Workshop Basics

1 — Work ethics: translation as a core writing practice. Cultivation of accuracy and style.

2 — Selectiveness: which texts can restore missing links in discourse or challenge outmoded assumptions.

3 — Approaching a text:

a) Context: researching the background of a text, the social, economical and cultural conditions in which it was written, the writer’s biography and/or autobiographical writings, their self-image. Viewing the text with a critical but non-judgemental mind. Understanding the effects of time on cultural discourse, the changes in concepts of morality and standards of behaviour, the impact of such changes on language.

b) Form: understanding a text’s form in relation to the thoughts and emotions it aims to elicit, and ‘hearing’ the tone and rhythm used to that purpose. Examining and matching the processes at work in the text.

c) Technique: remaining aware of being involved in a process of comparison, retaining a willingness to investigate the relative properties of two different systems (their grammar and syntax, and phonetics as determining function of rhythm).

4 — Attitude:

a) Hubris & humility: believing one is best placed to translate a given text while being prepared to examine it in the smallest detail before assuming deliberate or accidental obscurity on the author’s part.

b) Imagination & analysis: delving into the situations described in the text until the driving forces behind them find a plausible language in the translation.

c) Care: preparation of paratextual materials, attention to editorial detail.

5 — Testing: reading the translated text aloud to assess its credibility and overall liveliness.

Cristina Viti, August 2021

Read more about Cristina's work in this interview.