Introducing a new resource list (podcasts) and re-sharing some earlier ones for newer readers.
WAAT #56. Resource Lists for Literary Translation, Language, and Linguistics
Tag: Translation Craft
WAAT #55. Translating Motifs in Literary Works
When a word recurs as an important theme-driven motif in a story and is intentionally left untranslated, it can draw the reader's attention and make them even more alert and attuned to its various, complex meanings. And a few interesting links at the end.
50. WAAT Session: Nick Glastonbury on elevating translations from underrepresented languages/cultures
The WAAT Sessions is a new series of video conversations about literary translation. In WAAT Session 02, Nick Glastonbury, a translator of Turkish and Kurdish literature, discusses the whys and wherefores of elevating translations from underrepresented languages/cultures, his award-winning translation of Sema Kaygusuz’s Every Fire You Tend, being a jury member and then jury chair for the PEN/Heim Translation Grant, his recent favorite translated works, and more.
47. On Cohesion and Coherence
Cohesion is about the surface relations between the sentences that make up a text. Coherence is more about the underlying relations between the sentences that make up a text. Cohesion is about the parts. Coherence is about the whole.
40. WAAT Session: Mithu Sanyal & Alta L. Price on Author-Translator Collaboration
The WAAT Sessions is a new series of video conversations about literary translation. In WAAT Session 01, the German author Mithu Sanyal and the literary translator, Alta L. Price discuss their author-translator collaboration process for Alta's English translation of Mithu's novel, Identitti.
39. On Anachronisms in Literary Translation
Every day is International Translation Day at 'We Are All Translators' but Happy International Translation Day to you all. Let's consider the cases for and against literary anachronisms (and archaisms) in translation, shall we?
37. 20 Questions for Literary Translators
Whether you're an emerging or an established translator, clarifying what this practice of translation means for you can help you stay productive, efficient, and grounded.
36. What a Literary Translator Brings to the Text
Can reading around a text—contextualizing it and developing a relationship with it—help us translate it better?
34. On Foreignization and Domestication
When deciding how to translate culturally rich references, it's not a binary either/or approach but a continuum of possible translation approaches.
33. On the Translator’s Note or Introduction
Long before the idea of even becoming a literary translator professionally had occurred to me, my idea of what exactly being a literary translator meant came from reading the notes or introductions to translated novels. Looking back now, I see how much the good ones were like masterclasses in themselves. If you're a reader of translated works, you will likely have your own favorites. I'll share a handful of mine below but let's talk very briefly about why these matter at all.