Translating a School Notice: Hindi Interference and Style
A Class X student is asked to translate a four-sentence Hindi notice into Persian for the school's Persian Day. The Hindi reads: «सभी विद्यार्थी कल सुबह 9 बजे सभागार में इकट्ठे हों। कृपया अपनी किताबें साथ लाएँ। देर मत करें। प्रधानाचार्य भाषण देंगे।» Her draft: «همه دانش‌آموزان فردا صبح ساعت ۹ در سالن جمع می‌شوند. لطفاً کتاب‌های خود را با بیاورید. دیر نکنید. مدیر سخنرانی خواهد داد.» The teacher marks 6/10. The errors are mostly Hindi interference: «با بیاورید» separates the preposition from its complement; «جمع می‌شوند» is indicative where the notice needs imperative or subjunctive; and «کتاب‌های خود را» is over-literal because Persian prefers «کتاب‌هایتان را». The teacher must decide whether to penalize meaning, grammar or style, and must model a corrected version without teaching a list of isolated words.
1. Identify the three interference errors and classify each as grammar, style or meaning. Propose a correction for each.
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Three interference points:
- «کتاب‌های خود را با بیاورید» - grammar/word order. The preposition «با» cannot stand alone before the verb; use «کتاب‌هایتان را همراه بیاورید» or «کتاب‌های خود را با خود بیاورید». The Hindi «साथ लाएँ» is a postpositional phrase, but Persian wants «همراه» as an adverb or «با خود».
- «جمع می‌شوند» - mode, not tense. The Hindi «इकट्ठे हों» is subjunctive/imperative in a notice; Persian should be «گرد هم آیند» or «جمع شوند» after «باید». The indicative «می‌شوند» reads as a statement of fact, not an instruction.
- «کتاب‌های خود را» - style/over-literal. It is grammatical, but a school notice prefers the possessive suffix «کتاب‌هایتان را». This is not a meaning error, so do not deduct under meaning.
2. Rewrite the notice in correct Persian and explain one composition principle that the student should apply next time.
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Corrected notice: «همهٔ دانش‌آموزان باید فردا صبح ساعت ۹ در سالن گرد هم آیند. لطفاً کتاب‌هایتان را همراه بیاورید. دیر نکنید. مدیر سخنرانی خواهد کرد.» Principles: keep the verb at the end of each clause; do not split a preposition from its complement; use the ezafe to link «همهٔ» to its noun; use «را» for the definite object «کتاب‌هایتان». The phrase «ساعت ۹» comes after «صبح» and before «در سالن» in this sentence, but Persian also allows «در سالن، فردا صبح ساعت ۹»; what matters is a clear time–place–verb order. The corrected version changes mode and collocation, not the notice's content.
3. Propose a 3-point rubric for this 10-mark translation and justify the weighting.
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Rubric: meaning 4, grammar 3, style 3. Meaning: all four propositions (assembly, time, books, speech) must be present; a missing time or wrong person loses 1 each. Grammar: verb mode, agreement and object marker; «را» and subjunctive are the high-value items. Style: natural collocations such as «همراه بیاورید» and «گرد هم آیند», not literal calques. Justification: the notice is short, so meaning dominates; but a grammatically wrong imperative would mislead students, so grammar gets 3; style gets 3 because the exam asks for composition, not word-for-word conversion. This weighting also matches the teacher's 6/10: the student kept the meaning but lost mode and collocation marks.