Connecting minds through language: The life and work of Hemachandra Pathirana

Today we feature an interview with Hemachandra Pathirana, a professional trilingual translator and language teacher who possesses both academic and practical knowledge of all three official languages in Sri Lanka – Sinhala, Tamil and English. He has put his knowledge and love for language into practical use by translating over 10 books in Tamil and Sinhala as relevant, choosing themes that are beneficial to national unity. 

His last translation, titled Uthura Ginigani, originally authored by T. Gnanasekaran and published by Godage Publishers was launched in Colombo last week (https://www.ft.lk/harmony_page/Uthura-Ginigani-by-T-Gnanasekeran-translated-to-Sinhala-by-Hemachandra-Pathirana-debuts/10523-741885).

His academic qualifications on language include a BA degree from University of Jayewardenepura that enabled him proficiency in English literature/Languages and Communication/Sociology, an English Medium MA degree in Linguistics from the University of Kelaniya, a Postgraduate Diploma in Tamil Language and Literature and an MA degree in Tamil Language from Peradeniya University.

Equipped with these qualifications he has dedicated his life to serving Sri Lanka through language teaching and translation. In the below interview Hemachandra Pathirana describes his work. 

Q: When did you develop an interest in becoming equally proficient in all three official languages of Sri Lanka?

A: I always liked reading. However I went to schools where Sinhala was the primary language. When I obtained an MA in Tamil language it was through much hard work and my love of language study pushed me to it. First I was motivated by the wish to read a wide variety of books and later it became a passion to teach languages. I have taught Tamil and Sinhala to those who wanted to study it as a second language. 

I started my career as a language teacher and was first associated for five years from 2000 to 2005 with the Wayamba National College of Education as a visiting lecturer in Tamil. My Tamil language classes were attended by even the Tamils. I am talking of Tamils who did not have a Tamil speaking background – such as those who had lived abroad. 

For example a Tamil lady who had lived from a very young age in Japan thanked me profusely saying she had gone to many teachers who taught the conventional way and she never thought she would learn Tamil from a non-Tamil!

We can say I cracked a particular language learning and teaching code when it comes to teaching Tamil and Sinhalese to those to whom it is not the first language. 

Q: Could you explain further?

A: Ok. When you teach language as a second language it is a challenge. This could be understood well by someone like me who self-learnt the art of teaching Tamil as a second language after obtaining an MA in the language as an adult without having technical exposure as a child to Tamil. My only connection to the language was that my father, although a Sinhalese had grown up in Bingiriya close to the Kurunegala area that had a significant composition of (Tamil speaking) Muslims and where his playmates as a young child were Muslims. I had no such luck and although I loved languages as a child I did not get to self learn until I began close to age 30 to commence on a Masters Degree in Tamil. 

Q:  Did your father speak to you in Tamil at home?

A: No. I did not learn Tamil from my father. I wish I had as my journey towards language specialisation would have occurred as a teenager then! 

Q:  In contemporary Sri Lanka are you the only person of Sinhala ethnicity who has achieved an MA in Tamil language?

A: No. There is Dhammika Jayasinghe who is a Sinhala language lecturer at the University of Ruhuna who also has an MA in Tamil language. Whether there are any others I do not know.  

Q:  You currently work as an official translator at a bank in Sri Lanka isn’t it?

A: Yes. I am the translator for the Bank of Ceylon. 

Q: With regard to literature, how many books have you translated so far and what were they on?

A: I have translated about 10 books. It was about 10 years ago that I began to translate books. Given the recent history of Sri Lanka some of them were based on diverse humanistic perspectives – both Sinhala and Tamil. Some are about the many beautiful interactions between the two communities that often do not get into public limelight and certainly not in the media. Some are on accounts of great trauma, stress that occurred between 1983 and 2009, portrayed through short stories and novels. 

Q:  How old were you when you read the first Tamil short story collection?

A: I was 23 years old and the book was by Dikwella Kamal. The title was Viduthalai (Freedom) and the stories revolved around the Muslim community in general and covering Muslim societal narratives from around Sri Lanka. I never thought then that I would be later translating his work into Sinhala. A collection of his short stories was the first book I translated titled ‘Kandulaka Kathawak’. Dikwella Kamal had created a niche for himself by creating stories from the Muslim culture that evolved in the South areas which is different from other regions of Sri Lanka. For example he wrote much about the Muslims of Dikwella. 

Q: What are some of the profound works that you have translated?

A: Many. But in the first book I translated of Dikwelle Kamal there was a short story titled ‘Soya Aa Senasuma’ (Search for Consolation) which could be themed in modern parlance as having a feminist orientation but which is a very simple plot which is profound in this simplicity. The story revolves around a rather young married couple who do not have children. The wife dutifully prepares meals for the husband and awaits his arrival every evening. They do not have any overt issue in their marriage but the husband has developed the habit of criticising her food either saying it is too salty or bland. The wife is saddened by this practice but does not show any emotion. 

One day all of a sudden, after he returns from a stay away from home for a few days (on a pilgrimage), she notices a difference in him. He appreciates the food by serving well and eating without a word of criticism. She asks him the reason and he replies that during the pilgrimage he had to do cooking on his own and that he realised how hard it was as he could not get the salt measurements correct.

Dikwella Kamal has written on many very subtle aspects of everyday life and this is one of them which struck me deeply, across the gender chasm that we have in South Asian society.

The other book that had a major impact on me when I read it and when I undertook to translate it was about the humanitarian service in the North of Sri Lanka carried out by the renowned Buddhist monk Ven. Madihe Pangnaseeha, who 54 years ago started building four schools for low caste children in the North so that they could learn without hassle or obstacles. The Sinhala book authored by veteran Sinhala language writer Denagama Siriwardena was titled ‘Uthurata Senehasa Pe Dakune Maha Yathiwarayano’ (The great Buddhist Priest who cared for the North). The book was translated by me some time back and the Tamil title is ‘Vadakkei Nesiththa Thetkin Thuravi’.

The book written by Denagama Siriwardena narrates this humanistic Buddhist monk’s attitude to Tamil children in far flung areas in the Jaffna district and as the chapters unfold, one gets to the story of the Tamil Vidyalaya in Puttur that was built by him and known as the Puttur Madihe Panchaseeha Tamil Maha Vidyalaya.  

This school and another built by him is functioning to date. 

I was also greatly moved by the last book I translated by renowned Lankan Tamil author Dr. T. Gnanasekeran titled Uthura Ginigani in Sinhala and Erimalai (Volcano) in Tamil, written and based in 1984 when the hostilities in the North had just begun and where many thought of it as a temporary aberration which will end within the year.

Both literature and life is about absorbing diverse perspectives. This is what I have gained in being exposed to all three languages of this nation and thereby to the minds and hearts of the people. Language helps in eradicating prejudice, bias and gives us power in communication which assists also in trade and economic development. Knowledge of any language is an asset and if life was much longer than what we usually get I would have learnt many other languages of the world as well.

Q:  What are your current and future plans?

A: I will be working on promoting national unity in Sri Lanka with Frances Bulathsinghala and the ThriBhasha initiative.