Your Next Job Interview Could Be With a Deepfake: 5 Shocking Truths About Modern Hiring Scams

This blog is assigned by Dilip Barad under the Hackathon Social Media Campaign. This blog  examine the escalating crisis of recruitment fraud, where sophisticated artificial intelligence and deepfake technology are used to deceive both employers and job seekers. Companies increasingly encounter fake applicants and state-sponsored actors who use synthetic identities or proxy interviewers to gain unauthorised access to sensitive corporate systems. Simultaneously, fraudsters impersonate legitimate firms to exploit candidates through advance-fee scams, identity theft, and fraudulent work-from-home schemes.

Introduction: The New Dangers of the Digital Job Hunt

The search for a new job is a universal experience, a blend of stress, vulnerability, and hope. But as hiring has moved almost entirely online, this familiar process has been hijacked by a dangerous new reality. The very remote-work revolution that promised global opportunity has inadvertently built the perfect digital playground for a new class of criminal. A highly industrialized "shadow economy" has emerged, where sophisticated, AI-powered scams are no longer the exception but the norm. These schemes are designed to steal not just your money, but the very DNA of your digital identity. This article reveals five of the most surprising and critical truths about modern hiring scams to help you navigate your job search safely and confidently.

1. This Isn't Petty Crime; It's an Industrial-Scale Operation

Modern recruitment fraud has evolved far beyond amateur phishing attempts into a highly organized, and at times state-sponsored, industry. Job scams are now a "highly industrialized 'shadow economy'" operating with a scale and sophistication that rivals legitimate businesses.

The financial impact is staggering. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), reported losses from job and employment scams surged from approximately $90 million in 2020 to over $501 million by 2024. The FBI reports that the average victim loses nearly $3,000.

However, the strategic goals of these operations extend far beyond immediate cash. Scammers are playing a long game, harvesting personal information like Social Security numbers and bank details to fuel long-term synthetic identity fraud and corporate infiltration. In one of the most alarming examples, U.S. intelligence officials have documented how hundreds of North Korean IT operatives successfully infiltrated American companies, including some in the Fortune 500. Posing as remote software engineers—often operating from "laptop farms" in China and Russia using stolen identities—they funnelled tens of millions of dollars back into their nation's sanctioned weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs, turning recruitment fraud into a direct threat to global security.

2. The Applicant You're Interviewing Might Not Be Real

The days of simply worrying about an embellished resume are over. We are now entering the age of the completely fake applicant, a synthetic persona crafted from scratch using artificial intelligence. The trend is so significant that research firm Gartner predicts that by 2028, one in four job candidates could be entirely fake.

These are not just exaggerated credentials; they are entirely fraudulent identities. Scammers use generative AI to create immaculate resumes and cover letters perfectly tailored to job descriptions. They then deploy deepfake technology to create convincing video personas for virtual interviews, complete with natural facial expressions and synchronized audio. The technology has become alarmingly common.

According to a survey of 1,000 hiring managers in the U.S., conducted by Resume Genius, about 17% reported interviewing deepfake AI candidates equipped with lip-synced video and synthetic voices.

The motives behind these fake applicants vary. Some are "ringers"—more qualified individuals who pass the interview for a less-qualified applicant. Others are malicious actors seeking to become a "state-of-the-art Trojan horse" inside a company, gaining insider access to steal proprietary information, install malware, or create a digital foothold for espionage. In response, some companies are now fighting back with high-tech solutions like agentic AI platforms designed to detect deepfakes in real time.

3. Scammers Are Hacking Your Brain, Not Just Your Computer

The most effective tool in a scammer’s arsenal isn't technology—it's psychology. These criminals are expert social engineers who exploit cognitive biases to bypass our natural defences.

One of their primary tactics is creating artificial urgency. You might see phrases like "Act now!" or "Position must be filled in 24 hours!" in a job offer. This language is designed to trigger a panic response, a high-stress state where the part of the brain responsible for critical thinking is impaired. This prevents you from doing basic due diligence, like researching the company or verifying the recruiter's identity.

They also exploit the authority bias. Fraudsters impersonate HR directors and recruiters from well-known Fortune 500 companies, using high-quality logos and professional-sounding job titles to appear legitimate. Because we are culturally conditioned to comply with requests from perceived superiors, we are less likely to question their demands.

To complete the illusion, they create false social proof. Scammers often use fake testimonials or create populated group chats on platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram. In these chats, bots or other conspirators post screenshots of their supposed earnings, making the fraudulent opportunity seem vetted and validated by others. Falling for these tactics is not a sign of foolishness; it's a testament to the sophistication of the psychological manipulation at play.

4. Simple Tricks Can Expose High-Tech Fraud

Even as scams become more technologically advanced, the most effective defences can be surprisingly simple. You don't need sophisticated software to unmask a high-tech fraud; you just need to know what to look for.

One of the most effective methods is the "hand-wave test." Current deepfake technology struggles to render objects passing in front of the AI-generated face in real time. Simply asking a candidate on a video call to wave their hand slowly in front of their face can cause the AI model to "glitch," revealing the deception as the image blurs or disconnects.

Other simple verification tactics include:

Ask spontaneous, localized questions. A remote operative won't have a ready answer to a question like, "What's your favourite local restaurant in Dallas?" Scammers also struggle with follow-up questions or adapting when the interviewer changes direction.

Watch for behavioural "tells." Look for robotic movements, mismatched lip movements, or audio that is slightly out of sync with the video. A candidate whose eyes shift back and forth as if reading a script may be reciting AI-generated answers.

 Listen to the background. If a candidate claims to be at home but the background noise suggests a busy office or call centre, that’s a significant red flag.

Look for "Easter eggs" in job postings. As AARP reports, some companies now place nonsensical requirements in their job descriptions, such as "must have experience picking bananas." This automatically filters out AI-generated resumes, as bots will blindly copy the text into the application while a real human will recognize it as irrelevant.

5. A Legitimate Hiring Process Follows a Strict Order of Operations

Perhaps the single most reliable way to identify a scam is to recognize when the hiring process is happening in the wrong order. Legitimate companies follow a strict, predictable sequence designed to protect both themselves and their candidates. Scammers invert this process to exploit trust.

Here is a clear comparison of a legitimate process versus a scammer's process:

Sensitive Data: A legitimate employer collects your Social Security number and bank details for payroll after you have reviewed and signed a formal, written job offer. This is typically done through a secure, encrypted onboarding system, often on your first day. Scammers demand this information upfront for the "application" or "background check."

 Upfront Payments: A legitimate recruiter or employer will never ask a candidate to pay for anything. All costs for training, background checks, certifications, or equipment are covered by the employer. Any request for you to pay a fee, buy supplies from a "verified vendor," or deposit a check and send a portion of it back is a definitive red flag.

Communication Channels: Real recruiters will almost always contact you from a corporate email domain (e.g., jane.doe@company.com). Scammers frequently use generic email addresses (like Gmail or Yahoo) or conduct official business exclusively on text-based platforms like WhatsApp or Telegram.

The Interview: A real job almost always requires a multi-stage interview process that includes phone or video calls with multiple people. A job offer that comes after only a text-based chat—or with no interview at all—is highly suspicious.

