A space for multilingual imagination.
The combined session for Ashok Pai College and Sahyadri College, Shivamogga was with a lovely group of students . The session maintained a high level of energy and engagement throughout.
The session began with a delve into translation, language, and writing — trying to break these processes into simpler ideas. While literature in general may often appear daunting to many, primarily due to its centering of the English language, translation is one way of breaking that. Engagement with all languages and an attempt to de-pedestalise English often begins with interactions of this kind with our future readers and writers,students.
The preliminary activity was an attempt at that. Students attempted translating Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Where the Mind Is Without Fear’ into their own languages. Students tried their hand at translation, both comprehending the original and working creatively with their own languages. The Constitutional Story Narration activity was also well received and resonated with participants.
There was mutual camaraderie that made the entire session memorable. Teachers at the university were also enthusiastic and gracious. They even commemorated the session with a video collage of the day’s happenings. The session ended with a word wall, as always. This was an interesting activity that brought out curious responses and justifications for the words they chose.
