This blog is written as part of a Translation Studies activity assigned by Dilip Sir. It follows the worksheet guidelines to translate Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poem using Gen AI tools, focusing on understanding the process of poetry translation.
Translation Activity Worksheet - Using Gen AI for Translating Poems
Introduction:
With the growing use of Generative AI tools in humanities and literary studies, translation studies has entered a new phase where technology assists but also challenges traditional ideas of fidelity, aesthetics, and cultural transfer. This activity, based on the Worksheet “Using Gen-AI Tools for Translating Poems”, explores how AI can translate poetry and how far it succeeds or fails in preserving poetic essence.
For this exercise, I selected Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s famous nazm Mujh Se Pehli Si Mohabbat Mere Mehboob Na Maang, a landmark poem that marks the poet’s shift from romantic idealism to socio-political consciousness. Using a Gen-AI tool, I translated the poem into English and critically examined the translation in the light of poetic form, cultural nuance, and translation theory.
Step 1: Selection of Poem and AI-Assisted Translation:
Source Poem Details:
🔹Title: مجھ سے پہلی سی محبت مری محبوب نہ مانگ
- Poet: Faiz Ahmad Faiz
- Genre: Nazm
- Language: Urdu
This poem is part of Naqsh-e-Faryadi and is significant because it initiates the fusion of romantic lyricism and social protest in Faiz’s poetry. The beloved in the poem gradually becomes secondary to the poet’s awareness of collective suffering, injustice, and human misery.
AI-Assisted English Translation (Full Poem):
Do not ask of me, my beloved,
for the love I once gave you.
I had believed that if you were there,
life itself would glow with radiance.
If sorrow was yours,
what conflict could the world’s grief hold for me?
From your face alone, I thought,
the seasons of spring found their permanence.
Beyond your eyes, I believed,
what else was there in this world to behold?
If only I could attain you,
fate itself would bow in submission.
It was never that I demanded so much
I only wished it might turn out this way.
But there are other sorrows in the world besides love,
and other comforts besides the comfort of union.
Countless dark and savage spells of centuries,
woven into silk, satin, and brocade,
human bodies sold everywhere
in alleys and marketplaces alike,
bodies smeared with dust,
bathed in blood,
bodies emerging from furnaces of disease,
from festering sores where pus still flows.
My gaze is drawn there too what can I do?
Your beauty is still captivating, yet what can I do?
There are other sorrows in the world besides love,
and other comforts besides the comfort of union.
Do not ask of me, my beloved,
for the love I once gave you.
Step 2: Comparative Analysis of Original and Translation:
🔹Meaning and Content:
The AI translation successfully conveys the central theme of the poem the poet’s emotional journey from romantic devotion to social awareness. The shift from ishq (personal love) to insani dukh (human suffering) is clearly retained.
- Form, Rhythm, and Sound:
The original Urdu nazm has a musical cadence and rhythmic flow, which is largely lost in English.
The translation reads more like free verse, showing the difficulty of preserving rhyme and metre across languages.
Sound devices such as internal rhyme and alliteration are not fully replicated.
- Cultural and Symbolic Elements:
Images like bodies sold in bazaars, disease-ridden flesh, and centuries of darkness are translated accurately in meaning.
However, the historical and political resonance connected to colonialism, class oppression, and capitalism becomes somewhat generalized in English.
- Tone and Emotion:
Emotional intensity is preserved, especially the sense of resignation and moral awakening.
Yet, the layered emotional texture of Urdu diction appears simplified.
Step 3: Critical Reflection Using Translation Theory:
🔹From the perspective of translation studies:
Roman Jakobson’s theory of equivalence is evident here semantic equivalence is achieved, but poetic equivalence is compromised.
According to Catford’s linguistic theory, shifts in structure are inevitable due to grammatical and syntactic differences between Urdu and English.
From A.K. Ramanujan’s view, poetry carries cultural memory; AI struggles to retain the contextual life of metaphors.
In terms of Indian poetics, the dominant rasa moves from śṛṅgāra (romantic love) to karuṇa (compassion and sorrow). The translation conveys this shift, but the aesthetic intensity is diluted.
This exercise highlights that poetry translation is not merely linguistic transfer but cultural and ethical mediation.
Step 4: Evaluation of AI as a Translation Tool:
🔹Strengths:
Fast and accessible translation
Accurate transmission of core meaning
Useful for academic drafts and comprehension
- Limitations:
Loss of rhythm, metre, and musicality
Cultural and historical nuances flattened
Emotional subtlety reduced
AI proves to be a supportive tool, not a replacement for human translators, especially in poetry where form and cultural memory are central.
Conclusion:
This activity demonstrates that while Gen-AI tools can assist in translating poetry, they cannot fully capture the aesthetic richness, cultural depth, and emotional complexity of the original text. Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s Mujh Se Pehli Si Mohabbat is deeply rooted in socio-political consciousness and poetic tradition, which demands human sensitivity for an effective translation.
The exercise reinforces the idea that AI translations should be used as preliminary drafts, followed by human interpretation and refinement. For students of literature and translation studies, such activities help sharpen critical awareness of both language and culture.
🔹Work cited: