Science or Vidyā?
Lost in Translation
How would you translate the Sinhala word Vidyā (විද්යා) into English?
Don’t answer just now. We have to digress for a bit.
Machine Translation (MT) is a branch of Computer Science that studies the use of computational techniques to translate one language (say Sinhala) into another (say English).
[Side note: Whenever a branch of Computer Science includes the word “Machine” (another example is Machine Learning or ML), you know it's very old — and dates back to a time when computers were called “Machines”. More recent branches, like Computer Vision, Computer Graphics and (oddly) Computer Science, use the word “Computer” instead of “Machine”.]
These days, the best MT systems use the latest AI (Artificial Intelligence). And it was such an AI system that I was working on a few days ago; one that translates between Sinhala and English.
All AIs need training data. And, among countless lines of text that made up my training set, was the National Anthem of Sri Lanka in Sinhala, along with its English Translation.
One line went like this:
Oba vē apa vidyā
(ඔබ වේ අප විද්යා)
The somewhat poetic English translation was:
Thou art our wisdom
Now, let me ask you again,
How would you translate the Sinhala word Vidyā (විද්යා) into English?
If my question was,
How would you translate the English word Science into Sinhala?
Then you would confidently answer
Vidyā (විද්යා)!
Obviously.
The opposite is not always true — you can see a counterexample in our national anthem.
The reason is fairly simple.
The Sinhala word Vidyā (විද්යා) consists of a much broader set of meanings than the English word Science, including meanings like Knowledge, Wisdom and Insight.
This is apparent when we look at words related to Vidyā (විද්යා). Like විදුහල (viduhala) meaning “Place of Knowledge” not “Science Hall”. Or විද්වතා (vidvatā) meaning “Person of Wisdom” not “Scientist”.
This problem is common when translating between languages. Two words in different languages are not the same organism. They are more like siblings or even cousins that share some genes of meaning, but not all.
If you are like me, or any one of the 22% of Sri Lankans who can speak both English and Sinhala, or any Bilingual person, then you probably encounter this issue all the time, at least subconsciously.
I for one feel that I think differently when I think in Sinhala as opposed to thinking in English, even when I’m thinking about the same topic. This is not unexpected since we tend to think in the words of language, and if the words mean different things, so will our thoughts as a whole.
This might also lead to other problems, like:
- Education Issues: Students learning in a non-native language may struggle with concepts due to lack of direct term equivalents, affecting their studies.
- Cultural Loss: Translations often miss cultural nuances, idioms, and proverbs, losing the richness of the original language.
- Creative Translation Challenges: Writers and artists find it hard to translate their work without losing original intent and emotional depth. I find this particularly true in comic writing. English is an innately funny language, while in contrast Sinhala is innately witty. It is (at best) challenging) to translate between these two moods of comedy.
- Religious, Legal and other Texts: Translating religious scriptures can lose their spiritual and philosophical essence, affecting understanding. Similarly, varying word meanings in different languages can lead to different interpretations of legal texts, causing disputes. As a result, so many official documents in Sri Lanka include problematic caveats like “In the event of any inconsistency between the Sinhala and Tamil texts of this Act, the Sinhala text shall prevail”. This would not be necessary if translation was unambiguous.
Can we conclude anything else from all of this?
For me, it just leads to more questions. Like:
- How does the subtle shift in meaning impact our understanding of the world?
- If our thoughts are shaped by the language we think in, what does it mean for our perception and interaction with different cultures?
- How do we preserve the richness and nuances of our native tongues (like Sinhala and Tamil) while embracing the global language of English?
- In a world increasingly reliant on AI for translation, can machines ever truly grasp the depths of human wisdom embedded in our words?
- As we translate and interpret, are we bridging gaps or creating new ones?
- Are there some “truths” that are within the grasp of some languages, but not others?
- Are there other “truths” which are inaccessible to all languages? [Buddhism does not say, but might point towards “Yes”]
- Is any language capable of expressing its own limitations? If not, how do we understand these?
These questions challenge us to reflect on the profound and often overlooked influence of language on our lives.
And for people like me (and perhaps you) who speak more than one language, it poses yet another, even more perplexing question (and make no mistake — the answer is vitally important).
In what language should I attempt to answer all these other questions?
