Day 8
Thurs. Nov. 17
Discussion of translation of “Days of Rage”
More on “voice”
Homework:
➤ REad text for next challenge
Read the text for your next challenge. As you read, think about the question of voice. How would you describe the voice of the author (or narrator)? Are there other voices in the text besides the author’s/narrator’s voice? How important do you think the idea of “voice” is to translate this text effectively?
➤ Find a text to serve as inspiration for your next challenge
Find a text in the target language (the language you’re translating into) whose style (or “voice”) is similar in some way to that of the text you’re translating.
Upload the text to the folder “Sample texts for inspiration” on SharePoint and come to next class ready to tell us why you picked this text and how it might serve as inspiration for you when translating.
➤ Find an informant, if necessary
If you think you will need to work with an English native speaker either to answer questions about the text (if the original is in English) or to offer feedback on your translation (if you’re translating into English) I’d recommend you start thinking about that, and make whatever advance plans are necessary.
➤ Start thinking about final challenge
Once you’ve had a change to read your text for Challenge 2, I’d recommend you think ahead to your final challenge, for which you are free to choose your own text to translation, and for which you can work with anybody you wish (or individually). What text (or kind of text) do you think you’d like to translate for your final challenge? (Assume you’ll translate an excerpt of similar length to the ones for Challenge 1 and 2.) If you already have an idea, I’ve love to hear what it is — message me on WeChat and let me know what you’re thinking.
➤ Supplementary Reading
Chapter 26 of Bellos (“Style and Translation'“) is very relevant to the idea of “voice” as well as style. If you haven’t read it yet (or haven’t read it in its entirety) now might be a good time to.
