a prominent French Literary Award ‘Prix Goncourt’ in 1930 has been translated into many languages, although it was a bit odd as the autobiography has yet to be translated into Malay, being the language of the people in ‘Malaisie’.

"As a translator and scholar on comparative literature, I felt a bit restive as this has been going on for the last 80 years, within Malaysia which is proud of its literary and cultural achievements," said Muhammad.

He stressed that, this literary work was important as it was well-written, of high quality, advanced and bold, as there are few very comprehensive work similar to this, in its understanding of the people and culture which greatly differ from those of the writer.

Muhammad also advised the students to always strive and work hard in trying to understand any literary work and to be able to acquire the related skills on the translated works, for example having the skills to write poetry prior to doing any translation work.

Also present were the Coordinator of Translation and Interpretation Studies Section, USMSchool of Humanities, Associate Professor Dr. Goh Sang Seong, and lecturers Associate Professor Dr. Haslina Haroon and Dr. Leelany Ayob.

Translation: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin