Translation and Functional English
What the domain tests
Translation and Functional English tests practical communication: translating short English passages into Kannada or Kannada into English, and producing functional texts such as notices, invitations, instructions, advertisements, messages and short dialogues. The focus is meaning, register and audience.
Core rules
- Translate meaning, not word order; read the whole sentence before rendering it.
- Keep proper nouns, numbers and dates accurate; do not transliterate common nouns when an equivalent exists.
- Adapt idioms to a natural equivalent rather than translating them literally.
- A notice answers who, what, when, where and why, and is brief and factual.
- Instructions use imperative verbs and clear sequence; invitations state host, event, date, time and venue.
- Match register: a notice is impersonal, a message to a friend can be informal.
Worked example
Source: 'Please do not litter. Use the bins provided.' Kannada render: 'ದಯವಿಟ್ಟು ಕಸ ಹಾಕಬೇಡಿ. ಒದಗಿಸಿದ ಕಸದ ಬುಟ್ಟಿಗಳನ್ನು ಬಳಸಿ.' Reasoning: 'litter' is a verb here, so it becomes 'ಕಸ ಹಾಕಬೇಡಿ' rather than a noun. 'Provided' is rendered as 'ಒದಗಿಸಿದ', and the polite imperative 'ದಯವಿಟ್ಟು' preserves the request tone. A word-for-word rendering would sound unnatural.
Traps that cost marks
Translating idioms literally; dropping the negative in 'do not'; changing polite requests into commands; omitting venue or date in a notice; using a casual closing in a formal invitation; translating technical terms inconsistently.