Translation

February 15, 2019

A Brief, Non-Comprehensive, Somewhat Inconclusive, and Yet Still Intriguing, Analysis of Themes Concerning Audience and Translatability within “The Task of the Translator” by Walter Benjamin (With Guest Appearances by Jacques Derrida and the Tower of Babel)

Academic Academic Posts, Babel, Derrida, essays, philosophy, Spivak, The Task of the Translator, Translatability, Translation, translation theory, Walter Benjamin

This blog post is a little different in that it’s a little more of what I originally wanted to use this blog for, namely an investigation of ways to think about translation. What follows is an adaptation and amalgamation of some presentation notes, a paper, and class notes, all for my Translation & Ethics course, […]

January 29, 2019

Class Notes: After Babel

Academic, Notes Translation

I was so pumped after my first Translation Ethics class last week that afterwards I couldn’t help but turn my notes into a blog post. What’s that? I’m a nerd? Funnily enough, I noticed. Last week’s discussion centered around After Babel: Aspects of language & translation by George Steiner. I’m going to be honest here, […]

September 10, 2018

External Book Review: The Great Passage by Shion Miura

Book Review books, books in translation, dictionary, Japanese, Language, Open Letter, Review, The Great Passage, Three Percent, Translation

Happy Monday! I’m switching it up and posting on Monday, Wednesday and Friday this week instead of the normal Tuesday/Friday schedule. Why you may ask? Well because, what some of you may know, and others don’t, is that Word-for-Sense isn’t the only place that I publish book reviews. I also write occasional reviews for Three […]

August 31, 2018

A New Semester Begins! (An Update, Announcements, and a Translation)

Academic, Updates and Announcements Augusto Monterroso, Brandeis, Language, Latin American Fiction, short story, the dinosaur, Translation, update

Wednesday was the first day of classes and I am so excited to have started my first semester as a full-time graduate student! While I loved my time as an undergrad, I’m excited to learn and participate in an advanced course of study. With the start of the semester comes more content in line with […]

June 20, 2017

Bread Loaf 2017 Part III: Evaluations

Conference Bread Loaf, Middlebury, Translation

I have made a couple posts about the emotional and professional impact that Bread Loaf 2017 has had on me, but I also realize that I have missed out on describing the event in detail. I welcome you to now peruse the responses I put on the official evaluation form last week. What did you […]

June 13, 2017

Bread Loaf 2017 Part II

Conference Bread Loaf, Middlebury, Translation

I meant to have this post out last Friday, but since I spent most of Friday morning in a car, and my posts now come out at noon, that seemed a little impractical. And I didn’t want to rush this. Last Friday was the last day of the Bread Loaf Translators’ Conference. Even so, I […]

June 6, 2017

Bread Loaf 2017 Part I

Conference Bread Loaf, Middlebury, Translation

Hi All! This week I am at the Bread Loaf Translators’ Conference, and it has been great so far. The workshops have been quite fruitful, as there is so much talent among the people I have worked with, and as is the nature of workshops I have learned as much from working with others on […]

June 2, 2017

On Poetry and Translation

Reflection empathy, imagination, music, poetry, Translation

I think that poetry is a beautiful and important part of our history. Poetry allows us to express our thoughts and feelings in a therapeutic and elegant way. Poetry is important because it presents a way for people to connect with one another in with deeper expression than with prose. For me, the most important […]

May 4, 2017

Rant on Technique

Language, Reflection rant, technique, Translation

Finding a way to translate has been difficult for me. Leaving aside all the theory of it ― metalanguage, ethics, religion, the hermeneutic motion, politics, feminism, gender, eurocentrism, questions of fidelity, identity, foreignization, word-for-word, sense-for-sense ― I could go on, but I won’t because that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about where and […]

April 27, 2017

Thoughts on Translation

Reflection conflicted, poetry, Sor Juana, Translation

When working on my translations I had trouble with the translation in terms of how to convey both the beauty and the message of the poem, which was difficult for me at first just from reading the Spanish, as Sor Juana uses syntax in ways that, as someone who is very familiar with, but not […]

March 14, 2017

End of Translation

Academic, philosophy Academic Posts, Translation

From Jacques Lezra’s End of Translation: “The question of how humanists make the case for the value of their disciplines to others […] is a matter, it is understood, of translation.” Translation and politics are intimately linked in the view of this paper and he notes that translation is a “master term” when discussing the understanding […]