How well does the word ‘Design’ translate into different Indian languages?
Words often get lost in translations, sometimes it's limiting, but at times there are more enriching words found in other cultures and contexts that hold the same meaning.
The context
When it comes to the field of Design with its modern world definitions, there is plenty of evidence supporting the presence of sophisticated and deliberate design practices from the Indian subcontinent for many thousands of years.
The Lota(pronounced low-tah)is one such example identified by Charles and Ray Eames in their The India Report(1958). It speaks about how industrial design is understood and practised in the Indian subcontinent for ages as ’service, dignity and love’. (Lotta’s evidence is dating back to as early as the 2nd millennium BCE,) It is celebrated for its highly human-centred design (evolved over time), phenomenal form factor towards its function, ergonomics, aesthetics and multi-purpose nature.
… no one man could have possibly designed the lota. The number of combinations of factors to be considered gets to be astronomical — no one man designed the lota but many men over many generations. Many individuals represented in their own way through something they may have added or may have removed or through some quality of which they were particularly aware. The hope for, and the reason for such an institute as we describe, is that it will hasten the production of the ’lotas’ of our time. By this we mean a hope that an attitude be generated that will appraise and solve the problems of our coming times with the same tremendous service, dignity and love that the lota served its time. — Charles & Ray Eames, Los Angeles, The India Report — 1958
The meaning and various translations of the word Design.
I was under the impression that there is no single word in any of the Indian languages that quite captures the essence of the word ‘design’ as we understand it today, something that represents a problem-solving attitude and process.
To me, it means ‘to create something purposefully’. Outcome-oriented planning, ideation, synthesising of information etc can very much be designed too- The output need not be limited to visuals or any form of aesthetics. The word ‘Design’ can be used as a noun & a verb, referring to output or a process of creation. The act of designing can be an art, there can be Art in Design, and Design in Art. All that is true, but Design ≠ Art.
But a few months ago, I learned that there is actually one word in Malayalam which translates the word Design quite well. It is രൂപകല്പന (rūpakalpana).
‘rūpam’ means Form, Shape, The look, etc. and ‘Kalpana’ may have multiple articulations like Fiction, Command, Imagination, Romantic etc. in different contexts. The word roughly translates into- ‘giving shape to or creating something new and deliberate with the power of imagination’.
I was sure many other regional Indian languages would also have specific words that can translate the word ‘Design’ without losing its original meaning to a good extent. So I decided to ask the design community on LinkedIn and I got an overwhelming response from the design community within no time.
Cheers,
Dhaneesh Jameson | LinkedIn | Twitter
(Product Design Leader, Filmmaker)
Here are some of the notable ones that provided me with more context into how design is translated into different languages and others’ ideas of the word Design itself. The whole thing was so enlightening to me and I hope it would be for you as well.
