Appunti dei traduttori

Sounding American by Isabelle Doerre Torres

Translator’s Note by Aleksandar Ristivojevic, ’22

I chose this article because experience of speaking with an accent (and the desire to talk like a native speaker) is familiar to many international students including myself. Though I never experienced any kind of discrimination based on my accent, the article was quite interesting and helped me understand extent of difficulties some may face in that regard. Translating it has been quite different than any of the articles I’ve worked on before because it refers to and quotes sociological analyses. The vocabulary used is somewhat specific and didn’t have straightforward translation to Serbian that would sound natural. In English deriving adjectives from nouns is simple, but same process doesn’t work in Serbian language. Instead, I had to express that same in a concise way that was didn’t sound too strange. This was made harder because such derived words were sometimes grouped together making it a challenge to find a short but accurate translation.

Одабрао сам овај чланак јер као и други међународни студенти, говорим са акцентом и желим да научим да причам као они којима је енглески матерњи језик. Иако нисам осетио дискриминацију на основу акцента, чланак ми је био веома занимљив и помогао да разумем размере потешкоћа са којима се неки суочавају у том погледу.

Превођење овог текста је било доста другачије него за друге на којима сам радио до сада јер цитира социолошке анализе. Речник који се употребљава је специфичан и није га једноставно превести на српски тако да превод звучи природно. У енглеском се лако изводе придеви од именица, али исти поступак не функционише у српском језику. Уместо тога морао сам да одређено значење изразим на концизан начин, али тако да ипак не звучи необично. Било ми је теже јер су изведенице често ишле заједно, па је био изазов да пронађем кратак, а тачан превод.

Translator’s Limelight By Konstantin Larin

Translator’s Note by Gaby Bucio, ’21

Translating Constantin’s piece felt familiar. Having been part of the same research team as Constantin, I remember having conversations about the role of translators. I remember us all contending with the same issues that Constantin so succinctly explains in his writing. This familiarity allowed me to better process what Constantin expressed and how I felt it should be understood in Spanish. Nonetheless, Constantin’s considerations over what a translator does and what a translation represents forced me to ponder every decision I took in this translation more than in any other I have previously done. Though the informative nature of this piece and Constantin’s writing style greatly aid in the transfer of ideas to Spanish, I found myself constantly contemplating whether there was anything else I should be contributing to the reading of this article in Spanish. Ultimately, I decided this was a case where finding the accurate words for Constantin’s sentiments was the most I could, and should, do. Like Constantin, I made my decision, and though it may not be perfect, it is mine.

Traducir la pieza de Constantin se sintió familiar. Como formé parte del mismo equipo de investigación que Constantin, recuerdo haber tenido conversaciones sobre el papel de los traductores. Recuerdo que todos nos enfrentamos a los mismos problemas que Constantin explica tan sucintamente en su pieza. Esta familiaridad me permitió procesar mejor lo que aquí expresa Constantin y cómo sentí que debería entenderse en español. Aun así, las consideraciones de Constantin sobre lo que hace un traductor y lo que representa una traducción me obligaron a reflexionar sobre cada decisión que tomé en esta traducción más que en cualquier otra que haya hecho anteriormente. Aunque la naturaleza informativa de esta pieza y el estilo de escritura de Constantin ayudan enormemente en la transferencia de ideas al español, me encontré constantemente contemplando si había algo más con lo que debería estar contribuyendo a la lectura de este artículo en español. Al final, decidí que este era un caso en el que encontrar las palabras precisas para los sentimientos de Constantin era lo máximo que podía y debía hacer. Como Constantin, tomé mi decisión y, aunque puede que no sea perfecta, es mía.

Translator’s Note by Aleksandar Ristivojevic, ’22

Translating this article was quite interesting to me. Not so much because of any intricacies of translation process but because it made me consider the role of translators and how much they can influence perception of the work. The articles I translated until now have been very different than those translated by Larin so I hadn’t given much thought to issues that appear when translating such historical texts. Given the great temporal and often spatial distance between the reader and author translators are forced to bridge this gap by providing clarifications – usually in the form of footnotes that Larin has mentioned. By itself this isn’t very difficult, but when authors are political figures a problem
appears. The translators need to balance their duty to remain objective and unbiased (and thus give a truthful translation) and to inform the reader about historical context needed to understand material in question. I agree with Larin that right balance can be quite subjective, still it is necessary for a good translation.

Превођење овог чланка ми је било веома занимљиво, не толико због изазовности превода већ јер ме је навело на размишљање о улози преводиоца и колико они могу да утичу на утисак о тексту. Текстови које сам до сада преводио су се веома разликовали од оних које је преводио Ларин, тако да нисам много размишљао о тешкоћама које се јављају када се преводе историјски списи. Имајући у виду велику временску и често просторну дистанцу између читаоца и првобитног аутора, преводиоци морају ту даљину премостити објашњењима, често у форми фуснота. То само по себи није тешко, али проблем настаје када су аутори политичке фигуре. Тада је неопходно пронаћи равнотежу између обавезе преводиоца да буду објективни и непристрасни (дајући тачан превод) и давања читаоцима историјског контекста потребном за разумевање текста. Слажем се са Ларином да је одређивање ове равнотеже субјективно, али је код доброг превода она неопходна.

‘‘Deafinitely:” The Racialization of Black Communication in the U.S.A. by Eniola Ajao

Translator’s Note by Mariel Montero, ’21

I did not know a lot about the variations and characteristics of sign language in the United States. I learned a lot through translating this article, but it also made me want to know a lot more about variations between Spanish Sign Language in Spain vs. parts of Latin America. I also started thinking about how practices of translation and interpretation apply to signed languages, not just oral ones (which is what the discipline tends to focus on).

No sabía mucho sobre las variaciones y características del lenguaje de señas en los Estados Unidos. Aprendí mucho en traducir este artículo, pero ahora también quiero saber mucho más sobre las variaciones entre el lenguaje de señas español en España comparado con partes de América Latina. También comencé a pensar en cómo las prácticas de traducción e interpretación se aplican a las lenguas de señas, no solo a los idiomas orales (que es en lo que tiende a enfocarse la disciplina).

Translator’s Note by Amisha Jain, ’25

I chose to translate this article because I was interested in the perception of different accents within American society. Though the perceptions of a Hindi accent do not seem to match the perceptions of either Spanish or German accents, I found myself analyzing the comparison between the three. While translating this article full of sociological terms, I was confused on how to translate words such as “racialized” that were being used in sociological contexts specific to those found in the United States. As such, there were no equivalent words used in colloquial Hindi that I could translate from; I instead wrote phrases to express a single word or concept. This, coupled with the fact that a lot of academic discourse in Hindi-speaking countries/regions is simply conducted in English, made it harder to translate the same ideas across these two languages. I tried my best to translate as many words as possible into Hindi rather than transliterating English words, even if that is a common occurrence among Hindi speakers.

मैंने यह लेख चुना अनुवाद करने के लिए क्यूंकि मुझे दिलचस्पी थी ये देखने मैं की अलग अलग लहजे की अमरीकन समाज मैं क्या अलग अलग धारणायें होते हैं. हिंदी लेहजे की अनुभूति शायद स्पेनिश या जर्मन के लहजे के साथ नहीं मिलते, लेकिन मैंने देखा की मैं इन तीनो धारणायें की तुलना कर रही थी. जैसे मै ये लेख, जिसमें बहुत सारे समाजशास्त्रीय शब्द है, अनुवाद कर रही थी, मुझे समझ में नहीं आ रा था की इन शब्दों को, जैसे “racialized,” जो एक विशिष्ट अमरीकन संदर्भ में लिखे जारी है, कैसे अनुवाद करून. क्यूंकि ये संदर्भ सिर्फ अमरीका में मिलता है, बोलचाल की हिंदी में इनके समान शब्त नहीं है जिससे में अनुवाद नहीं कर सकती थी; मैंने बजाय पूर्ण वाक्यांश लिखे एक ही शब्द या विचार को व्यक्त करने के लिए. और, क्योंकि ज्यादा टर शैक्षिक बाते हिंदी बोलने वाले देशों में अंग्रेजी में ही लेहते है, इस से और मुश्किल पड़े. मैंने पूरी कोशिश करी जितने शब्त कर सक थी हूँ, में उन सारे को हिंदी में अनुवाद करूंगी, नाही अंग्रेजी को हिंदी मे लिखना, जैसे अक्सर होता है.

Building Bridges by Lianbi Ji

Translator’s Note by Jacqueline Kim, ’23

This is my first time working with economic and political Korean vocabulary, not to mention my first time attempting to translate a nonfiction work into a language I use exclusively for conversation. My primary challenge in this translation was simply learning the words I frequently used, including “document”, “international”, “identity”, “immersing”, “contextual”—words not commonly found in daily speech. Indeed, I have limited encounters with academic Korean and struggled in my attempts to bring fluidity of grammar and style into my translation. Frankly, I still think it reads like a rather unremarkable textbook. I sometimes leaned on the way I remember my dad ending his sentences to help me bring a touch of warmth to my writing. I’m not exactly sure if it can be felt by anyone else, but I can definitely see it there.

