Archives for Topic: Translation Craft

Topical deep dives, curated ideas, and inspiring conversations related to literary translation craft for We Are All Translators (WAAT.)

WAAT #62: A Literary Translation Links Roundup

Mar 21, 2023 2 Comments

A monthly links roundup of recent essays, interviews, submission calls, and upcoming events exploring topics related to literary translation from around the world and across the publishing ecosystem.

WAAT #61: Crafting Neologisms in Literary Translation

Mar 14, 2023 2 Comments

Whether we’re crafting translations of authorial neologisms or coining our own neologisms, they require innovative creativity to be easily understood and fit seamlessly into the target language.

WAAT #58: A Literary Translation Links Roundup

Feb 14, 2023 2 Comments

A links roundup of ten recent essays and interviews exploring literary translation works from around the world and across the publishing ecosystem.

WAAT #56: Resource Lists for Literary Translation, Language, and Linguistics

Jan 30, 2023 2 Comments

Introducing a new resource list (podcasts) and re-sharing some earlier ones for newer readers.

WAAT #55: Translating Motifs in Literary Works

Jan 23, 2023 6 Comments

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.

WAAT #47: On Cohesion and Coherence

Oct 24, 2022 2 Comments

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.

WAAT #39: On Anachronisms in Literary Translation

Sep 30, 2022 3 Comments

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?

WAAT #37: Twenty Questions for Literary Translators

Sep 16, 2022 2 Comments

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.

WAAT #36: What a Literary Translator Brings to the Text

Sep 09, 2022 1 Comment

Can reading around a text—contextualizing it and developing a relationship with it—help us translate it better?

WAAT #34: On Foreignization and Domestication

Aug 25, 2022 6 Comments

When deciding how to translate culturally rich references, it’s not a binary either/or approach but a continuum of possible translation approaches.

WAAT #33: On the Translator’s Note or Introduction

Aug 19, 2022 No Comments

A translator’s introduction or note contextualizes their approach to the book they’ve translated, makes them visible as a co-creator of the work, and is, often, a work of art in itself.

WAAT #30: Vincent van Gogh and the Art of Translation

Jul 29, 2022 2 Comments

Vincent van Gogh’s translations of Millet’s paintings were about a “profound and sincere admiration for Millet”, to make Millet more accessible to the “ordinary general public”, and to recognize how the Impressionist trends of his time were linked to past artistic traditions.

Jenny Bhatt is an author, a literary translator, and a book critic. Currently, she is a Ph.D. student of literature at the University of Texas at Dallas. She has taught creative writing at Writing Workshops Dallas and the PEN America Emerging Voices Fellowship Program. Sign up for her free newsletters, We Are All Translators and/or Historical Fiction Craft Notes. Jenny lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, Texas.

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