The Offer Letter: A legitimate offer is a formal, written document. Scam offers are often communicated informally via text or instant message, and they may be vague or contain grammatical errors.

Conclusion: Navigating the Job Market with Vigilance and Wisdom

The world of hiring has fundamentally changed. The digital tools that promised to make job searching more efficient have also created unprecedented opportunities for deception. Vigilance is no longer optional; it is a required skill for every modern job seeker. As scams evolve from petty schemes into industrial-scale operations driven by AI, our awareness must evolve with them.

In a world where the person on your screen can be a deepfake and the resume in your hand was written by a bot, the most critical question in hiring is no longer "Are you qualified?" but "Are you even real?"

Here we find detailed infographic:

Here we can find Video related to this topic :

Flipped Learning Activity: The Only Story

This worksheet is assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad to guide our learning about Julian Barnes' novel, The Only Story.  

1.Video Summaries: For each video, write a brief summary (approximately

150-200 words) outlining the key points discussed in it.

Video 1: Introduction | Character | Plot Summary

 This video introduces Julian Barnes' 2018 novel The Only Story, categorising it as a "memory novel" that explores the life-defining love affair of the protagonist, Paul Roberts. The narrative is non-linear, featuring significant "jumps" in time as an older Paul (around age 70) looks back 50 years to his youth. The story focuses on 19-year-old Paul's unconventional relationship with Susan Macleod, a 48-year-old married woman with two daughters older than Paul. The sources suggest the novel is not a traditional romance but a philosophical reflection on responsibility, suffering, and the realistic "shredding" of love’s glamour. The video also highlights the novel’s narrative complexity, noting how it merges first, second, and third-person perspectives to study the connection between theme and character. Key examples include the setting of 1960s London suburbs and the presence of Susan's husband, Gordon, whose character introduces complexities of domestic violence and social class conflict. The lecturer notes that understanding this text often requires referencing Barnes’ earlier work, The Sense of an Ending.

Video 2: Joan | Character Study

 The second video provides a character study of Joan, the sister of Susan’s first love, Gerald. Joan serves as a counterpoint to Susan; while Susan’s life is marked by a series of tragic "damages"—including her affair with Paul and subsequent alcoholism—Joan manages to save herself from complete emotional destruction. The lecturer interprets Joan’s life through the symbolism of her pet dogs, such as Sybil, whose name references a mythical figure who craved death. This relates to the "curse" of immortality and the idea that death can be a blissful release from a shattered life. Joan’s coping mechanisms include gin, cigarettes, and crosswords, representing a cynical but survivalist approach to existence. A significant interpretation presented is that pets may be "better" love objects than humans because they are not demanding and do not reflect one’s own internal gaps or "damages" back at them. Through Paul’s memory, Joan is depicted as a "bulky" woman who has moved beyond social hypocrisy, using bad language and honesty as she lives a solitary life with her "yappers".

Video 3: Memory Novel | Memory, History, and Morality

This video examines The Only Story as a meditation on the imperfections and unreliability of memory. The lecturer argues that memory is a form of "personal history" that individuals frequently colour with lies to protect themselves or provide excuses for their actions. Drawing on the film Memento, the video suggests that our sense of moral responsibility is rooted in memory; if we "record" our history wrongly, we lose the ability to feel true remorse. Key examples from the novel include Paul's recollections of his friend Eric being attacked at a fair, which serves as a prompt for Paul to reflect on his own cowardice. Another example is the reference to Max Verstappen, a 19-year-old Formula One racer, used to illustrate the difference between "youthful fearlessness" and the true courage required to take responsibility in later life. Ultimately, the video argues that memory "prioritises" happy thoughts first, only allowing the "residue" of ugliness and traumatic truths to float to the surface as one digs deeper into the past.

Video 4: Narrative Pattern 

This discussion focuses on the postmodern narrative techniques Barnes employs, specifically the shifting of narrative voices. The novel starts with a classical definition of a novel from Samuel Johnson as a "small tale... of love" and uses direct address to the reader. However, the video argues that Paul is an unreliable narrator because he constantly contradicts himself and breaks the "vantage point" of the traditional elder storyteller. The shift from first person in Part One to third person in Part Three is interpreted as Paul’s dissociation from his own self and his "only story" as he becomes overwhelmed by guilt and remorse. The lecturer uses the metaphor of "warp and weft" to describe how the story is interwoven with philosophical brooding. An important example cited is the book’s opening question regarding whether one would rather "love the more and suffer the more," which sets the stage for a narrative that explores the "truth" of a story through the lens of its eventual failure and the narrator's emergence as a "defeated being".

Video 5: Question of Responsibility

The fifth video explores the theme of responsibility, specifically how individuals account for the "damages" and tragedies in their lives. Using a "chain of links" metaphor from The Sense of an Ending, the lecturer explains that while we often blame external links—such as Paul blaming Gordon’s domestic violence for Susan’s decline—responsibility is often a complex web. The key argument is that true introspection requires taking the blame on oneself rather than projecting it onto others. Paul initially views Gordon’s guilt as "absolute," but as he ages, he begins to see his own role in the "shattered chain" of Susan’s life. The video points out that Paul’s self-narration is a "self-talk" where he eventually has to confront his own "shittiness"—the fact that his abandonment of Susan contributed to her zombified state in a mental asylum. Specific novel examples include Paul’s memories of Gordon punching him in the library and Paul’s subsequent choice to "run away" rather than protect Susan, highlighting the conflict between being "carefree" and being "careless".

Video 6: Theme of Love | Passion and Suffering 

This video delves into the etymology of "passion," noting its Latin root patio means "to suffer". The central interpretation is that in Barnes’ novel, every love is a potential disaster if one gives themselves over to it "entirely". The lecturer uses Lacanian theory to explain that human "love objects" are inherently problematic because both parties have internal "gaps" and repressed desires that can never be fully satisfied by another person. Key examples include Paul’s "private cinema" of memories, where he recalls Susan at 48 versus her final, zombified state in a mental asylum. The video also discusses the "alcoholic vs. lover" paradox; Paul believes lovers are truth-tellers and alcoholics are liars, but his worldview is shattered when Susan becomes both. Ultimately, the lecturer argues that the novel breaks "meta-narratives" of romantic love, replacing them with a crude reality where love inevitably curdles into pity and anger. The dream sequence of Susan hanging by her wrists from a window is used to illustrate how Paul was eventually "damaged" by the weight of the relationship.

Video 7: Theme of Marriage | Critique of Marriage Institution

 The seventh video critiques the "sham" of the marriage institution as presented in the novel. Barnes is said to portray love and marriage as opposites, with marriage often acting as the "end of love". The lecturer highlights several cynical metaphors for marriage from the text: a "dog kennel" where complacency lives, a "jewelry box" that turns diamonds back into "base metal," and an "unseaworthy boat" that sinks during a crisis. The primary argument is that marriage in the English middle class is built on mediocrity and complacency, where people suffer silently to maintain respectability. Examples include the violent marriage of Gordon and Susan, and Paul’s own relief that Susan never accepted his "doubtful" marriage proposal, which would have prevented him from eventually "handing back the parcel" of her care to her daughters. Joan’s life is also mentioned as an alternative; her choice to live with pets rather than enter a "demanding" human marriage is seen as a more successful, if solitary, path to happiness.

