Kathmandu, Feb. 1 -- The major challenge in literary translation is that one is not always able to precisely translate both lexical-semantics as well as cultural-semantics. Then there are other minor problems: the syntactical and grammatical aspects of the language. Taking both sides into consideration, the translator has to be faithful to the original work as well as create a distinctive piece of literature that should evoke almost the same feeling in the target language.

Mahesh Paudyal, the translator of Silver Cascades, a collection of twenty Nepali short stories, knows the scenario quite well. He's well-aware that translating is not merely a mechanical work; it is a creative process and involves staying true to the original piece-not...