Archive • Translating Myself - A Pop-up Newsletter • Buttondown

Translating myself #20: What is translation for?

For Dulce, who started this "Without translation, I would be limited to the borders of my own country. The translator is my most important ally. He...

Translating myself #19: Metaphors of translation

Hello. Apologies for today’s later-than-usual e-mail. This is my penultimate newsletter with thoughts on translation. Thank you for staying the course! As we...

Translating myself #18: The (translation) ghost in the machine -- PLUS a sneak preview for readers!

“Machine translation will displace only those humans who translate like machines, humans will focus on tasks that require intelligence.” Arle Richard Lommel,...

Translating myself #17: Transparency in translation

“No translation is ever innocent.” Alberto Manguel, Argentine-Canadian writer and translator Hello. Let me jump right in with a question: should translators...

Translating myself #16: Foreignness in translation

“A major difficulty in translation is that a word in one language seldom has a precise equivalent in another one.” Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher...

Translating myself #15: On taming texts in translation

Hello. Today I’d like to go back to remarks made by a reader in response to one of my earliest posts. Reflecting on my fleeting encounter with Portugal’s...

Translating myself #14: Paradise (re)translated

"A translation is no translation, he said, unless it will give you the music of a poem along with the words of it." John Millington Synge, Irish Writer...

Translating myself #13: More beginnings...

“Translation is that which transforms everything so that nothing changes” Günter Grass, novelist Hello. Yesterday I shared some thoughts on translating the...

Translating myself #12: In the beginning...

“Even the simplest word can never be rendered with its exact equivalent into another language.” Kimon Friar, Greek-American translator Hello. Eagle-eyed...

Translating myself #11: A translation tangent

“It is impossible to translate poetry. Can you translate music?” Voltaire Hello. Welcome back to “Translating myself”, my time-limited newsletter series...

Translating myself #10: News from a launch

Hello. Yesterday there was a lovely digital book launch for Dulce Maria Cardoso’s Violeta Among the Stars. It was brilliantly chaired by broadcaster Rosie...

Translating myself #9: Titles in translation

Hello. Today is publication day for Dulce Maria Cardoso's Violeta Among the Stars. I am looking forward to speaking to Dulce at the digital launch event this...

Translating myself #8: High fidelity

"As translators know, the passage of a text from one language to another is not a smooth or easy one. It requires negotiation." Peter Burke, historian Hello....

Translating myself #7: History as translation... Plus: invitation to launch

“Translation is not a matter of words only: it is a matter of making intelligible a whole culture.” Anthony Burgess, novelist Hello. Only two days to go...

Translating myself #6: Return to 'The Return'

“Writers make national literatures and translators make literature universal.” José Saramago Hello. Welcome back. If today’s is your first newsletter, thank...

Translating myself #5: Translation's coming home

“Where literature exists, translation exists.” Edith Grossman, American translator Allow me to be topical… England is playing Scotland at the Euro Cup...

Translating myself #4: Adventures in the Lusosphere

Hello. With only one week to go before the publication of Violeta Among the Stars, I have been thinking about my introduction to the Portuguese language, and...

Translating myself #3: The river flows both ways

“Translation is a disturbing craft because there is precious little certainty about what we are doing..." Gregory Rabassa, Cuban-American literary translator...

Translating myself #2: On translation as movement

“The first rule of translation: make sure you know at least one of the bloody languages!” -- Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Pakistani poet and translator Hello. Readers of...

Translating myself #1: A pop-up newsletter about translation (mostly)

“Without translation, we would be living in provinces bordering on silence.” -- George Steiner, French-American literary critic Hello. To begin at the...