Video 8: Two Ways to Look at Life 

The final video discusses two extreme philosophical viewpoints Paul uses to interpret his life. The first is the "Captain of a paddle steamer" on the Mississippi, representing free will and the power of making choices. the second is the "Bump on a log" drifting in the same river, representing inevitability and a lack of control. The lecturer argues that Paul’s narration oscillates between these two: he uses "free will" to justify his youthful passion for Susan but relies on "inevitability" to explain away his later failures and his abandonment of her. This "self-serving" reordering of life allows the narrator to protect his ego. Specific examples include the "dice rolled out by destiny" that paired Paul and Susan in a tennis match, contrasted with Paul’s later claim that he loved her by choice. The video concludes that these metaphors are essential for understanding how Paul constructs his "only story" to live with the remorse of his past.

2. Key Takeaways

1. The Unreliability of Memory as Self-Delusion

• Explanation: In my own words, this idea suggests that our memories are not objective records of the past but are subjective stories we rewrite to make ourselves feel better or to excuse our past mistakes. We "sift and sort" our history, often replacing uncomfortable truths with "self-delusions" so we can live with ourselves in old age.

• Novel Example: Paul claims he "never kept a diary," only to later "discover" or refer to notebook entries that he has repeatedly crossed out and revised. His shift from a first-person "I" to a distant, third-person "he" when discussing his most shameful moments (like leaving Susan) illustrates this psychological distancing.

• Significance: This is vital for understanding the novel because it warns the reader that the narrator is unreliable. It highlights that the "only story" we tell ourselves is often a protective fiction designed to mask our cowardice or failures.

2. Love as Inevitable Suffering (The Passion-Suffering Connection)

• Explanation: This idea posits that "passion" and "suffering" are etymologically and experientially inseparable. To give oneself "entirely" to a love affair is to invite a "real disaster," regardless of whether the love is initially happy or unhappy. Love is not a romantic "meta-narrative" but a destructive force that eventually curdles into pity and anger.

• Novel Example: Paul’s youthful, "uncorruptable" love for Susan eventually becomes a burden of "unmanageable" care as she descends into alcoholism and dementia. By the end, Paul feels no "cinematic" sentimentality, only a crude reality where he is looking for a petrol station immediately after seeing her for the last time.

• Significance: This idea is significant because it challenges traditional romantic literature. It forces the reader to look at love through a "crude" and realistic lens, focusing on the long-term "weariness" and "disaster" rather than the initial infatuation.

3. The Conflict Between Free Will and Inevitability

• Explanation: This concept deals with how we attribute the events of our lives to either our own choices (free will) or to forces beyond our control (inevitability). We often claim "free will" for our successes to feel powerful, but we blame "inevitability" for our tragedies to avoid the weight of responsibility.

• Novel Example: Paul reflects on the "mixed doubles" tennis draw that paired him with Susan as a "dice rolled out by destiny" (inevitability). However, he also describes his decision to stay with her for a decade as a "dispensation of free will," even when he was arguably just "drifted like a log" by his own repressed desires.

• Significance: This is crucial for understanding the novel’s theme of responsibility. It shows that the protagonist is struggling to reconcile his identity as a "captain" of his life with the reality that he was often a "coward" who simply ran away when things became difficult.

3. Character Analysis: Choose two characters from the novel (e.g. Paul,

Suzanne, Joan).

Paul Roberts

• Role in the Narrative: Paul is the protagonist and the sole narrator of the novel. He recounts the "only story" of his life—a significant love affair that began when he was 19 and Suzanne was 48—from the perspective of a man in his 70s.

• Key Traits and Motivations: As a young man, Paul is a university student who is initially uninterested in the social expectations of his middle-class parents. As he ages, he is characterised by a philosophical and realistic outlook on love, moving away from youthful romanticism towards a focus on suffering and responsibility. However, Paul also identifies himself as a coward; he admits to running away from physical altercations and, more significantly, abandoning Suzanne when her care became too burdensome. His primary motivation in the present is to make sense of his past through the lens of memory.

• Narrative Perspective: The reader’s understanding of Paul is deeply shaped by his unreliable, first-person memory narration. The narrative jumps across timelines (from the 1960s to the contemporary era) and shifts between first, second, and third-person perspectives, which adds complexity to his storytelling. Paul himself suggests he may be a liar, meaning the reader must constantly doubt his version of events and consider what he might be hiding or misremembering.

• Contribution to Themes: Paul is central to the theme of memory, specifically how it is used to reconstruct a life story that may not be entirely accurate. He also embodies the theme of responsibility versus self-preservation, illustrating how love can devolve from a romantic ideal into a heavy burden that leads to remorse.

Suzanne Macleod

• Role in the Narrative: Suzanne serves as the central love interest and the catalyst for Paul’s "only story". She is a married woman with two daughters who enters a decade-long relationship with the much younger Paul, eventually leaving her suburban life to live with him in London.

• Key Traits and Motivations: Suzanne is a tragic figure whose life is marked by decline. She develops a severe alcohol addiction and dementia, which leads to her eventual hospitalization and psychological breakdown. Her motivations remain somewhat opaque because she never speaks for herself in the narrative, but her history reveals a struggle with "frigidity" stemming from childhood sexual abuse by her Uncle Humphrey.

• Narrative Perspective: Because the novel is a "memory novel" told entirely by Paul, Suzanne is seen exclusively through his eyes. This creates a "one-sided" story where her internal thoughts and motivations are "untold". The reader must engage in "creative reading" to piece together Suzanne’s character from Paul’s passing remarks and the tragic evidence of her later life.

• Contribution to Themes: Suzanne represents the theme of unseen suffering and the lasting impact of trauma. Her character also highlights the tragedy of the "untold story" within a memory-driven narrative; while Paul gets to define their history, Suzanne's reality is lost to her illness and his subjective recollection.

4. Narrative Techniques: Discuss the narrative techniques employed by

Julian Barnes in The Only Story, considering:

o The use of first-person narration and its limitations.

The novel begins primarily with first-person narration, which creates an intimate focus on the protagonist Paul’s recollected history. However, this technique is inherently limited by the problematic nature of memory. Paul admits that he is not just revisiting his history but "revisioning" and "revising" it, often remembering things as he wants them to have happened rather than how they truly occurred. Because he never kept a diary during the core events, his story lacks documentary evidence, making it a purely subjective truth that the reader is encouraged to question.

o The shifting perspectives and unreliable narrator.

Barnes uses shifting perspectives to mirror Paul’s emotional journey:

• Part One: Primarily first-person, showing Paul's proximity to his younger self and his love for Susan.

• Part Two: Shifts toward second-person narration, signifying a step away from his self and his story.

• Part Three: Moves into third-person narration, representing Paul's final dissociation and distance from his love, his guilt, and his own identity.

