About TARJUMAN

The meaning, legacy, and what to look forward

WHAT IS A TAR̂JUMA̅N?

Tar̂juma̅n (n.) (tarr-ju-maan) (تَرْجُمان) is an Urdu word that originates from Arabic—first used in Urdu in 1792 CE—and refers to a translator, interpreter, and representative. They stand between two languages and take the liberty of explaining their passion projects, to share the art with more people and wish that more people knew about them too.

THE LEGACY OF TRANSLATION

The South Asian region is a collection of multi-lingual societies overlapping with each other in the form of complementary Venn diagrams. People here have always held close to an average of three languages, switching and mixing according to the need and flow of time. With almost a hundred years of British colonisation, the children of this land have also learnt to juggle the English language, dotting their education, literature, movies, art, and online discussions. As such, informal translation and interpretation is a daily affair, an automatic routine that most people don’t even stop to consider and remark on its uniqueness in the border frame of the space.

THE URDU TRANSLATORS

It is of no surprise then, perhaps, that most of the literary translations to and from Urdu are passion projects of the translators. Just looking up the interview or prelude of the books, whether published now or decades ago, would reveal the sentimentality the translators prescribed to the work of art. They’re unfunded, mostly unregarded, and almost always working for free.

ABOUT TAR̂JUMA̅N

As such, TAR̂JUMA̅N is a substack newsletter aiming to translate and talk about the passion projects of the author: mostly songs she holds dear of the artists she listens to a lot. It will feature translations from Urdu, Punjabi, and Korean. It may include random poems depending on the prevailing air and mood.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hamda is based in Gujranwala, Punjab of Pakistan. She has completed her undergrad in English literature and language. Living a liminal year, she tries to ground her time with thinking about different mediums of art like books, music, dramas, and movies and writes blue hour, a newsletter to talk about that. Tar̂juma̅n is an extension of the love for local music and art.

WHY SUBSCRIBE

Subscribe to receive a translation every (or every other) Friday, support a passion project, and get full access to the newsletter and publication archives.