macht.sprache.: A discussion with Dr Michaela Dudley and Mirjam Nuenning (part 1)
On 19 May 2021, we got to hear from Dr Michaela Dudley and Mirjam Nuenning about their thoughts on translating politically sensitive language.
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Where Jhumpa Lahiri finds herself linguistically
Jhumpa Lahiri wrote her latest novel in Italian. Afterwards she translated it into English herself. The deliberate shift in her own language focus invites me to question several things: the linguistic pressure to conform that migrants of Colour often experience. And the common idea that people can only express themselves well in one language – their mother tongue.
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We’re happy to announce the poco.lit. newsletter! If you choose to opt-in, you will receive updates from us once a month. We’ll let you know about developments in our current projects and give an overview of the content we’ve posted in the past four weeks.
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What’s in a foreword? On translator’s notes
Translators make decisions that have an enormous impact on how texts arrive in linguistic contexts beyond the language they were written in. Especially in literary translation, many of these decisions are related to questions of aesthetics and style. But these are also, as our macht.sprache. project is making increasingly clear, decisions with political undertow and ramifications. The translator’s note is often a moment that allows translators to communicate to their readers the considerations that went into their decision-making.
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The Power of Multilingualism
The writer Olga Grjasnowa, whom many readers probably associate with her novel All Russians Love Birch Trees (Der Russe ist einer, der Birken liebt), was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, and came to Germany when she was eleven. In her recently published non-fiction book, The Power of Multilingualism – On Origins and Diversity (which has not […]
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“Everyone shares the responsibility of reducing the unconscious bias in artificial intelligence”: An interview with Kenza Ait Si Abbou
As part of our macht.sprache. / case.sensitive. project, we’re speaking to various experts who deal with language, translation or artificial intelligence. Kenza Ait Si Abbou explains some of the challenges in the field of artificial intelligence to us (e.g. in form of unconscious bias) but always stays solution-oriented.
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“At some point, you have to hand in your translation”: An interview with Anabelle Assaf
As part of our macht.sprache. / case.sensitive. project, we’re speaking to various experts who deal with language, translation or artificial intelligence. Anabelle Assaf offers insights into very specific translation decisions related to gender, race and different forms of English.
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Race ≠ Rasse: 10 terms related to race that require sensitivity in translation
In this article, we look specifically at English and German, and discuss 10 terms related to race that are difficult to translate.
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macht.sprache.: Behind the scenes – on the code of conduct, assessing translations and getting involved
This is the second time that we share a peek behind the scenes of our project macht.sprache. This time we explain some of the thoughts that went into the development of a code of conduct, the assessment system for translation examples, and how we’re hoping to motivate people to participate.
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Political Terms and (Un)just Social Structures: An Interview with the Producers of “Erklär mir mal…” (Explain it to me)
As part of our macht.sprache. project, we’re seeking out input from various experts who deal with language, translation or artificial intelligence. With Maja Bogojević and Victoria Jeffries, the producers of the Instagram channel “Erklär mir mal…” (Explain it to me), we discuss the challenges in political work with language.
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