This shifting makes Paul a classic unreliable narrator. He frequently contradicts himself; for instance, he claims early on that "most of us have only one story to tell," only to state in the same paragraph that "there are countless events which we turn into countless stories". He is a "vested teller" who may be more interested in hiding certain truths than revealing them to the reader.

o The non-linear timeline and use of flashbacks.

 It begins with Paul as a 70-year-old man looking back.

• The narrative then takes a 50-year jump into a flashback to when he was 19.

• The timeline then moves somewhat chronologically through his 20s, 30s, and 50s before returning to his present self at 70.

While the use of flashbacks is a "classical" technique, Barnes experiments with it by creating a "narrative drop" where the story is interwoven with philosophical brooding. The timeline is not just a sequence of events but a way to explore the transition from innocence to experience and infatuation to weariness.

o The impact of these techniques on the reader's experience.

Barnes employs direct address, posing philosophical questions directly to the reader, such as: "Would you rather love the more and suffer the more or love the less and suffer the less?". This involves the reader in Paul’s dilemmas and forces them to adopt a critical, doubting mindset. Because the narrator is unreliable, the reader cannot passively accept the story but must instead cross-check and "ascertain" the truth for themselves.

o How this narrative is different from other novels you may have read.

The Only Story differs from other novels in several ways:

• Scope: Unlike "bulkier" contemporary novels like Gun Island or The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, which span multiple continents and vast social issues, Barnes’s novel is intentionally "small" and intimate, focusing on a single relationship.

• Philosophical Density: In contrast to traditional storytellers like Thomas Hardy, who might add a "pinch" of philosophy to a strong story, Barnes uses the story as a "scaffold" for heavy philosophical meditation.

• The "Vantage Point": In classical traditions, an elderly narrator typically provides a "vantage point of tranquility" and wisdom. Barnes subverts this; his 70-year-old Paul is not sure of himself, lacks accuracy, and emerges from his retelling as "defeated" and "unheroic".

5. Thematic Connections: Explore the following themes and their

interconnections in The Only Story:

o Memory and Unreliability: The novel explores memory as a "private cinema", where the narrator selects and stores events in a subjective, often cinematic way. At age 70, Paul reflects on his 19-year-old self, admitting that he is an unreliable narrator who may be lying to the reader just as he lied to himself and others in the past. This subjectivity relates to narrative truth because Paul acknowledges that retrospective reordering of life is "self-serving"; he adjusts his story to protect his ego, often attributing failures to "inevitability" and successes to "free will"

o Love, Passion, and Suffering: The novel posits that love is inseparable from suffering, a connection rooted in the etymology of the word "passion," which stems from the Latin patio, meaning "to suffer". Paul describes love as a "disaster" that leads to pain regardless of whether it is happy or unhappy.

• Lacanian Ideas: This suffering is explained through the Lacanian concept of desire, which is born from a "gap" created when language fails to articulate our true needs. Humans pursue "love objects" to fill this gap, but when the object is another human being—like Susan—it inevitably leads to conflict and suffering because that person has their own desires and gaps.

o Responsibility and Cowardice: Paul is presented as both unreliable and potentially cowardly. He avoids responsibility by "handing back" Susan to her daughters when her alcoholism and dementia become unmanageable, prioritizing his own career and sanity. He struggles with whether his choices were acts of courage, cowardice, or mere inevitable drifts like a log in a river. The consequence of his choices is a life of isolation; at 70, he remains unmarried, haunted by a "wound" that he believes will only stay open until death.

o Critique of Marriage: The novel challenges the institution of marriage by depicting it as a restrictive social structure often defined by patriarchal and religious dogmas. It highlights the hypocrisy of social circles, such as the tennis club that expels members for affairs. Furthermore, it uses Susan's life—having three major "love stories" despite her marriage—to argue against the traditional narrative that love is a singular, life-defining episode for women

o Two ways to look at life: 

1. The Captain of a Paddle Steamer: This represents free will, where life is a succession of choices and the individual is in control of their "ship" on the river of life.
2. The Bump on a Log: This represents inevitability, where life is propelled by currents, hazards, and forces over which the individual has no control.

Paul concludes that life is often a mix of both, though he tends to use whichever perspective justifies his past actions at the time of telling.

6. Personal Reflection: Consider the question posed at the beginning of the

novel: "Would you rather love the more and suffer the more, or love the

less and suffer the less?".

How does the novel explore this question?

• The Fallacy of Choice: Paul, the narrator, eventually posits that this is not a "real question" because humans rarely have a choice in the matter,. He argues that if a person can actually control the intensity of their feelings or "water down" their devotion to avoid pain, then what they are experiencing isn't truly love at all,. In Paul's view, love is an external force that makes one suffer, often compared to being "drifted like a wooden log" in a river without control.

• The Inseparability of Love and Pain: The novel draws on the etymology of the word "passion," which comes from the Latin root patio, meaning "to suffer",. By this definition, to be passionate is, by default, to suffer,. The sources suggest that the modern world has disconnected these two concepts, but the novel seeks to reconnect them, presenting love as a "disaster" regardless of whether it is happy or unhappy.

• The Trajectory of "Loving More": Paul’s relationship with Susan serves as the primary case study for "loving the more",. His 19-year-old self enters the affair with an "absolutist" and "uncorruptible" view of love,,,. However, as Susan’s alcoholism and mental health decline, his "love the more" leads to extreme suffering for himself, Susan, and her family. By the end of his life, Paul describes his love not as a blissful memory, but as a "wound" that remains open until death

.

• A Critique of "Cozy Narratives": The novel challenges the "movie makers' bromide"—the sentimental idea that love leads to redemption or closure. Instead, it presents a hardcore reality where passion curdles into a mixture of pity and anger, and the only true closure is death.

What are your thoughts on this question, and how does this novel

relate to your own experiences and views on love and life?

The novel suggests that the question is flawed because true love cannot be controlled or limited to avoid pain. Through Paul’s relationship with Susan, it shows that loving deeply inevitably brings suffering, but that suffering is not redemptive or comforting. Love and pain are presented as inseparable, challenging modern ideas of love as safe or healing. Overall, the novel argues that to love at all is to accept vulnerability, without any guarantee of happiness or closure.

7. Creative Response:

• Imagine you are one of the characters from the novel (other than Paul).

Write a journal entry from their perspective reflecting on the events of the

novel.

Imagine you are one of the characters from the novel (other than Paul).

Write a journal entry from their perspective reflecting on the events of the

Susan : I can feel how much Paul loves me, and sometimes that love feels heavier than the illness itself. I wanted to be worthy of it, but wanting has never been enough to make me well. Everyone keeps hoping love will save me, yet I am still myself—fragile, frightened, and failing more often than I succeed. I see now that love doesn’t rescue; it only reveals how broken things already are. And knowing that hurts almost as much as being loved so fiercely.