이 번역 작업을 통해서 처음으로 한국 경제, 정치 용어를 사용해본 것은 물론이고, 또 평소에 유일하게 대화용으로 사용하던 한국어를 논픽션 작품을 번역하는 데 사용해본 것도 처음이었다. 이 작업에서 나에게 가장 큰 도전은 “문서”, “국제”, “정체성”, “이해성”, “상식성” 등 이 작품에서 자주 등장하나 일상 대화에서는 흔히 찾아볼 수 없는 단어들에 익숙해지는 것이었다. 나는 학문적인 한국어를 접해본 경험이 많지 않았고, 번역 속에서 부드럽고 자연스러운 문법과 문체를 사용하려고 고군분투했다. 솔직히 말하자면 아직도 나의 번역이 조금은 딱딱한 교과서 같이 읽힌다고 생각한다. 그래도 나름대로 아빠가 말씀하시는 방식을 되짚어가며 문장 끝 부분을 부드럽게 하려고 노력했고, 그 노력으로 인해 내 글에서 어느정도의 따뜻함을 느낄 수 있다고 생각한다. 나의 글을 읽는 다른 누군가에게 그 따뜻한 감성이 전달될지는 모르겠지만 나에게는 분명히 느껴진다.

Translator’s Note by Rodrigo Aguilera Croasdaile ’23

This piece was quite interesting to translate because I got to learn a bit about a language largely unknown to me. Although Lianbi Ji only spoke of it briefly, the four-character idioms and the use of commas in the Chinese language proved just how different and difficult it must be to translate Chinese documents and narratives. At the same time, there was a similarity in generational differences with Spanish and Chinese; the dialects that your grandparents speak could be very different from yours even though you are both speaking the same language. I think this is common for most languages over time, especially if a family migrates to a place where their native language is taught and spoken differently, or not spoken at all.

Esta escritura fue bastante interesante de traducir porque pude aprender un poco sobre un idioma en gran parte desconocido para mí. Aunque Lianbi Ji solo habló de esto brevemente, los modismos de cuatro caracteres y el uso de comas en chino demostraron cuán diferente y difícil debe ser traducir documentos y narrativas chinos. Al mismo tiempo, había una similitud en las diferencias generacionales con el español y el chino; los dialectos que hablan tus abuelos pueden ser muy diferentes a los tuyos, aunque ambos hablen el mismo idioma. Creo que esto es común para la mayoría de los idiomas a lo largo del tiempo, especialmente si una familia migra a un lugar donde su idioma nativo se enseña y se habla de manera diferente, o no se habla en absoluto.

Letting go of Adelitas by Gaby Bucio

Translator’s Note by Rodrigo Aguilera Croasdaile ’23

And the READER said unto the translator, ‘‘What of this text?’’ and he replied, ‘‘I do not know. Am I my brother’s editor?’’

Forgive my biblical exaggerations, but I felt it necessary for the note. It seems there are two extremes when it comes to a translation. The first, which one is very familiar with, is when the translator places himself in the author’s shoes and goes through every word (and, with every word, every emotion, every nuance). This translation required the second type, where the translator does not closely go through, but rather observes the text from the greatest possible distance. The need for distance is a result of the desire to change this word for another, to flip this order, to clear up this part… that is, the desire to edit. This happens because many people who translate also, and sometimes more than translate, write.

This is not to say that Letting Go of Adelitas is a bad text —the quality of any text is not to be thought of when it is being translated— because it is not, or that my opinions on its ideas affects the translation, because they never will. The process of translation is a surgical one: one changes what must be changed according to the procedure. Imagine having an appendectomy only to find out the doctor added a rhinoplasty. Whether or not you look better (or worse) is not the point. I’m sure Gaby Bucio encountered the same desire as she translated Fabela’s texts. A translator’s job is, ironically, making sure as little as possible has changed. The best translator is the least noticed one.

Entonces el LECTOR dijo al traductor, ‘‘¿Qué con este texto?’’ y él respondió: ‘‘No sé. Soy yo acaso editor de mi hermano?’’

Perdonen mi exageración bíblica, pero la siento necesaria para esta nota. Parece ser que hay dos extremos en cuanto una traducción. La primera, con cual la mayoría ya está familiarizada, es cuando el traductor se pone en los zapatos del escritor y recorre cada palabra (y, con cada palabra, todo sentimiento, cada matiz). Esta traducción requirió del segundo tipo, en donde el traductor no recorre de cerca, pero observa el texto con la mayor distancia posible. La necesidad de la distancia es un resultado del deseo de cambiar esta palabra por otra, de revertir este orden, de aclarar esta parte… es decir, el deseo de editar. Esto pasa porque mucha gente que traduce también, y a veces más que traduce, escribe.

Esto no es decir que Letting Go of Adelitas (claro, el original) es un mal texto —la calidad de cualquier texto no debe ser considerado mientras se traduce— porque no lo es, o que mis opiniones en sus ideas afecta la traducción, porque nunca lo harán. El proceso de traducir es uno quirúrgico: uno solo cambia lo que debe ser cambiado en base al procedimiento. Imagínense tener una apendicectomía solo para descubrir que el doctor agregó una rinoplastia. Que si te ves mejor (o peor) no es el punto. Estoy seguro que Gaby Bucio encontró el mismo deseo al traducir textos de Fabela. El trabajo de un traductor es, irónicamente, asegurarse que lo menos posible ha cambiado. El mejor traductor es el que menos se nota.

Becoming Bilingual by Min Cheng

Translator’s Note by Lianbi Ji ’21

This is my first experience translating non-conversational English into Chinese, and I found the task unexpectedly challenging. I was struck by how different the logics of expression in Mandarin Chinese and English are, which made word-to-word translation completely inadequate to maintain the precise meaning and language authenticity. Idiomatic phrases like “think on your feet” and “the best… one could ever ask for” do not have their literal equivalences in Chinese, and thus different structures of expression are needed. Rules like “because” does not go with “so” are opposite in Chinese (they have to exist in pairs). Word order also differs. Beyond these, I’ve also found myself struggling with maintaining the rhythm of language (E.g. how to translate “feeling enraged, misunderstood, and powerless”, to deal with the different word types yet keep the parallel rhythm?) In this somewhat complex and ambiguous process, subjective choices are made by the translator; from this short first experience, I am starting to understand how translator’s choices affect readers’ reading experiences in significant ways—translators are active participants in the production of literature.

At the same time, this experience to me feels very similar to “the moment of realization” for the author: the fact that I could perfectly and comfortably comprehend the text but found it very difficult to transform the expressions into Chinese ones means that I can now process information without using Chinese as a mediator. As a person undergoing the transition to bilingualism just like the author’s younger self, I completely resonate with the article; I felt like all those profoundly complex feelings and concerns I experienced in the process are well articulated and vividly depicted. Min’s story inspires me, and makes me feel less alone.

这是我的第一次英文书面写作翻译经历。我发现这个任务出乎意料的充满挑战性。我惊讶地意识到中文和英文之间语言表达逻辑的巨大差异，也因此理解逐词翻译完全不能够完整和真实地保留原文想传达的讯息和语言的韵律。比如，一些在英语中的固定、惯用短语（如“think on your feet”和“the best… one could ever ask for”）在中文里没有逐词平行的表达，因此，在遇到这些情况的时候，需要译者使用不同结构的表述来传达原文的意思；一些语法在英文中的规定（如“because”不和“so”同时出现）在中文里则不同甚至相反。语序在两个语言中也差异极大。除了这些基本的语法差异之外，我在试图保留原文的韵律感、文学性的时候也感到十分挣扎。例如，在翻译“feeling enraged, misunderstood, and powerless”的时候，怎样兼顾这些词的不同词性在中文中的运用规则，同时保留原句的排比效果？在这个充满复杂性和不确定性的经历里，译者需要做出许多主观选择；在这次短短的翻译初体验中，我开始理解译者的选择可以给读者的阅读经历带来的深刻影响——译者们是文学创作的真实参与者。

与此同时，这次翻译经历本身于我就好像笔者的“顿悟时刻”一般：我可以毫不费力地理解原文，却需要不断挣扎才能将它翻译成中文——这件事告诉我，现在我已经无需母语为媒介，就可以直接理解和欣赏英文的表达。我作为一个和笔者一样经历走向精通第二语言的挣扎的人，对文中所述之事深有共鸣；我感到那些我所经历的复杂的情绪和思考被笔者精准、流畅和生动地表述了出来。敏的故事激励了我，也提醒我：在这条路上，我并不孤单。

Translator’s Note by Ho Yean Choi ’19

I had difficulties translating ‘bilingual’ and ‘bicultural’ because there is no equivalent term in Korean. Depending on the context, I sometimes explained them as ‘speaking two languages and understanding two cultures’ and sometimes used the term ‘bilingual’ without translating it. Another difficulty was whether to use honorific language(존댓말) when the writer talks about her encounter with the English professor. It is common for Korean speakers to use honorific language when they talk to / refer to teachers or elders, but I was not exactly sure about how the writer felt toward the professor – whether she felt respectful toward him or not. So I made a slight hint of honorific language but did not strictly follow its rules.
That I shared similar experiences with the writer made it easier for me to translate some parts. The most relatable parts are when she felt uncomfortable with native English speakers’ compliments on her language, and when she found herself invisible.

