Most of you will be familiar with the excellent blog called Three Percent, maintained by the University of Rochester since 2007. You will probably also know that the name comes from the estimate that translations constitute less than 3% of literary works published in English. Many people know that in European and non-English-speaking countries in general, [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Art of translating’
Few but good?
Posted in English, tagged Anna Maria Biavasco, Art of translating, Craft, Literary Translation, Three Percent on March 27, 2011 | 1 Comment »
On Translation and Art
Posted in English, tagged Art of translating, Craft, Etymology, Literary Translation, Skills, Technique, Translation, Wendell Ricketts on July 15, 2010 | 2 Comments »
A couple of months ago, my talented colleague, No Peanuts! mastermind, and blogging star Wendell Ricketts wrote a very interesting article, Please stop talking about art, complaining about a disturbing trend: literary translators talking about their job as some sort of aural, mystical and shamanic ritual that can only be accomplished by some sort of [...]
Language Diversity and Translation
Posted in English, tagged Art of translating, Evans&Levinson, Language diversity, Languages, Neurolinguistics, New Scientist, Noam Chomsky, Psycholinguistics, Translation, Universal Grammar on June 7, 2010 | 5 Comments »
I don’t think it takes a linguist to notice that the language we speak seems to shape the way we think, and how our brain works. Since the 1960s, though, we have pretty much accepted Chomsky’s idea of a universal grammar, or, to put it briefly, that the human brain is born language-ready, with an [...]
On Translating Foreign Accents
Posted in English, tagged Art of translating, Chelsea Handler, Foreign accents, Literary Translation, Ron Currie Jr., Will Elliott on May 5, 2010 | 5 Comments »
Everyone of us has read a book in which a given character’s accent is rendered graphically, by altering the spelling of what he says. It’s a simple and very effective technique, much more so than describing the way a character talks. Of course, it’s important not to abuse it, ma it’s probably the best method [...]
Betraying and Translating
Posted in English, tagged Art of translating, Biblit, Corriere della Sera, Dacia Maraini, Emily Dickinson, Joseph Conrad, Literary Translation, Translation on May 1, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Thanks to Daniela Ilieva on Biblit, I found another point of view – and quite a knowledgeable one, at that – on literary translation. In this case what Dacia Maraini wrote on Il Corriere della Sera a few years ago. I’ll offer a quick translation of my two favourite passages: [...] the translator deals with [...]
Tim Parks: It’s Time to Acknowledge Translators
Posted in English, tagged Art of translating, Biblit, Laura Prandino, Literary Translation, The Observer, Tim Parks, Translation on April 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Thanks to Laura Prandino, on Biblit, I found this article from The Observer, in which Tim Parks says “it’s time to acknowledge translators”, because “we don’t deserve to be lost in translation.” He starts with a few questions, and the short answers he gives to them are extremely effective in driving home the main point [...]
Knights-errant, Seven Years Later…
Posted in English, tagged Art of translating, Biblit, Fruttero&Lucentini, Invisibility, Knights Errant, Literary Translation, Marina Rullo, Translation on April 21, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Seven years ago on Biblit – an Italian online community for literary translators started in 1999 by Marina Rullo – a group of colleagues published an open letter to the Italian press, which was covered by several newspapers, websites, and even a TV news report. Hundreds of literary translators signed on, until July 2006 when [...]
The Pilo Family Circus
Posted in English, tagged Art of translating, Case study, La città dei clown, Literary Translation, Strade Blu Mondadori, The Pilo Family Circus, Will Elliott on April 9, 2010 | 5 Comments »
A couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to translate The Pilo Family Circus, Will Elliott’s award-winning debut. Will lives in Brisbane, a few kilometers away, and is an extremely talented writer. Strade Blu Mondadori published the book in Italy under the title La città dei clown. Wait a second. Doesn’t that mean The [...]
So, What Is it That You Do?
Posted in English, tagged Art of translating, Introduction, Invisibility, Literary Translation, Nida, Venuti on March 31, 2010 | 1 Comment »
In my first post I addressed the need to properly recognise the precious work of translators. Some of you, especially those who don’t speak a second language, might wonder what on Earth might a translator do that is so special, besides the evocative image of smuggling that inspired this blog’s name. I’ll try and explain [...]