• Alternatively, write a short piece exploring how one of the themes in the

novel relates to contemporary society

In The Only Story, the theme of passion and suffering challenges contemporary society’s sanitized view of love, which often prioritizes intense desire over the reality of pain. While modern culture focuses on "euphoric love sentiments" found in song lyrics and films, the sources remind us that the word passion is rooted in the Latin patio, meaning "to suffer". Paul critiques "movie makers' bromides" that offer neat resolutions like redemption and closure, arguing instead that every love—whether happy or unhappy—is a "real disaster" when one gives themselves over to it entirely. Furthermore, the novel disrupts the modern narrative of absolute free will by presenting life as an oscillation between being the "captain" of one’s ship and a "bump on a log" drifted by uncontrollable currents. This suggests that contemporary society’s attempt to decouple passion from its inherent suffering ignores the "brute chronological fact" that love often curdles into a mixture of pity and anger.

Translation Studies Activity Worksheet Using Gen AI Tools for Translating Poems: A Comparative Analysis

This blog is part of  thinking activity assigned by Dilip Barad To analyse translations generated using Gen AI tools (ChatGPT and Gemini) by applying theoretical frameworks of translation studies. Students will evaluate the translations based on sound, metre, syntax, tone, grammar, and cultural connotations, and discuss challenges and resolutions. (Worksheet)

Task Instructions

Step 1: Select and Translate Poems

 1: Translate Faiz Ahmed Faiz's Urdu poem "Mujh Se Pehli Si Mohabbat Mirii

Mehboob Na Maang" into Hindi and English.

ChatGPT

🌺 Hindi Translation (काव्यात्मक, प्रवाहयुक्त)

मुझसे पहली-सी मोहब्बत, मेरी महबूब, न माँग

मैंने समझा था कि तू है तो उजली है हयात

तेरा ग़म है तो ज़माने का फ़साना क्या है

तेरी सूरत से ही इस आलम की बहारें क़ायम

तेरी आँखों के सिवा दुनिया में रखा क्या है

तू जो मिल जाए तो तक़दीर सँवर जाएगी

यूँ न था—मैंने तो बस चाहा था यूँ हो जाए

और भी दुख हैं ज़माने में मोहब्बत के सिवा

सुकून और भी हैं, वस्ल की राहत के सिवा

अनगिन सदियों के अँधेरे, वहशी तिलिस्म

रेशम-ओ-अतलस-ओ-कमख़्वाब में लिपटे हुए

गली-कूचों में, बाज़ारों में बिकते हुए जिस्म

धूल में लथपथ, लहू में नहलाए हुए

जिस्म निकले हुए बीमारी के तनूरों से

पीप बहती हुई, गलते हुए नासूरों से

उधर भी लौट जाती है नज़र—क्या कीजिए

अब भी दिलकश है तेरा हुस्न—मगर क्या कीजिए

और भी दुख हैं ज़माने में मोहब्बत के सिवा

सुकून और भी हैं, वस्ल की राहत के सिवा

मुझसे पहली-सी मोहब्बत, मेरी महबूब, न माँग

🌹 English Translation (Poetic, rhythm-conscious)

Do not ask of me, my love, that old love again

I thought—if you were here, life would blaze with light

That your sorrow alone could eclipse the world’s despair

That spring itself drew permanence from your face

That beyond your eyes, the world held nothing fair

If you were mine, fate itself would bow its head

It was not so—I only wished it so instead

There are other griefs in this world besides love

Other comforts than the rapture of embrace

Centuries of dark, brute enchantments endure

Bodies wrapped in silk and satin and brocade

Flesh sold openly in alley, street, and mart

Dust-smeared forms, in blood ceremonially bathed

Bodies rising from disease’s blazing kilns

From ulcers rotting, pus in endless streams

Even there the eye is drawn—what can one do?

Your beauty still enthralls the heart—what can one do?

There are other griefs in this world besides love

Other comforts than the rapture of embrace

Do not ask of me, my love, that old love again

Gemini

Hindi 

मुझसे पहली सी मोहब्बत मिरी महबूब न माँग

मैंने समझा था कि तू है तो दरख़्शाँ है हयात

तेरा ग़म है तो ग़म-ए-दहर का झगड़ा क्या है

तेरी सूरत से है आलम में बहारों को सबात

तेरी आँखों के सिवा दुनिया में रखा क्या है

तू जो मिल जाए तो तक़दीर नगूँ हो जाए

यूँ न था मैंने फ़क़त चाहा था यूँ हो जाए

और भी दुख हैं ज़माने में मोहब्बत के सिवा

राहतें और भी हैं वस्ल की राहत के सिवा

अनगिनत सदियों के तारीक बहीमाना तिलिस्म

रेशम-ओ-अटलस-ओ-कमख़ाब में बुनवाए हुए

जा-ब-जा बिकते हुए कूचा-ओ-बाज़ार में जिस्म

ख़ाक में लथड़े हुए ख़ून में नहलाए हुए

जिस्म निकले हुए अमराज़ के तनूरों से

पीप बहती हुई गलते हुए नासूरों से

लौट जाती है उधर को भी नज़र क्या कीजे

अब भी दिलकश है तिरा हुस्न मगर क्या कीजे

और भी दुख हैं ज़माने में मोहब्बत के सिवा

राहतें और भी हैं वस्ल की राहत के सिवा

मुझसे पहली सी मोहब्बत मिरी महबूब न माँग

English 

My love, do not ask from me that love we had before.

I had believed that because of you, life was luminous.

Having your grief, why would I quarrel with the sorrows of the world?

Your face gives the springtimes of this world their permanence.

What is there left in this world, if not for your eyes?

If I were to find you, destiny itself would bow down.

It was not truly so; I only wished that it were so.

There are other sorrows in this world besides the pain of love,

And other comforts besides the comfort of union.

The dark, beastly spells of countless centuries,

Woven into silks, satins, and brocades.

Bodies being sold here and there, in every lane and marketplace,

Smeared in dust and bathed in their own blood.

Bodies emerging from the furnaces of diseases,

With pus flowing from festering, rotting wounds.

My gaze turns back that way too; what can I do?

Your beauty is still ravishing, but what can I do?

There are other sorrows in this world besides the pain of love,

And other comforts besides the comfort of union.

My love, do not ask from me that love we had before.

 2: Translate W. B. Yeats's The Second Coming into Hindi and Gujarati.

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🌪️ हिंदी अनुवाद (काव्यात्मक)

घूमता हुआ, फैलते हुए चक्र में घूमता हुआ,

बाज़ अब अपने बाज़ीगर की पुकार नहीं सुनता;

सब कुछ बिखर रहा है; केंद्र टिक नहीं पा रहा;

निरा अराजकता संसार पर छोड़ दी गई है।

रक्त से धुंधली लहर छूट पड़ी है, और हर ओर

निर्दोषता का अनुष्ठान डूब रहा है;

श्रेष्ठ लोग विश्वास से रिक्त हैं,

और निकृष्ट लोग उग्र आवेग से भरे हैं।

निश्चय ही कोई दिव्य उद्घाटन समीप है;

निश्चय ही दूसरा आगमन समीप है।

दूसरा आगमन! वे शब्द अभी गूंजे ही थे

कि Spiritus Mundi से उठी एक विराट छवि

मेरी दृष्टि को व्याकुल कर देती है:

मरुस्थल की रेत में कहीं

सिंह का शरीर, मनुष्य का सिर,

सूर्य-सा निर्विकार और निर्दय दृष्टि,

धीरे-धीरे अपनी जंघाएँ घसीटता हुआ,

और उसके चारों ओर

क्रुद्ध मरु पक्षियों की परछाइयाँ चक्कर काटती हैं।

अंधकार फिर छा जाता है; पर अब मैं जानता हूँ

कि बीस सदियों की पत्थर-सी नींद

एक झूलते पालने से दुःस्वप्न में बदल गई थी।

और कौन-सा खुरदुरा पशु,

जिसका समय अंततः आ पहुँचा है,

बेथलहम की ओर जन्म लेने को

घिसटता चला आ रहा है?