역자의 말, 최호연:

한국어에는 ‘bilingual’이나 ‘bicultural’과 똑같은 뜻을 가진 단어가 없어서 번역할 때 고민이 많았다. 맥락에 따라 ‘두 언어를 구사하고 두 문화를 체화한’ 등으로 풀어 설명하기도 했고, 원어의 의미를 살려 ‘바이링구얼’이라는 단어를 그대로 쓰기도 했다.
글쓴이가 영어 교수님에 대해 설명하는 부분을 번역할 때 존댓말을 쓸 것인지에 대한 고민도 있었다. 한국어 사용자들이 어른들이나 선생님에 대해 이야기할 때 존댓말을 사용하는 것이 일반적이긴 하지만, 이 글쓴이가 교수님에게 정말 존댓말을 쓰고 싶어했는지, 그러니까 애써 존댓말을 사용할 정도로 교수님을 존경하는 마음을 갖고 있었는지 확실지 않았다. 그래서 존댓말의 어투를 섞되 극존칭을 사용하진 않았다.
글쓴이와 내가 비슷한 경험을 공유하고 있다는 것이 번역할 때 도움이 되었다. 특히 영어 원어민들로부터 영어 실력에 대한 칭찬을 들을 때 느낀 불편함이나, 미국에서 스스로의 존재가 비가시화되었다고 느끼던 경험 등에 많이 공감했다.

Translator’s Note by Saad Baloch ’20

کافی مشکل تھا کیونکہ مجھے اِس چیز کا خیال بھی رکھنا تھا کے ترجمہے کے بعد بھی الفاظ اسی جذبے سے من کی کہانی سنائیں اور کوئی بات بھی اپنا أصل مطلب کھو نا دے. اسی لیے میں نے ہر لفظ کا با معنی ترجمہ کرنے کے بجائے پورے جملوں اور خیالات کا ترجمہ کیا ہے. اِس ترجمے کے ساتھ میں یہ امید کرتا ہوں کے یہ آرْٹِیکَل زیادہ سے زیادہ لوگ پڑھیں گے اور اِس کہانی اور اِس کے مصنف کی تعریف کریں گے .

It has been a privilege and pleasure to work with such a heartfelt piece written by Min. It was challenging to translate it in such a way that it does not lose its true essence and still conveys the intended story. Sometimes the correct words lack the full subtlety of meaning or significance when translated from the original language to another, especially when done literally, so I tried to translate the ideas conveyed in the paragraphs, as opposed to carrying out word to word translation. For example, translating the sentence “I hated him with a passion” was hard to translate since the Urdu words for hate and passion cannot go together in one sentence! With this translation I hope it will reach out to wider audience, and more people will be able to connect with the story presented in this piece.

Translator’s Note by Aqiil Gopee ’20

Traduire Min a été plus difficile que je ne le pensais. Même si j’ai entrepris d’autres projets de traduction dans le passé, chaque texte est un monde nouveau à retranscrire, et je pense que le travail du traducteur devrait la délicatesse d’un travail de chirurgien ; pénétrer tendrement le texte avec le scalpel d’une nouvelle langue, et, sans bouleverser le sens que charrient les mots, les modifier un à un, revirement de vaisseaux dans une même mer de sens. Le texte de Min, particulièrement, est beau et très évocateur, surtout pour moi qui suis aussi un étudiant international pour qui l’anglais, parfois, a toujours un goût de verre brisé. Je navigue, depuis mon arrivée aux Etats-Unis, les mêmes eaux qu’ont naviguées Min des années de cela, ce qui me réconforte et me rassure. Je sais que je ne suis pas seul.

J’ai eu du mal à traduire certains mots, tels que « native speaker » ou « Kunmingnese », que j’ai laissé comme tel.

Translating Min has been harder than I thought it would be. Even though I have undertaken other translation projects in the past, each new text is a new world to transcribe, and I believe that translators, in their work, should be as sensitive as surgeons, tenderly penetrating the text with the scalpel of another language, and without disturbing the meaning carried by words, change them one by one, switching vessels in the same sea of meaning. Min’s text was beautiful and relatable, particularly for me as an international student to whom English sometimes still tastes like broken glass. Ever since I came to the United States, I have been navigating the same waters Min navigated years ago, which comforts and reassures me; I know I am not alone.

I had trouble translating certain words such as ‘native speaker’, which has no equivalent in French, or ‘Kunmingnese’, that I left as is.

Translator’s Note by Lucas Ambrosio

Generalmente trabajo traduciendo texto técnicos, por lo que el texto de Min fue un desafío. Su historia es tan enriquecedora y personal que cuando se traducen este tipo de textos, tienes que asegurarte de transmitir el mismo significado y, a su vez, elegir las palabras y expresiones que se adapten a tu lengua materna. Al traducir expresiones relacionadas con sentimientos o descripciones del inglés al español, a veces necesitas utilizar más palabras o expresiones para explicar algunas ideas y eso fue una experiencia muy interesante. Además, yo también soy un estudiante internacional viviendo en los Estados Unidos, razón por la cual me siento identificado con su relato.

I usually work translating technical texts, so translating Min’s text was challenging. Her story is so enriching and personal. When translating these types of texts, you have to make sure to convey the same meaning and, at the same time, choose the words and expressions that fit in your mother tongue. When translating expressions related to feelings or descriptions from English into Spanish, sometimes I needed to use more words or expressions to explain the same ideas. It was quite an interesting experience. In addition, I am also an international student living in the US, which is one reason why I identified with her narrative.

Spoken Word Poems by Bao Tran Tran

Translator’s Note by Rodrigo Aguilera Croasdaile, ’23

Translating a text about the disparity of two languages into a third, doubly disparate, is always quite interesting. If the text is poetry, it is even more so. Translating this poem into my own native language caused a reverberation within it—I had the slight want to translate the foods and ingredients in ‘‘The Taste of Questions’’ to foods and ingredients of my own culture. You can see the effect this would have once the poem was written in Spanish: with only two languages remaining, the poem would take on its duality again, even translated. As tempting as that transformation would be, I resist: Bao Tran Tran’s words are hers alone, in any language.

Traducir un texto sobre la disparidad de dos idiomas a un tercero, doblemente dispar, es siempre muy interesante. Si el texto es poesía, lo es aún más. Traducir este poema a mi propia lengua materna causó una reverberación dentro de él—tenía el leve deseo de traducir la comida e ingredientes en ‘‘The Taste of Questions’’ a comida e ingredientes de mi propia cultura. Se nota el efecto que esto hubiera tenido cuando el poema estuviera escrito en español: con solo dos idiomas restantes, el poema tomaría su dualidad otra vez, aún cuando esté traducido. Por más apetecible que haya sido, me resisto: las palabras de Bao Tran Tran son de ella y solo de ella, en cualquier idioma.

Fragments from a Letter by Benigno Sánchez-Eppler

Translator’s Note by Monica Elise Diaz ‘20

Translating can be challenging at times due to the inherent richness of vocabulary and expression of emotion that is present in Spanish writing, which stands in contrast to the somewhat dry emphasis on logical and succinct communication that is present in the English language. To properly convey the meaning intended by an English phrase in Spanish, it is often necessary to embellish the phrase with numerous flowery and colorful descriptors. Translating from my dominant language, English, to Spanish, the language of my family and ancestors, gives me an appreciation for the beauty and intricacy of my native language. Recognizing and celebrating the language of one’s ancestors seems crucial to true appreciation of cultural identity.

La traducción a veces se hace difícil debido a la riqueza inherente del vocabulario y la apasionado expresión de la emoción que está presente en la escritura española, que contrasta con el énfasis en la comunicación lógica y sucinta que caracteriza el inglés. Para expresar adecuadamente el significado de una frase inglés en español, muchas veces es necesario embellecer la frase con varios descriptores vibrantes y floridos. Traducir de mi idioma dominante, inglés, al español, el idioma de mi familia y mis antepasados, me permite apreciar la belleza y la complejidad de mi lengua materna. Reconocer y celebrar el lenguaje de sus antepasados es crucial para la apreciación de la identidad cultural.

