Literary Translation

Translators – Is There a Pecking Order?

The Financial Times recently published an article in its ft.com/Life & Arts section on translators and translation entitled "New Word Order". Bearing the tag line: "Translation is an art beset with linguistic pitfalls", it was written by Sam Taylor, who recounts his journey towards becoming a translator, a profession that does not appear to have been on his original list of those "most likely to be pursued". Taylor wanted to be a writer, and had moved to France to do so (his wife is French), learning most of his French "through osmosis". Along the way he came to the realization "as many authors had before me, that novels alone are rarely a sufficient source of income." So, he began to consider translation "as an option." How he managed to make this option a reality, while interesting, is not particularly unusual – many of us, I am sure, know colleagues who arrived at the profession via alternate paths. Perhaps this article could even have been entitled "The Accidental Translator" or "Le Traducteur Malgré Lui" (apologies to Anne Tyler and Molière). However, I perked up when I came to the following:

"I am now a full-time translator. Not only literary translation but the more banal, short-deadline work given out by agencies: everything from technical manuals to corporate catalogues to art gallery audio guides. The work can be dull and stressful but it is rarely unpleasant: you can do it in bed, for a start, and it often has the same sort of compulsive fascination as a crossword puzzle. And, unlike writing novels, you get paid every month. Literary translation is, however, by far the most fascinating and prestigious form of translation" [emphasis mine].

As I read this I felt myself becoming both sad and angry for several reasons. First, the fact that author lumps all of the "banal" work that is not literary translation into a single one-translator-fits-all category and that he considers himself equal to the task of doing all of them. Second, by the stereotype that the translator has the option of doing his work in bed (no mention of deadlines or appropriate business attire here – pajamas?), work that can be done only because of its "compulsive fascination", similar to doing crosswords. Third, that, unlike the author of novels, the translator gets paid every month (marketing your skills from bed? – that might be a good workshop presentation). And finally, because it reinforces what I think is the worst prejudice of all about translation: that there is a pecking order of translation, with literary translation being its most prestigious form.

I hope you will all take the time to read this article and to let me know if your reactions are the same as mine. To access it, please
use the following link:
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/6d77169a-9f83-11e1-8b84-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1vLh6EPAo. 

Please be sure to post your comments – I hope we will get a good discussion going. And thanks to former A Propos editor Elisabeth Lyman for brining this article to my attention!

Update on the FLD Blog Translam:

I am delighted to report that I have received a submission for the English language text to be translated into French – two poems authored by FLD member Jenn Mercer. I have not received any French texts yet. I hope some of you will take the plunge and submit a text (or two) – either poetry or prose. The deadline for submissions is Friday, June 1, 2012.

Ellen Sowchek,

Editor

THE FLD BLOG TRANSLAM

 

 

ARE YOU GAME?

A recent article by Larry Rohter in the "Arts Beat" column of the New York Times caught my eye. It was entitled "Translators Get a Slam of Their Own at PEN Festival", and described the translation slam that was held as part of this year's Pen American Center World Voices Festival of International Literature, an annual event held in New York in April.

This was not the first “translam” to be held by PEN, which had originally borrowed the idea from Metropolis Bleu/Blue Metropolis. Met Bleu, as it is popularly known, is an international literary festival held every year in Montreal, usually in April. Its main focus is current Francophone and Anglophone literature, with the works of writers writing in several other languages also included (Arabic, Italian and Spanish this year). I have had the opportunity to attend Met Bleu for the last six years (disclaimer here – I was also on the program in 2011) and, for me, the translation slam is an absolute "must" event.

For those of you who have never attended one (there have been a few organized at ATA annual meetings) or who may not know how it works, the basic idea is as follows: a text is given to one or more translators – it can be poetry or prose – usually a few days prior to the event. Each prepares his/her translation and presents it to an audience that includes the author of the text. The author gives feedback, and then the floor is open for input from audience members (many of them translators). This year's Met Bleu version, held on April 22nd, had three authors who were also translators, writing in English, French and Spanish. Each of the three submitted a text – in this case a poem – written in his own language, which was then translated by the other two as follows: the author of the French poem had to translate the English and Spanish poems into French, the author of the Spanish poem had to translate the French and English poems into Spanish, and the author of the English poem had to translate the French and Spanish poems into English. Each poem was first read aloud by the author, then both translators read their versions. All of the texts and translations were projected on a large screen so everyone could follow. The author then gave his feedback, which was followed by a discussion, with audience participation, on some of the finer points of the translation(s). This year, the poems were also made available in advance for those interested in trying their hand at a translation. At the actual event, those wishing to present their version to the audience were invited to come up to the podium and do so - and four people did!

This year's PEN translation slam was slightly different from the Met Bleu version – for those of you who are interested please check out the article in the New York Times at

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/04/translators-get-a-slam-of-their-own-at-pen-festival/. While searching for additional information on the PEN American center website, http://www.pen.org/, I discovered that there had once been an attempt to organize an on-line slam. As blog editor, it was an "Aha!” moment for me: why not do an FLD blog translation slam? I am sure there must be some of you whose artistry with words extends beyond translation to writing your own poems or short stories. What I propose is this:

1) Authors – please submit a short poem or prose text to be translated, either from French into English or English into French. These should be sent to me directly at esowchek@pipeline.com. I will choose one French text and one English text for the slam and post them on this blog.

2) Translators – once the texts have been posted you will have up to two weeks in which to do the translation(s). Once completed, please submit them by e-mailing them to me directly at esowchek@pipeline.com. I will then post them on this blog.

3) Authors – you will then be asked to give feedback on the translations of your work, using the comment section at the bottom of the blog.

4) Reader Comments – readers will be able to enter their own comments on the translations in the comments section at the bottom of the blog.

In order for this to work, we must first have the two texts to be translated. If you would like submit a text, please e-mail it to me at esowchek@pipeline.com by June 1, 2012. The two texts selected will be posted by June 8, 2012. Once posted, the deadline for submission of translations will be Monday, June 24, 2012.

I see no reason why this should not be as much fun on-line as it is at a real live slam. Don't be shy - the more participants, the merrier, so please consider taking part.

Ellen Sowchek

Editor, A Propos blog