🌪️ ગુજરાતી અનુવાદ (કાવ્યાત્મક)

ફરતું, વિસ્તરતા ચક્રમાં ફરી રહ્યું છે,

બાજ હવે બાજીગરનો અવાજ સાંભળતો નથી;

બધી વ્યવસ્થા તૂટી રહી છે; કેન્દ્ર ટકી શકતું નથી;

નિર્લજ્જ અરાજકતા વિશ્વ પર છૂટેલી છે.

લોહીથી ધૂંધળો પ્રવાહ છૂટ્યો છે, અને સર્વત્ર

નિર્દોષતાનો વિધિ વિલય પામે છે;

શ્રેષ્ઠ લોકો વિશ્વાસ વિહોણા છે,

અને નિકૃષ્ટ લોકો ઉન્મત્ત ઉત્કટતાથી ભરેલા છે।

નિશ્ચિત કોઈ મહાન પ્રકટ્તિ નજીક છે;

નિશ્ચિત બીજું આગમન નજીક છે.

બીજું આગમન! એ શબ્દો હજુ ગુંજ્યા જ હતા

કે Spiritus Mundi માંથી ઉપજેલી

એક વિશાળ પ્રતિમા

મારી દૃષ્ટિને વ્યથિત કરે છે:

રણની રેતમાં ક્યાંક

સિંહનું શરીર અને માનવનું મસ્તક,

સૂર્ય સમી નિષ્ઠુર અને નિર્વિકાર નજર,

ધીમે ધીમે પોતાની જાંઘો ઘસડતું,

અને તેના આસપાસ

ક્રોધિત રણપંખીઓની છાયાઓ ઘૂમે છે।

અંધકાર ફરી છવાઈ જાય છે; પરંતુ હવે હું જાણું છું

કે વીસ સદીની પથ્થર જેવી નિંદ્રા

એક હળવા પાળણાથી દુસ્વપ્ન બની ગઈ હતી।

અને કયું ખડખડિયું પશુ,

જેનાનો સમય અંતે આવી પહોંચ્યો છે,

જન્મ લેવા માટે

બેથલેહેમ તરફ લથડતું આવી રહ્યું છે?

Gemini

Hindi Translation: द्वितीय आगमन (The Second Coming)

घूमते-घूमते उस विस्तृत भंवर में, 

बाज अब सुन नहीं पाता अपने बाजदार को;

सब बिखर रहा है; केंद्र अब थाम नहीं पा रहा;

 महज अराजकता दुनिया पर छोड़ दी गई है, 

रक्त-रंजित ज्वार उमड़ पड़ा है, 

और हर ओर मासूमियत का संस्कार डूब गया है;

 श्रेष्ठ जन विश्वास खो चुके हैं, 

जबकि अधम उग्र तीव्रता से भरे हुए हैं।

निश्चय ही कोई रहस्योद्घाटन निकट है; 

निश्चय ही द्वितीय आगमन निकट है। द्वितीय आगमन! 

अभी ये शब्द निकले ही थे कि 'स्पिरिटस मुंडी' (विश्व-आत्मा) से एक विशाल बिम्ब मेरी दृष्टि को व्याकुल करता है: 

कहीं मरुस्थल की रेत में सिंह का शरीर और मनुष्य का सिर वाली एक आकृति, एक टकटकी, 

सूर्य जैसी शून्य और निर्दयी, अपनी सुस्त जांघें हिला रही है, 

जबकि उसके चारों ओर क्रुद्ध मरुस्थलीय पक्षियों की परछाइयां मंडरा रही हैं।

अंधेरा फिर घिर आता है; 

पर अब मैं जानता हूँ कि बीस सदियों की पथरीली नींद को एक झूलते पालने ने डरावने सपने में बदल दिया था, और वह कौन सा खूंखार जीव है,

 जिसका समय अब आ गया है, 

जो बेथलेहम की ओर जन्म लेने के लिए रेंग रहा है?

Gujarati Translation: બીજું આગમન (The Second Coming) 

વિશાળ થતા ચકરાવામાં ઘૂમતો ને ઘૂમતો, 

બાજ હવે તેના રખેવાળને સાંભળી શકતો નથી; 

બધું જ વિખરાઈ રહ્યું છે; કેન્દ્ર હવે પકડી શકતું નથી; 

માત્ર અરાજકતા જગત પર છૂટી મૂકવામાં આવી છે, 

રક્ત-રંજિત ભરતી ઉછળી છે, અને સર્વત્ર નિર્દોષતાનો ઉત્સવ ડૂબી ગયો છે; 

શ્રેષ્ઠ લોકોમાં કોઈ નિશ્ચય રહ્યો નથી, 

જ્યારે અધમ લોકો ઉગ્ર ઝનૂનથી છલકાઈ રહ્યા છે.

ચોક્કસ કોઈ સાક્ષાત્કાર નજીક છે; 

ચોક્કસ 'બીજું આગમન' નજીક છે. 

બીજું આગમન! હજુ તો આ શબ્દો બોલાયા જ છે ત્યાં 'સ્પિરિટસ મુંડી' (વિશ્વ-આત્મા) માંથી એક વિશાળ આકૃતિ મારી દ્રષ્ટિને વ્યગ્ર કરે છે: 

રણની રેતીમાં ક્યાંક સિંહનું શરીર અને મનુષ્યનું મસ્તક ધરાવતું એક રૂપ, 

જેની નજર સૂર્ય જેવી શૂન્ય અને નિર્દય છે, તે સાથળ હલાવતું ધીમે ડગ માંડે છે, 

જ્યારે તેની આસપાસ રોષે ભરાયેલા રણ-પક્ષીઓના પડછાયા ઘૂમે છે.

અંધકાર ફરી છવાય છે; 

પણ હવે હું જાણું છું કે વીસ સદીઓની પથ્થર જેવી ઊંઘને એક ઝૂલતા પારણાએ ભયાનક સ્વપ્નમાં ફેરવી દીધી હતી, અને એ કયું હિંસક પશુ છે, જેનો સમય આખરે આવી ગયો છે, ને બેથલેહેમ ભણી જન્મ લેવા માટે ઘસડાઈ રહ્યું છે?

3: Choose a Gujarati poem and translate it into Hindi and English.