Translator’s Note by Álex Filipe Santos ‘19

The first difficulty I came across when developing this translation was the fact that Portuguese—as most Romance languages—is highly inflected with respect to gender. This creates a challenge when using proper English nouns, whose genders need to be picked as sensibly as possible: “de/da/do Amherst College?” In standard Portuguese, there is no choice for a gender-neutral pronoun such as the English “they”, and adjective inflections are purely based on the noun/pronoun gender (“eles” or “elas”). In this case, I used a mixture of invariant nouns (“o/a estudante”) and inflected nouns (“o aluno” / “a aluna”) throughout the text. The second challenge was finding equivalent Portuguese renderings of English idiomatic expressions which lose their meaning when directly translated. Overall, I sense that my efforts were successful. One instance is the strength of possessive pronouns (“theirs”) and verbs related to possession (“to own”) in English, which can be slightly less pronounced in Portuguese and require additional words for a proper emphasis (“próprio a eles” or “pertence a eles e elas”). Nonetheless, it is important to keep in mind that a good portion of Portuguese native speakers, especially those resident in their home countries, do not come from a background in which concepts such as liberal arts colleges, residential college experience, and multilingualism at home are widespread. This surely has an influence on how certain references to these experiences in the text are interpreted by readers and cannot be summarized in an excerpt of this length. Many thanks to Rodrigo Heck and Hugo Bello, who helped me review this translation.

Nota do Tradutor

A primeira dificuldade que enfrentei no desenvolvimento dessa tradução é o fato de o português—assim como a maioria das línguas românicas—ser uma língua altamente flexionada em relação ao gênero. Existe, portanto, um desafio ao utilizar-se nomes próprios vindos do inglês, cujos gêneros devem ser escolhidos da maneira mais sensível possível: “de/da/do Amherst College”? Na norma padrão da língua portuguesa, não existe um pronome de gênero neutro como o they no inglês, e a flexão dos adjetivos é baseada no gênero no substantivo/pronome concordante (“eles” ou “elas”). Nesse caso, eu empreguei uma variedade de substantivos invariáveis (“o/a estudante”) e flexionados (“o aluno” / “a aluna”) no texto. O segundo desafio foi encontrar interpretações equivalentes no português de expressões idiomáticas inglesas que perdem o sentido quando traduzidas ao pé da letra. De maneira geral, considero que meus esforços foram bem-sucedidos. Um exemplo é a força dos pronomes possessivos (theirs) e verbos relacionados à possessão (to own), que podem ser levemente menos acentuados no português, e requerem palavras adicionais para uma ênfase correta (“próprio a eles” ou “pertence a eles e elas”). Entretanto, é importante ter em mente que uma boa parte dos falantes nativos do português, especialmente aqueles residentes em seus países de origem, não estão em um ambiente no qual conceitos como faculdades de artes liberais (liberal arts colleges), experiência residencial na faculdade e multilinguismo em casa são amplamente difundidos. Isso certamente tem uma influência na maneira em que certas referências à essas experiências no texto são interpretadas pelos leitores e não pode ser resumido em um excerto desse tamanho. Sou muito grato pelo apoio do Rodrigo Heck e Hugo Bello, que me ajudaram a revisar essa tradução.

Translator’s Note by Mikayla Vieira Ribeiro ’18

I was a bit apprehensive to take on this translation, because although I am fluent in Papiamentu, I have not studied it formally. Given linguistic colonial power dynamics, the Dutch Caribbean creole Papiamentu is often undervalued for its’ literary and academic value, and thus understudied in schools. So, my history with Papiamentu is not an unusual one. However, this also means that increased online, written, academic presence of Papiamentu is always pushing against the exact kind of linguistic discrimination mentioned in the article. I believe that the entire internet should be created and translated into Papiamentu so that Papiamentu speakers can more fully exist in our language on multiple platforms. In order to make sure that representation does not come at the cost of quality, I had my translation reviewed by several Papiamentu experts, in order to promote Papiamentu excellence, even while I am in a messy process of decolonizing my tongue.

Specifically about the translation process, I found the work to be far more creative than I had anticipated. Selecting similar words as representatives of concept not quite translatable put the artistry of constructing meaning in my hands. I enjoyed the excitement, and responsibility.

Translator’s Note by Ellie Thieu ’19

This is actually a collaboration between me and a friend, who works as a translator in Vietnam. I think we convey the spirit of the piece well. The writing in English is actually very academic, with many metaphors. And so at many times, I opt for translating the intended meaning instead of literal translation. I will note, though, that the challenge addressed in the excerpt is awareness about and respect of the diversity on campus. And in many cultures, and in particular in Vietnam, the focus has been: how can we modernize ourselves / shape our culture / behaviors to be more like the West / America. Therefore, while I convey the spirit of the piece well, I doubt if Vietnamese readers will understand why the piece is written, or appreciate the piece / the writer’s intentions.

Translator’s Note by Saad Baloch ’20

It has been a privilege and pleasure to work with this piece. It was challenging to translate because some of the words just do not have an accurate Urdu translation. Translation of words like multilingualism or phrases like “my own perils and triumphs as a translator and as a culture intermediary, a person straddling more than one otherness” do not do justice to the original piece. So I had to use 2-3 sentences to explain even one phrase so that it can be somewhat closer to the original. With this translation I hope it will reach out to wider audience, and more people will be able to connect with the story presented in this piece.

مترجم کے خیالات:

اِس آرْٹِیکَل پر کام کر کے مجھے بہت خوشی ہوئی. اِس کا ترجمہ کرنا کافی مشکل تھا کیونکہ کچھ الفاظ کا درست ترجمہ کرنا تقریباً نا ممکن ہے. ملٹی لینگویل اور باقی کچھ جملوں کا ترجمہ کرنا بہت مشکل تھا تو میں نے ایک لفظ کی جگہ دو تِین جملوں میں اس کا مطلب اردومیں سمجھانے کی کوشش کی ہے.

اِس ترجمے کے ساتھ میں یہ امید کرتا ہوں کے یہ آرْٹِیکَل زیادہ سے زیادہ لوگ پڑھیں گے اور اِس کہانی اور اِس کے مصنف کی تعریف کریں گے .

Translator’s Note by Aleksandar Ristivojevic ’22

This was the first article I have ever translated into the Serbian language and my first impression is that translation was a lot more demanding than I had previously expected. The greatest difficulty I encountered was certainly the different syntax used in Serbian language, so that direct translations of even simple phrases sounded somewhat awkward. As a result, I often had to significantly change the original sentence to make it sound more natural in Serbian. This was especially true for some more complex phrases used by the author. Another difficulty was the vocabulary. I witnessed the richness of English vocabulary and sometimes struggled to find the right word in my native language.

Aside from those difficulties, I think that working as a translator will help me perfect my knowledge of English. Reading English texts by itself introduces me to new words and expressions. As I’m translating from English and trying to find a way to express ideas in Serbian, at the same time I’m improving my skills with both languages. Also, I noticed the vast number of word forms Serbian language has because of its 7 grammar cases.

The topic of this article is very intriguing to me since I don’t have any experience of suppression of my first language and have never thought about growing up in two linguistic environments. The article contributed to my understanding of the importance of multiculturalism in the development of an academic institution such as Amherst College.

Белешке преводиоца:

Ово је први чланак који сам преводио на српски. Први утисак је да је превођење било далеко захтевније него што сам у почетку очекивао. Највећа потешкоћа ми је свакако било другачија синтакса него у српском језику, тако да су директни преводи чак и врло јасних израза звучали чудно. Због тога сам често морао да приликом превођења доста изменим оригиналну реченицу да би она на српском звучала природно. Ово се посебно односи на неке сложеније изразе које је аутор користио. Потешкоћа је био и речник, јер сам схватио да је енглески језик врло богат и у свом матерњем језику нисам могао да пронађем адекватну реч.

Осим потешкоћа које са собом носи, мислим да ће ми процес превођења помоћи да усавршим своје знање енглеског језика. Само читање текстова на енглеском ми помаже да се боље упознам са новим изразима и речима. Док преводим и покушавам да пронађем начин да мисли са енглеског изразим на српском, истовремено унапређујем своје знање и енглеског и свог матерњег језика. Такође сам приметио колико различитих облика речи српски језик има, понајвише због прилођавања речи падежима.

Тема овога текста ми је веома занимљива јер досад нисам имао искуства потискивања свог језика и нисам ни размишљао о одрастању у две различите језичке средине. Мислим да је овај чланак допринео мом разумевању значаја мултикултуралности за развој једне академске заједнице попут Амхерст колеџа.

