Can Speech and Translation be Part of Academic Writing?

Authors

  • Umesh Patra

Keywords:

English departments in India, speech, translation, evaluation, academic integrity, academic writing in India

Abstract

The objective of this paper is two-fold. First, it addresses the privileging of writing over speech in the undergraduate, postgraduate and research programmes in English in select central universities of India. The shortlisting criteria for Assistant Professors also show an emphasis on writing. The paper proposes that academic writing courses should address the lack of exposure to the spoken word. Secondly, the paper suggests that a course on academic writing should include ‘translation’ of contemporary literary texts in India as a necessary component in the curriculum. Along with training students in the art of translation, such a course can provide a platform for publication of the translated texts during the course duration itself. Through such projects, this course would not only contribute to the corpus of Indian texts available in English, but will also harvest skilled writers/translators who can draw upon Indian texts as themes for their academic writing.

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Author Biography

Umesh Patra

Umesh Patra is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Motihari, Bihar. He worked on a comparative analysis of an Odia folk theatre named Pala and Bertolt Brecht’s epic theatre for his PhD dissertation at EFLU, Hyderabad. His research area includes Theatre and Performance Studies, Modern British Literature, and Queer Theory. A few of his lectures are uploaded on E-Vimarsh: ICT initiative for E-learning by MGCU. Some of his writings have been published in Research & Criticism, Muse India, and The Hindu.

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Published

2021-11-15

How to Cite

Patra, U. (2021). Can Speech and Translation be Part of Academic Writing?. Sanglap: Journal of Literary and Cultural Inquiry, 7(1), 78–99. Retrieved from https://sanglap-journal.in/index.php/sanglap/article/view/140