અખંડ વરને વરી by મીરાંબાઈ

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🌸 हिंदी काव्यात्मक अनुवाद (Bhakti-meter oriented)

अखंड वर को वरण कर, सखि! मैंने अखंड वर को वरा।

भवसागर में महादुःख पाया, लाख चौरासी फेरा भरा॥

संसार समूचा काला-भयावह, देख काँप उठी धरा।

कुटुंब-सहोदर स्वार्थी निकले, प्रपंच छोड़ मन हरा॥

जन्म धराकर संताप सहे सब, गृह का झंझट करा।

संत-संगति में महा-सुख पाया, ठौर ठिकाने ठहरी धरा॥

सद्गुरुजी की पूर्ण कृपा से, भवसागर से पार उतरा।

बाई मीरा कहे—गिरधर नागर, संत चरण में शीश धरा॥

🌼 English Poetic Translation (Lyric Bhakti Style)

I chose the Eternal Bridegroom, O friend!

Yes, the Eternal One I chose.

Through oceans of birth and boundless pain,

Eighty-four lakhs of lives I rose.

This world appeared so dark, so dread,

I trembled at the sight, O friend.

Self-bound kin and grasping ties—

All worldly webs I chose to end.

Born again, I bore the ache,

Fulfilled the household’s weary role.

In saints’ communion, bliss I found,

At last, my heart reached resting shoal.

By the True Guru’s perfect grace,

The ocean of becoming crossed.

Says Mira: “Giridhar, my Lord—

At saints’ feet, I cast my loss.”

Gemini

English Translation: The Eternal Groom

Refrain: I have wed the Eternal Groom, O friend! I have wed the Groom who never dies.

Verses: I wandered through eighty-four lakh births, In the ocean of life, where deep sorrow lies. (Saheli!)

I saw the world as a dark, fearsome void, And trembled in terror before my eyes. (Saheli!)

Kin and siblings are driven by self; I cast off their webs and their worldly ties. (Saheli!)

Since birth, I have suffered in endless toil, Doing the chores that the household buys. (Saheli!)

In the company of Saints, I found supreme bliss; Now my heart is still, where my true home lies. (Saheli!)

By the perfect grace of my Satguru, I have crossed the sea where the spirit dies. (Saheli!)

Says Meera: I found the Mountain-Lifter Lord, At the feet of the Saints, my spirit flies. (Saheli!)

Hindi Translation: अचल सुहाग (अखंड वर)

मुखड़ा: अखंड वर को वरी, सखी! मैं तो अखंड वर को वरी।

अंतरा: भवसागर में महादुख पायो, लख चौरासी फिरी, सहेली। 

संसार सारा भयंकर कारो, देख जिसे मैं थरी, सहेली।

कुटुंब-सहोदर स्वार्थी सारे, प्रपंच को मैं परी हरी (त्यागी), सहेली। 

जन्म धरके संताप व्यथा सही, घर के धंधों में मरी, सहेली।

संत समागम महासुख पायो, अब निज घर में ठहरी, सहेली। 

सद्गुरु की पूर्ण कृपा से, भवसागर मैं तरी, सहेली।

बाई मीराँ कहे प्रभु गिरिधर नागर, संतन चरणन पड़ी, सहेली।

 4: Choose a Hindi poem and translate it into English and Gujarati.

नई खेती by रमाशंकर यादव विद्रोही

chatGPT

🔹 Gujarati Translation (કાવ્યાત્મક)

હું ખેડૂત છું—

આકાશમાં ધાન વાવું છું।

કેટલાક લોકો કહે છે,

“અરે પાગલ!

આકાશમાં ક્યાં ધાન જમે?”

હું કહું છું—

ગેગલા-ઘોગલા!

જો ધરતી પર ભગવાન જમ્યો હોઈ શકે,

તો આકાશમાં ધાન પણ જમી શકે।

અને હવે તો

બંને એક થઈને રહેશે—

અથવા તો

ધરતીમાંથી ભગવાન ઊખડી જશે

અથવા

આકાશમાં ધાન જમશે।

English Translation (Poetic & Faithful)

I am a farmer—

I sow paddy in the sky.

Some people say,

“You madman!

Paddy never takes root in the sky.”

I say—

gabble-gobble!

If God can take root on earth,

then paddy too can root in the sky.

And now, it is certain—

the two shall merge as one:

Either

God will be uprooted from the earth,

or

paddy will take root in the sky.

Gemini

Gujarati Translation

હું ખેડૂત છું, આભમાં ડાંગર વાવી રહ્યો છું.

કોઈ કહે છે મને, કે એ પાગલ, આભમાં ડાંગર ન ઊગે.

હું કહું છું એમને— એ ઘેલા અને ઠોઠડાઓને—

જો આ ધરતી પર ભગવાન જામી શકતો હોય, તો આભમાં ડાંગર પણ જામી શકે છે.

અને હવે તો, બન્નેમાંથી એક થઈને જ રહેશે—

કાં તો ધરતી પરથી ભગવાન ઉખડશે, કાં તો આભમાં ડાંગર જામશે.

English Translation

I am a farmer, Sowing paddy in the sky.

Some say to me, "You fool, rice doesn’t grow in the sky."

I say to those— The simpletons, the slow-witted—

If God can take root upon this earth, Then paddy can take root in the sky.

And now, One of these two must come to pass:

Either God shall be uprooted from the earth, Or paddy shall flourish in the sky.

Step 2: Analyse Translations

• Compare the translations from ChatGPT and Gemini.

• Identify how each tool handles:

o Syntax: Are sentence structures retained or altered?

Sentence structure is largely retained. But as we discussed in class that when we translate English into Guajarati the sentence structure must be change, for example if we translate હું ખેડૂત છું in English then it follow the structure of subject+ Object/Noun+ Verb. so, it is translate like...

Subject (मैं / Main): I

Object/Noun (एक किसान / ek kisaan): A farmer

Verb/Auxiliary (हूँ / hoon): am

o Metre and Sound: Is the rhythm of the poem preserved?

As I mention above that sentence structure change so, rhythm is automatically change. It majorly happen when we translate Indian regional language  into English or English in Guajarati. But when we see two regional language like Hindi and Guajarati we find almost same rhythm. For Example..

અખંડ વરને વરી, સાહેલી! હું તો અખંડ વરને વરી. 

ભવસાગરમાં મહાદુઃખ પામી, લખ ચોરાશી ફરી, સાહેલી૦

अखंड वर को वरण कर, सखि! मैंने अखंड वर को वरा।

भवसागर में महादुःख पाया, लाख चौरासी फेरा भरा॥

I chose the Eternal Bridegroom, O friend!

Yes, the Eternal One I chose.

Through oceans of birth and boundless pain,

Eighty-four lakhs of lives I rose.

so, here we find Guajarati and English is same but we find long translation in English rather than rhythm. so, we are not able to convert description like line in any rhythm.

Another different I found in Chatgpt and Gemini is Gemini is even not able to follow proper structure of poem where ChatGPT maintain proper structure of poem. 

o Lexicon and Grammar: Are the word choices appropriate?