The Rise and Fall of Urdu Language and Literature by Harith Khawaja

Translator’s Note by Harith Khawaja ’19, author of the original Urdu text

Urdu is a hard language for any translator to work with. For one, the beauty of its script is simply incommunicable in English. Written Urdu is read from right to left, oftentimes differing adjacent characters will change the way the entire word is written, and many times words spelt identically often have differing pronunciations, making it necessary to use harakat, literally vowel markings that aid enunciation. Furthermore, the language is undivorceable from Pakistani (and subcontinental) culture. There are some words that simply cannot be rendered into English because they will make no sense, for example “Shikwa and Jawab-i-Shikwa,” which literally mean “Complaint and Resolution” are arguably the two most famous works of Iqbal. Another challenge is translating proverbs in Urdu into English. In Urdu, there is a saying which literally means “like the amount of salt in pounded dough” to indicate “scantiness” – here we see some poetry being lost in translation. In the English version of this article, it was extremely hard to make the point of how English words interject an otherwise Urdu conversation. I tried to do that here by italicizing the words that are spoken in English.

Translator’s Note in French by Harith Khawaja, author of the original Urdu text

Note de Traducteur par Harith Khawaja

Travailler avec Ourdou est une tâche sisyphéenne. D’abord la beauté du script est simplement intraduisible. L’écriture est lue de droite à gauche, la combinaison de certains caractères va changer de façon d’écriture du mot entier, et plusieurs fois, les mêmes mots ont des prononciations différentes. Donc il devient nécessaire d’utiliser ce qu’on appelle des harakats [8]. Ensuite, la langue est inséparable de la culture pakistanaise. Il y a quelques mots qui n’ont pas du tout de traduction. Par exemple : « Shikwa et Jawab-i-Shikwa » veulent dire « Plainte et Résolution » qui sont peut-être deux des meilleures œuvres d’Iqbal. Un autre défi est de traduire des proverbes en ourdou en anglais. Il y en a un qui veut littéralement dire : « comme le sel dans la pâte de pain » pour indiquer la « maigre nombre de quelque chose ». Ici, on voit un peu de poésie perdue. Dans la version française, un des défis était d’indiquer comment des mots anglais sont gardés dans une conversation en ourdou. J’ai essayé de le souligner en mettant ces mots en italique. Traduire en français est encore un défi parce que l’ourdou est très loin de français. Donc, plusieurs fois, j’ai dû avoir recourse à la traduction anglaise pour rendre plus clair le sens des expressions. Le français, étant plus proche de l’anglais, partage beaucoup plus de similarités avec cette langue.

Translator’s Note by Aleksandar Ristivojevic ’22

Unlike “Fragments from a Letter”, the previous article I had translated, process of translating this one was a lot faster. There weren’t any major difficulties, and it was a lot easier for me to translate various English phrases. However, article’s topic left strongest impression on me and I’m glad I translated this article to Serbian.

I was quite intrigued by Harith Khawaja’s story, as I knew almost nothing about language, history or culture of south Asia, and thus of Indian subcontinent. I was fascinated by development of Urdu language, especially the influence of British rule and how English began to take the place of Urdu. The entire education in Serbia is in our native language and it was incredible to me that schools in Pakistan, even today, decades after the end of British rule, still use English as language of instruction. Despite those differences, issues Urdu faces today remind me of those that also exist in Serbia. English words are slowly creeping into everyday speech. Although not to the same extent as in Pakistan, people tend to increasingly use English phrases in everyday conversation, primarily due to lack of appropriate words in Serbian to designate terms related to Internet, social media and computers. Though they don’t finish assignments or have midterms, Serbian youth regularly likes and shares Facebook posts.

In my opinion, this interesting article is very important for all of us from non-English speaking world, as it describes a phenomenon that will be more prominent in the future – gradual insertion of English into other languages. Although languages are dynamic and constantly evolving, this article reminds us we cannot let ourselves disregard our language and replace it with English (or some hybrid of English) as it will cause us to slowly lose a part of our culture and identity.

Белешке преводиоца

За разлику од „Одломака из писма“, прошлог чланка који сам преводио, превођење овог ми је ишло доста брже. Није било већих потешкоћа и превођење различитих фраза са енглеског ми је било лакше. Ипак, највећи утисак на мене је оставила тема овог чланка, због чега ми је посебно драго да сам га превео на српски.

Веома ме је заинтересовала прича Харита Каваје, јер нисам знао готово ништа о језику, историји и култури јужне Азије, па самим тим ни индијског потконтинента. Такође ми је била фасцинантна прича о развоју урду језика, поготово о утицају британске владавине и томе како је енглески почео да потискује урду. Било ми је невероватно да се у Пакистану и данас, деценијама после краја британске власти, школска настава одвија на енглеском, јер је у Србији целокупно образовање на матерњем (српском) језику. Упркос тим разликама, у Кавајином опису проблема са којим се урду језик суочава, препознао сам неке које постоје и у Србији. Енглеске речи полако улазе у свакодневни говор. Иако не у оној мери као у Пакистану, у разговору се све више користе енглески изрази, понајвише због недостатка одговарајућих речи на српском за појмове везане за интернет, друштвене мреже и рачунаре. Иако не завршавају асајнменте или имају мидтермове, млади у Србији лајкују и шерују објаве на Фејсбуку.

Сматрам да је ово веома занимљив и важан чланак за све нас који смо из средина где енглески није матерњи језик, јер говори о појави која ће бити све више истакнута у будућности – постепеном убацивању енглеског у друге језике. Упркос томе што су језици динамични и временом се мењају, овај чланак нас подсећа да не смемо допустити да скрајнемо свој језик и да га заменимо енглеским (или неким хибридом енглеског), јер тиме постпепено губимо део своје културе и идентитета.

Translator’s Note by Gabriela Bucio ’21

Translating Harith’s piece was simultaneously exciting and daunting. It was exciting because as I worked to understand his writing in English before I could translate into Spanish, I also understood the history of Urdu and the way its magic is missed when translated, especially into English – an incredibly logical, and much less romantic language than Urdu. Spanish, too, I have always felt, is much more prone to the romanticism Harith describes of Urdu than English. Thus, it excited me to try to bring back some of that feeling which had been missed in Harith’s translation from Urdu to English through the completely removed language of Spanish. This, however, made the translation all the more daunting; it meant that I had to pay extra attention to my Spanish writing to try and encapsulate some of the sentiment that is almost visceral in Harith’s writing. In the end, though I have no way of comparing my Spanish translation to his original Urdu, I was happy to have been able to translate such a heartfelt piece and hope that the Spanish version has done it some justice.

Traducir la pieza de Harith fue simultáneamente emocionante y desalentador. Fue emocionante porque mientras trabajaba en entender su forma de escribir en Ingles antes de traducirlo a español, también entendí la historia del urdu y la manera en que su magia es perdida cuando traducido especialmente al Ingles – un idioma increíblemente lógico y mucho menos romántico que el urdu. El español, también, yo siempre he creído, es mucho mas propenso al romanticismo que Harith describe del urdu que el ingles. Es por esto por lo que me emocionaba tratar de devolver algo de ese sentimiento que se había perdido en la traducción de la pieza original de Harith en urdu a la versión en ingles por medio del idioma lejano del español. Esto, sin embargo, hizo el proceso de traducción aun mas desalentador; significaba que tenia que prestar atención adicional a mi escritura en español para tratar de encapsular parte del sentimiento que es casi en la escritura de Harith. Al final, aunque no hay manera de comparar mi traducción en español a la pieza original en urdu, estoy contenta de haber podido traducir una pieza tan sincera y espero que la versión en español le haya hecho algo de justicia.

A Rose By Any Other Name by Faith Chung

Translator’s Note by Hikari Yoshida ’19

Before taking a course in Amherst last semester called, “Literature as Translation,” I thought of the translator’s work as something that bridges the gap between the two different languages. However, as I translated one of the short stories written by a Japanese author, from Japanese to English, and this piece by Faith, from English to Japanese, I realized that translation is more of bridging the cultural differences between the two countries. Translating Faith’s piece was challenging because there were a lot of Korean words that I did not know what they would actually sound like when pronounced in Korean, in English, and in Japanese. Even though I have never met the author of this piece, I felt as if I already knew her in person as I was translating this short piece! I think this experience is what I enjoy the most when I am translating.

