Can Speech and Translation be Part of Academic Writing?

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.