At some extend yes. Because it keep some word as it is. for example in poem અખંડ વરને વરી by મીરાંબાઈ, ChatGPT is keep as it is of ગિરિધર at another side Gemini translate as Mountain-Lifter and it true that ગિરિધર is someone who lifted mountain at once. But many  time we it is not able to choose appropriate words. For example in title of second coming both Chat GPT and Gemini translate as द्वितीय आगमन or બીજું આગમન but according to me પુનર્જન્મ should be most appropriate. Otherwise mostly words are appropriate. Also we find Spiritual mundi as it in translation of Hindi and Guajarati in both chatbot.

o Cultural Connotations: Are culturally significant words or phrases translated

meaningfully?

Culturally significant words and symbols are mostly translated meaningfully, but with varying degrees of sensitivity.

Examples:

• Bethlehem remains untranslated, preserving its Christian eschatological weight.
• Spiritus Mundi is retained, acknowledging Yeats’s philosophical and mystical framework.
• In Faiz’s poem, words like vasl, hijr, mehboob, and dard are carefully contextualised rather than replaced with flat equivalents.

However, devotional Gujarati poetry poses challenges:

Words like “अखंड वर”, “संत-संगति”, and “भवसागर” carry layered spiritual meanings that English translations can only approximate.

Analysis Prompts

1. Identify and discuss:

Which parts of the poem were challenging to translate? Why?

Cultural Idioms & Devotional Nuance: In Mirabai's poem, phrases like "लाख चौरासी फेरा" (84 lakh rebirths, a Hindu/Buddhist concept) and the divine epithet "गिरधर" (Mountain-Holder, a name for Krishna) pose a challenge. ChatGPT often opts for a functional translation ("Eighty-four lakhs of lives I rose," "Giridhar, my Lord"), while Gemini sometimes provides explanatory glosses ("Mountain-Lifter Lord").

How were cultural connotations and collocations handled in the translation?

"गगला-घोगला" in Nayi Kheti is a non-lexical, dismissive retort. ChatGPT's "gabble-gobble" captures the sound and dismissive tone well. Gemini's choice to interpret it as "The simpletons, the slow-witted" explains the meaning but loses the poem's sonic texture and abrupt, colloquial force.

o Were there untranslatable words or phrases? If yes, how did the AI tools

resolve them ?

Were there untranslatable words or phrases? If yes, how did the AI tools

resolve them?

"Spiritus Mundi" in Yeats is retained in both tools' translations (as is), treated as a proper noun from the source culture's philosophical lexicon. Similarly, "वस्ल" (visl/union) in Faiz, with its Sufi connotations, is translated literally as "union" or "embrace," relying on context to convey its spiritual weight.

How AI Tools Resolved Them: The tools primarily use two strategies:

Literal or Close Translation: For culturally loaded but common terms (e.g., "भवसागर" -> "ocean of life/worldly existence").

Interpretative Expansion: Where a direct equivalent fails, they paraphrase to convey meaning, as seen in Gemini's handling of "गगला-घोगला" or "गिरधर."

2. Explain the choices and considerations made during translation:

Did the metre or rhyme scheme influence the translation?

 ChatGPT consistently attempted to mimic a poetic structure—using line breaks, stanzas, and a more rhythmic syntax (e.g., "I chose the Eternal Bridegroom, O friend! / Yes, the Eternal One I chose."). Gemini often defaulted to a prosaic, explanatory format, breaking the poem into title, refrain, and verses with annotations like "(Saheli!)", which, while clarifying, disrupts the lyrical flow. In regional language translations (Hindi-Gujarati), both tools maintained a closer structural parity due to shared syntactic roots.

Were any liberties taken to retain the poem's tone and emotion?

 ChatGPT's translations often feel more lyrical and crafted, aiming for a self-contained poetic voice. Gemini's outputs read more like faithful semantic transcriptions, prioritizing clarity of meaning over aesthetic re-creation. For example, in Faiz, ChatGPT's "life would blaze with light" feels more evocative than Gemini's "life was luminous."

3. Compare the translations:

Highlight differences between ChatGPT and Gemini outputs.

Evaluate which tool performed better in retaining key aspects of the original

poem.

Aspect	ChatGPT	Gemini	Evaluation
Poetic Form	Stronger. Actively tries to preserve stanza form, lineation, and a sense of rhythm.	Weaker. Often uses paragraph-like formatting, adding explanatory labels.	ChatGPT performs better as a poetic translator.
Lexical Choice	More literary, sometimes creative ("blaze with light," "ceremonially bathed").	More direct, sometimes explanatory ("Mountain-Lifter," "simpletons").	ChatGPT for tone; Gemini for semantic clarity.
Syntax	More willing to alter English syntax for poetic effect (inversion, compression).	Tends to follow source syntax more closely, leading to awkwardness.	ChatGPT produces more idiomatic poetic English.
Cultural Terms	Prefers assimilation/transcreation (e.g., keeping "Giridhar").	Prefers gloss/explanation within the text.	Subjective. ChatGPT treats the reader as an insider; Gemini as an outsider.
Overall Fidelity	Dynamic Fidelity: Aims to recreate the experience of the poem.	Formal Fidelity: Aims to reproduce the content of the poem accurately.	For literary appreciation, ChatGPT. For study/analysis, Gemini.

4. Reflect on the theoretical frameworks discussed in class:

How do Jakobson’s, Catford’s, Devy’s, and Ramanujan’s ideas about

translation apply to your findings?

Roman Jakobson (On Linguistic Aspects of Translation): Your analysis highlights Jakobson's categories. Both tools engage heavily in "interlingual translation" (between languages). The struggle with "गगला-घोगला" touches on the "intralingual" challenge—explaining the same idea within a language. The loss of sound pattern (e.g., metre) underscores Jakobson's view that "poetry is untranslatable"; only "creative transposition" is possible, which ChatGPT attempts more actively.

J.C. Catford (A Linguistic Theory of Translation): The tools operate on Catford's model of "textual equivalence." The shift in sentence structure you noted (SOV in Hindi/Gujarati to SVO in English) is a "level shift" (grammar to lexis) and a "structure shift." Catford's concept of "untranslatability" due to cultural absence (e.g., "लाख चौरासी") is resolved by Gemini through "cultural translation" (explanation) and by ChatGPT through "functional translation" (using a near-equivalent concept).

G.N. Devy (Indian Literary Translation): Devy argues that translation in India is not a mere transfer but a "transaction" and "renewal" within a "translating consciousness." The AI tools, however, often miss this. They treat the poems as isolated texts. A Devy-informed translation of Mirabai or Faiz would require embedding it within the continuum of Bhakti or Sufi traditions, which the AI's context-free approach lacks. Your suggestion that The Second Coming might be better translated as "પુનર્જન્મ" (Punarjanma/Rebirth) than the literal "બીજું આગમન" is insightful—it seeks a culturally resonant "renewal" of the concept, aligning with Devy's thought.

A.K. Ramanujan (On Translating Indian Poetry): Ramanujan stressed the importance of "context-sensitivity"—the genre, dialect, and cultural echoes. The AI tools largely fail here. They translate Mirabai's intimate, song-like "સાહેલી" (Saheli) as the formal "friend" or "O friend," losing its gendered, colloquial, and musical context. Ramanujan believed the translator must be a "poet in the target language." ChatGPT shows glimmers of this aspiration in its rhythmic choices, while Gemini acts more as a linguistic decoder.