翻訳：吉田ひかり

アマースト大学で翻訳に関する授業を履修したり、フェイスの物語を訳したりしている内に、翻訳家としての仕事はただ単に二つの言語を訳すものではなく、二つの国の文化を訳すものだということに気がつきました。今回の作品を訳すにあたって、一番難しかったことは、英語で表記されている韓国語の言葉をどのようにして日本語で、そして、日本語の音として一番忠実に訳すかということです。また、会ったこともない筆者のことを、本当の知り合いのように知ることができるということが、翻訳家としての特権だと思います。

Translator’s Note by Esther Song ’21

Faith의 회고록을 번역하는 일은 매우 특별한 경험이었습니다. 다른 누군가의 글을 나 자신의 언어로 재창조해낸다는 것은 분명 엄청난 특권이지만 동시에 상당한 책임과 부담이 따른다고 생각합니다. 특히 이처럼 개인적인 내용을 담고있는 글은 모든 단어, 표현, 그리고 문장을 번역하는데 있어 특히나 많은 주의와 생각을 필요로 한다고 느꼈습니다. 한 편의 문장에 이렇게 많은 시간과 노력을 쏟은 적은 아마 이번이 처음일 것입니다. 모든 문장 하나 하나를 단어로, 또 그 단어들을 그 속에 있는 미묘한 뉘앙스들과 의미로 분해하는 과정을 끊임없이 반복했습니다. 제 번역이 원본의 의미나 어조를 왜곡하지 않았으면 하는 마음에 Faith의 글이 가지고 있는 고유의 리듬과 특징을 전달할 언어를 찾기 위해 노력한 것 같습니다. 물론 쉽지 않은 과정이었습니다. 최종 번역본에서도 원본과 사뭇 다른 부분들이 분명 존재하는데, 이는 한글과 영문 사이의 차이, 그리고 Faith와 저의 문체 차이에서 비롯된 어쩔 수 없는 현상이라고 생각됩닌다. 하지만 한가지 확실한 것은 원본과 번역본 둘 다 각기의 언어로 Faith의 이야기를 아름답게 표현해내고 있다는 것입니다. 저는 이 사실 하나만으로 이 다사다난했던 번역 과정이 힘들기보다는 보람있었다고 느껴집니다

Translating Faith’s memoir was a truly special experience. Being able to recreate someone else’s writing in my own words is undoubtedly a privilege, but one that comes with its fair share of burdens. The very personal nature of the piece made it even more imperative that I treated each word, expression, and punctuation with utmost attention and care. I don’t think I’ve ever spent so much time and effort going through a single piece of text, dissecting each and every sentence into words and then words into their specific nuances and implications. I didn’t want my translation to obscure the meaning or tone of the original text and often struggled to find the ‘right’ words to encapsulate the unique rhythm and qualities of Faith’s writing. It was a difficult task, and I know there are parts of my translation that inevitably deviate from the original, simply due to fundamental differences that exist between the two languages as well as between our writing styles. However, I can confidently say that both the original and the translation tell Faith’s experience in equally beautiful, albeit different languages- and for me, this knowledge alone makes the whole experience of translation much more rewarding than challenging.

Translator’s Note by Saad Baloch ’20

It has been a privilege and pleasure to work with this piece. It was challenging to translate because some of the words just do not have an accurate Urdu translation. Translation of words like monogrammed or phrases like “My cousins are half korean” do not do justice to the original piece. So I had to use 2-3 sentences to explain even one phrase so that it can be somewhat closer to the original. With this translation I hope it will reach out to wider audience, and more people will be able to connect with the story presented in this piece.

مترجم کے خیالات:

اِس آرْٹِیکَل پر کام کر کے مجھے بہت خوشی ہوئی. اِس کا ترجمہ کرنا کافی مشکل تھا کیونکہ کچھ الفاظ کا درست ترجمہ کرنا تقریباً نا ممکن ہے. مونوگرام اور باقی کچھ جملوں کا ترجمہ کرنا بہت مشکل تھا تو میں نے ایک لفظ کی جگہ دو تِین جملوں میں اس کا مطلب اردومیں سمجھانے کی کوشش کی ہے.
اِس ترجمے کے ساتھ میں یہ امید کرتا ہوں کے یہ آرْٹِیکَل زیادہ سے زیادہ لوگ پڑھیں گے اور اِس کہانی اور اِس کے مصنف کی تعریف کریں گے .

Translator’s Note by Gabriela Bucio

When I first read Faith’s memoir, I could not wait to translate it into Spanish. Her piece is powerfully packed with nostalgia, and I have always felt that the Spanish language is much more emotionally conducive than English. I wanted to keep the rhythm of Faith’s writing, thinking that the romantic nature of Spanish would be especially helpful. Soon, however, I realized that the colloquialism embedded in Faith’s memoir was much harder to translate into Spanish than I thought, mainly because it is shaped by the logical and almost cold essence of the English form of speech. I began to stress over each word, determined to find the perfect one for each thought – the infamous accent marks that change the meaning of words in Spanish did not help either. Nonetheless, after many revisions of my translation, and countless readings of Faith’s original, I finally feel that my translation has successfully – though not perfectly – encapsulated the sentiments of Faith’s memoir, if only with minor changes of the English wit for the Spanish melodrama.

Cuando inicialmente leí las memorias de Faith, no podía esperar para traducirlo as español. Su pieza esta poderosamente repleta de nostalgia, y siempre he sentido que el español es mas favorecerte a las emociones que el idioma ingles. Quería mantener el ritmo de la escritura de Faith, pensando que la naturaleza romántica del español seria especialmente útil en esto. Sin embargo, pronto realice que el coloquialismo presente en las memorias de Faith era mucho mas difícil de traducir de lo que esperaba, mayormente porque es moldeado por la esencia fría y lógica de las formas de comunicación en ingles. Empecé a estresarme sobre cada palabra, determinada a encontrar la equivalente perfecta en español para cada pensamiento – las tildes conocidas del español que cambian la definición de las palabras tampoco ayudaban mucho. De todas maneras, después de muchas revisiones a mi traducción e innumerables leídas de la versión original de Faith, por fin siento que mi traducción ha exitosamente – aunque no perfectamente – encapsulado los sentimientos de las memorias de Faith, si tan solo con pequeños cambios del ingenio ingles por el melodrama español.

Translator’s Note by Jessica Yu ’22

Translating this piece was incredibly challenging but also rewarding, and allowed me to truly understand the complexities of both the Chinese and English language. Capturing the emotions of Faith’s work and reflecting that in Chinese was difficult to accomplish, as many words that she used were difficult to find an equivalent in Chinese. I quickly realized that translating from English to Chinese is much more difficult than translating from Chinese to English, and this is mainly because I grew up in the U.S. Nonetheless, this story was captivating and moving, and it was a privilege to be able to translate it.

翻译这篇文章既是令人难以置信的挑战，也是个有益的练习，它让我真正理解了中文和英文的复杂性。 捕捉到Faith作品中的情感，并用中文表达是很难实现的，因为她使用的很多单词很难在中文中找到相应的词语。 我觉得从英文翻译到中文要比从中文翻译到英文要困难得多，这主要是因为我在美国长大的原因。尽管如此，这个故事很有吸引力，很感人，我很高兴能翻译这篇作品。

Translator’s Notes by Aleksandar Ristivojevic

This Confluences article was so far the most difficult for me to translate, especially the title and the Korean names and words.

The title of the article, “A Rose by any other Name” seemed a bit strange to me until I realized it was taken from a line in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Therefore, I had to start by finding a translation of Shakespeare’s verse into Serbian. This wasn’t entirely simple, as there were multiple translations of Romeo and Juliet that I encountered, and I had to choose one that would send the message that best reflects original English title. The second obstacle were the Korean names and words in the English version of this article. Given that the Serbian language is phonetic, I needed to learn the pronunciation of those names, as well as phrases. The internet was of immense help with this task. Despite that, I have not been able to find the word kyudanchim, so I left it like that.

This article’s topic was interesting as it touched upon growing up in a family of Korean descent and their attempts to fit into American society. It was also fascinating as it spoke about one aspect of assimilation I have noticed, but never thought much about. I was a bit surprised when I first realized the children of immigrants from Asian countries sometimes had English names, rather than names in their first language. I hadn’t fully realized the difficulties that children with foreign names can encounter even as children. The story of Uncle Wilson, who as a 9-year-old decided to choose an English name for himself left a great impression on me: at such an early age he understood the challenges he’d face and already decided to get another name for himself.

До сада ово је најзахтевнији чланак за превођење, иако је већи део текста сасвим уобичајен у језичком смислу. Ипак, сам наслов текста, корејска имена и речи које се у њему појављују су ми представљали проблем.

Наслов ми је изгледао помало чудно док нисам схватио да се ради о делу стиха из Шекспировог „Ромеа и Јулије“. Зато је приликом превођења било неопходно кренути од превода Шекспирових стихова на српски. Ово није било сасвим једноставно, јер постоји више превода „Ромеа и Јулије“. Морао сам да нађем онај који би најбоље могао пренети поруку оригиналног енглеског наслова. Други проблем су представљала корејска имена и речи које су задржане у енглеском преводу. Обзиром да је српски језике фонетски, било је потребно да сазнам како се њихова имена изговарају. Исто је важило и за корејске изразе. Интернет ми је при томе био од велике помоћи. Упркос томе, нисам успео да сазнам значење и изговор речи kyudanchim, тако да сам је оставио у енглеском запису.

