TRANSLATING TAMIL HAIKU: TRANSCENDING LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL IMPEDIMENTS

Abstract

Translation plays a vital role in our everyday life. An incredible work of art can be interpreted in myriad ways. It traces the essential human spirit that underlies literature from all languages. In a country like India, which has diverse languages and cultures, it acts as the unifying spirit. Translation is difficult, but not impossible, but it can never be accurate. It poses a huge linguistic barrier to the translator because of some insurmountable usages, syntax, semantics and style which differ vastly from the Source Language to the Target Language. Though it is the shortest form of literature, translating the haiku poses many challenges