Тема текста је веома занимљива јер прати одрастање деце у корејској породици у Америци и говори о њиховим покушајима да се што лакше уклопе у америчко друштво. Посебно је интересантан аспект асимилације о којем до сада нисам никада размишљао, али сам га примећивао. У одређеној мери ме је изненадило сазнање да деца, потомци имигранта из Азије, неретко имају америчка имена, а не имена на свом матерњем језику. Нисам до краја схватао тешкоће са којима се деца са страним именима сусрећу још од малих ногу. Прича о ујаку Вилсону, који се већ као деветогодишњак сам одлучује за ново име, оставила је посебан утисак на мене. Он је већ тада схватио изазове са којима се суочавају они чији је матерњи језик није енглески, и одлучнио да их избегне избором новог имена за себе.

The Archival History of Multilingual Publishing at Amherst College by Manda Pizzollo

Translator’s Note by Daniel Betancur-Echeverri

This is my very first translation for Confluences. I recall seeing the flyer for this publication in Val and being immediately interested in it. I’d never thought of, much less heard of, a publication interested in bringing bodies of works into as many languages as the ones spoken by our student body. It’s my final year at Amherst College, and lately, I’ve been thinking about the past 3 ½ years here, and what I’ve learned. I’ve kind of been a little disappointed that I didn’t take advantage of the opportunities presented here to explore and develop my Spanish more, and by doing so, become more in touch with my culture. So lately I’ve been trying to make amends, first by signing up for a class studying Pablo Neruda, and second, by reaching out to Confluences to translate some works for them. To my surprise, the translation was much more difficult and complicated than I had previously imagined coming into this. After this undertaking, I’ve come to realize just how difficult it is to translate across languages whilst trying to maintain the spirit and meaning of the original. For this paper, the most notable example is towards the end, with the author’s use of the word, “darn.” It hit me when I came across it that there wasn’t really a Spanish equivalent. When I plugged it into Google Translate, it also didn’t really know what to do with it, instead, returning a much more vulgar expletive in its place. There are other examples of course, but luckily, the big picture can always be translated, with a few modifications here and there of course. Funnily enough, it’s these small modifications that tell you so much about the culture and the people who speak a particular language and makes this whole translation work worth it.

Esta es mi primera traducción para Confluences. Recuerdo haber visto el folleto de esta publicación en Val y haber estado inmediatamente interesado en él. Nunca había pensado, y mucho menos escuchado, de una publicación interesada en traer cuerpos de trabajos a tantos idiomas como los que habla nuestros estudiantes. Es mi último año en Amherst College, y últimamente he estado pensando en los últimos 3 ½ años, y en lo que he aprendido. Me ha decepcionado un poco que no aprovechara las oportunidades que se presentan aquí para explorar y desarrollar mi español y, al hacerlo, estar más en contacto con mi cultura. Así que últimamente he estado intentando hacer las paces, primero inscribiéndome en una clase que estudia a Pablo Neruda, y segundo, contactando a Confluences para traducir algunas obras para ellos. Sorprendentemente, la traducción fue mucho más difícil y complicada de lo que había esperado. Después de este trabajo, me he dado cuenta de lo difícil que es la traducción en todos los idiomas mientras tratar de mantener el espíritu y el significado del original. Para este artículo, el ejemplo más notable es hacia el final, con el uso que hace el autor de la palabra, “darn”. Me di cuenta de que en realidad no había un equivalente palabra en español. Cuando lo conecté a Google Translate, tampoco sabía realmente qué hacer con él, sino que me devolvía una palabra mucho más vulgar en su lugar. Hay otros ejemplos, por supuesto, pero afortunadamente, el panorama general siempre se puede traducir, con algunas modificaciones aquí y allá, por supuesto. Curiosamente, son estas pequeñas modificaciones las que hablan mucho sobre la cultura y las personas que hablan un idioma en particular y hacen que toda la traducción valga la pena.

Translator’s Note by Waleed Babar ’21

This article was somewhat difficult to translate as there were a lot of words that don’t have a counterpart in Urdu, such as ‘digital’, but it was mostly relatively straightforward as the article was descriptive and didn’t use a lot of metaphors. All in all, I had fun translating this, and tackling the challenges it presented.

اس مضمون کا توجمہ کرنا تھورا مشکل تھا کیونکہ اس میں انگریزی کے ایسے الفاظ تھے جن کا اردو میں کوئی ہم منصب نہیں، جیسے کہ ‘ڈیجیٹل’، لیکن زیادہ تر مضمون آسان تھا کیونکہ مضمون تشریحی تھا اور بہت کم محاوروں کا استعمال تھا۔ سب کچھ ملا کہ، مجھے اس مضمون کا ترجمہ کرنے میں مزہ آیا-

Translator’s Note by Hyery Yoo ’22

As I translated this piece, I realized that the major challenge with translating is balancing between accurately conveying the original text and making the translation flow. I translated expressions that are not used in Korean, such as “archival treasures” and “darn well,” by replacing or removing these expressions instead of translating them word-by-word. Although some of the author’s tone was lost by this choice, the translation became easier to read. I also had to choose between naming the magazines by sounding out the names and by directly translating the meaning. I decided to sound out unique names like “Confluences”, “Electric Pen”, and “Polyglossos” with a note of their meaning (with the exception of Polyglossos) in order to make the magazines easily identifiable. Despite the challenges, translating for Confluences was a worthwhile experience because I learned that inevitable loss and gain of meaning exist in translation and that the translator plays an important role in how the writing is portrayed to the readers.

이 글을 번역하면서 원문을 정확하게 표현하는 것과 번역문을 자연스럽게 만드는 것의 균형을 찾는 것이 번역의 어려운 부분이라는 것을 알게 되었다. 한국어에서 잘 쓰이지 않는 표현들은 번역문을 더 읽기 쉽게 하기 위해 작가의 어조를 조금 잃는 것을 감안하고 단어를 하나씩 직역하는 대신 다른 표현으로 대체하거나 삭제하였다. 또한 잡지의 이름을 영어 발음대로 표기할 것인지 이름의 의미를 번역하여 표기할 것인지 고민하다가 원본 잡지를 찾기 쉽게 하기 위해 컨플루언스, 일렉트릭 펜, 폴리글로소스 등의 이름을 영어 발음대로 표기하면서 괄호 안에 의미를 적기로 결정하였다. 어려운 부분도 있었지만 컨플루언스의 글을 번역하는 것은 의미 있는 경험이었다. 번역 중에 어쩔 수 없이 의미가 사라지기도 더해지기도 한다는 것과 글이 독자에게 어떻게 비추어지는지에 대해 있어 번역자의 역할이 중요하다는 것을 배웠다.

Translator’s Notes by Aleksandar Ristivojevic ’22

This was my third translation for Confluences: Lost & Found in Translation, and I can say it’s becoming a lot easier. I didn’t encountered many difficulties; it was fairly straightforward to translate this article into Serbian. One of the few issues I faced was a lack of a good way to translate certain phrases, like “Bicentennial Project Metadata Librarian.” The problem is that unlike in English—where it is quite easy to create a meaningful phrase just by using words next to each other, such a (usually long) group of words sounds awkward when translated. In those cases, it was necessary to depart from using the same form of expression in order to keep the translation natural and while conveying the same (or a similar) meaning.

Regarding the article itself, it was very interesting to read about multilingual publishing at Amherst. I had not thought about whether someone had tried to make a magazine similar to Confluences. It was really surprising for me to learn there was not one, but two of them. I was also very glad to read about the existence of the online archive of publications from Amherst. Skimming over its website, was enough for me to realized how interesting and valuable such a collection is.

Ово је трећи чланак који сам превео и примећујем да ми је превођење постало лакше. Није било већих потешкоћа и било је поприлично једноставно. Један од ретких проблема је било превођење израза попут „Bicentennial Project Metadata Librarian“. Дословно превођење оваквог израза није могуће, јер тако дугачак низ именица није у духу српског језика. Због тога сам морао да значење оваквих фраза преведем на српски у другачијем облику, не би ли превод звучао природније, а истовремено задржао своје значење.

Када је реч о самом чланку, веома је било занимљиво читати о историји вишејезичног издаваштва на Амхерст колеџу. Нисам никада размишљао да ли је нешто попут „Сусретања“ постојало и раније и веома ме је изненадило, да су постојала чак два таква часописа. Било ми је веома драго што сам прочитао да на интернету постоји архива факултетских часописа. Довољан ми је био краткотрајни преглед њене интернет странице да бих увидео колико је таква колекција вредна и интересантна.

Translator’s Note by Gordon Powers ’23

It was very difficult to do my first translation for Confluences. The reason that it was so hard is because French is a language that I have used in an academic environment; before doing this I had not undertaken creative translations. I wanted to keep the author’s style, but it was challenging to find the necessary words. In addition, I would say that the words used to explain the departments of the Library do not exist in a short manner, and I had to lengthen the text. I hope that I haven’t lost the main point in my translation. Some especially difficult words to translate were “student-run” and “overlord.”

C’était très difficile de faire ma première traduction pour Confluences, parce que le français est une langue que j’avais utilisé dans une ambiance très académique, et avant de faire ça je n’avais pas fait de traductions créatives. Je voulais garder le style de l’auteure, mais c’était éprouvant de trouver les mots nécessaires. De plus, je dirais que les mots en français utilisés pour expliquer les départements de la Bibliothèque n’existent pas dans un vocabulaire simple, j’ai donc eu besoin d’allonger le texte. J’espère que je n’ai pas perdu le sens voulu par l’auteure. Quelques mots difficiles à traduire étaient “student-run” et “overlord.”

Beyond Barriers by Min Cheng

Translator’s Note by Juanita Jaramillo

It was challenging to interpret the text in English, and then translate it into Spanish in a way that flowed well without losing the original meaning of the text. It served as a good reminder that I need to brush up on my grammar skills, for the translation required a lot of editing. It was reassuring to know that I have a strong Spanish vocabulary, and that I was able to recreate a piece of writing in my second language. It made me more confident in my abilities to write and interpret Spanish. I think the Spanish translation adds more depth to it, for the article addresses themes of isolation, discomfort and self doubt as a foreigner in the United States. I think many Spanish speakers can relate to the discomfort of being an immigrant in a foreign country, and the fact that is it then translated into Spanish really drives that point forward and serves as a reminder that many other people share this experience.

What is my Language? by Eugene Lee

Translator’s Note by Youssef Boucetta ’21

This text felt very interesting to translate for various reasons. The subject matter itself deals with the issue of speaking or in this case writing “correctly”, that is, expressing yourself in a language as if you were a native speaker. French is a language I grew up speaking. Yet, being in college in America, I’ve inevitably had to read and write mainly in English. It becomes more and more difficult to disentangle them both from each other. In bringing Eugene Lee’s text to French, I’ve tried to allow the English syntactic structures to remain discernible in the translation. This is not to make it more literal but rather to play with some of the ideas advanced in the text itself. I wanted to challenge the rigid distinction that gives each language its own prescriptive syntax, to try and allow the translation to be powerfully affected by its source language. Just as Eugene Lee learns to proudly allow his Korean to be influenced by his English and vice-versa, this translation plays with French and contorts it to imitate its original English and thus conserve the traces of the author’s stylistic identity all the while embracing hybridity.

Ce texte a été intéressant à traduire pour plusieurs raisons. Le sujet en soi porte sur l’idée de parler, ou dans mon cas d’écrire, « correctement », c’est à dire, de s’exprimer dans une langue comme si l’on était locuteur natif. Le Français est une langue dont laquelle j’ai fait usage toute mon enfance. Toutefois, étant actuellement dans une université américaine, je suis inévitablement mené à lire et à écrire principalement en Anglais. Désenchevêtrer ces deux langues devient une tâche de plus en plus difficile. En transportant le texte d’Eugene Lee au Français, j’ai essayé de laisser transparaître les traces de la syntaxe Anglaise originale. Cela n’est pas dans le but de rendre la traduction plus littérale mais plutôt pour jouer avec certaines des idées avancées dans le texte. J’ai voulu défier la distinction rigide qui donne à chaque langue sa propre syntaxe prescriptive, afin de permettre à ma traduction d’être puissamment affectée par sa langue d’origine. Tout comme le Coréen d’Eugene Lee est affecté par son Anglais et vice-versa, cette traduction joue avec le français et le fait se retordre pour imiter l’Anglais et ainsi conserver l’identité stylistique de l’auteur tout en revendiquant l’hybridité.

Translator’s Note by Aleksandar Ristivojevic ’22

This article had most interesting topic among all of those I translated for Confluences so far. What is my language deals with second generation immigrants and their relationship towards country of origin and language of their parents. This topic was close to me, as I have two cousins who were born in the US and will probably be in the same position as author of this article in the future. For now, they speak Serbian very well, but it is questionable how they will speak it in later. It was fascinating to read about a personal experience of someone in such a situation. I have never thought about people like Eugene and difficulties they face in their parents’ country of origin until I read this article.

When it comes to translation, except few expressions, there weren’t many difficulties. Problems were caused by phrases like “ownership of language” which were difficult to translate to Serbian. Amongst them, I decided to keep expressions “native speaker” and “non-native speaker” in their original English form, as I found they lacked adequate translation to Serbian altogether.

Тематски, ово је био најзанимљиви чланак из Сусретања који сам до сада преводио. Који је заиста мој језик се бави другом генерацијом имиграната и њиховим односом према земљи порекла и матерњем језику својих родитеља. Ова тема ми је блиска јер имам рођаке које су рођене у САД-у и које ће се у будућности вероватно наћи у улози аутора овог чланка. Оне тренутно одлично говоре српски језик, али је питање колико ће га знати у будућности. Било ми је врло занимљиво читати лично искуство особе у таквој ситуацији. Никада до сада нисам размишљао у људима попут Јуџина и потешкоћама са којима се они сусрећу у земљи порекла њихових родитеља.

Када је реч о превођењу, са изузетком неколико израза није било већих потешоћа. Проблем су представљали изрази попут „ownership of language“ којима нија било лако наћи адекватан превод на српски. Међу њима, фразе „native speaker“ и „non-native speaker“ сам одлучио да оставим у оригиналном облику, јер просто у српском језику не постоји адекватан превод за њих.

Translator’s Note by Rodrigo Aguilera Croasdaile, ‘23

Having to write, in any language, about speaking another language is a difficult task. Having to translate the text into a third, unrelated language, is even more so. Fortunately, translating English to Spanish and vice versa has its advantages, personally and generally. It is possible to translate word for word and still have a relatively coherent text; other changes come to a matter of detail and style. For a rough analogy, English has a “main” word with several synonyms that offer more nuanced tones or connotations (Eugene Lee, the article’s author, mentions these “synonym acrobatics”), while Spanish has several words for approximately the same definition. English composition can have several levels of style and tone, but Spanish must have a certain poetic precision. The greater challenge is not translating an article’s words, but rather, its author’s voice.

Tener que escribir, en cualquier idioma, de hablar otro idioma es una tarea difícil. Tener que traducir ese texto a un tercer idioma, no relacionado, aún más. Afortunadamente, traducir español a inglés y viceversa tiene sus ventajas, en lo personal y lo general. Es posible traducir palabra por palabra y aún tener un texto relativamente coherente; los demás cambios son una cuestión de detalle y estilo. Haciendo una analogía aproximada, el inglés tiene una palabra “principal”, con varios sinónimos que ofrecen tonos o connotaciones más matizados (Eugene Lee, autor de este artículo, menciona estas “acrobacias de sinónimos”), mientras que el español tiene varias palabras para aproximadamente la misma definición. La composicion en ingles puede tener varios niveles de estilo y tono, pero el español debe poseer una cierta precisión poética. El mayor desafío no es traducir las palabras de un artículo, sino la voz de su autor.

Translator’s Note by Esther Song ’21

Translating a piece written by someone you know seems much more doable than translating a piece written by a complete stranger. At least, that’s what I thought when I first started working on Eugene’s piece. I thought that since I knew Eugene and the experiential background from which he had written this piece, I would be at an advantage in understanding what he had to say, and correspondingly, at translating it.

In some respects, this turned out to be true. At certain points in my translation process, I was able to ask Eugene to clarify certain sentences whose ambiguity didn’t quite translate well into Korean. In fact, the mere knowledge that I could simply reach out to Eugene with any questions or uncertainties was undeniably reassuring in and of itself.

But of course, there were other parts to the translation process that this access to the original writer didn’t necessarily make easier. Again and again, I grappled with the syntax of Eugene’s sentences, his rich vocabulary and intricately composed expressions, and the oftentimes complex, intrinsically personal ideas that he communicated. Ironically enough, the biggest challenges of translating Eugene’s piece came from his very craftsmanship in his own language. As translator, I struggled time and again to preserve the masterful, artistic quality of his written English within the completely different grammatical and semantical frameworks of the Korean language. The finished product of that strenuous process is, I’d say, an adequate translation of Eugene’s amazing piece that holds an interesting dissonance between the subject being discussed and the language being used to communicate it—after all, Eugene’s piece talks about his lack of ownership over the Korean language, yet my translation expresses his frustrations over his ineptitude with Korean in nothing other than the Korean language itself. When I asked Eugene what he thought of my translation, he said he was happy with it. That being said, I don’t know if that’s the best indicator of my work’s grammatical and semantical standards.