While most of our translations are professional and commercial in nature, we never forget translation is always about communication and often it is about art, poetry and connecting to other cultures. In this story, a college professor eloquently expresses how translation can be a bridge between worlds.

“I think of translation as a type of magic,” Chambers said to a crowd of about 40 ASU students, faculty and community members after reading aloud one of the stories in his volume.

Fulton and Chambers provided a unique perspective on literature, audience members said.

Asian language graduate student Brian Hurley said he found the readings and question-and-answer session interesting because “translators don’t get a ton of attention.”

“They exist in a strange gray area, and they function as a bridge,” Hurley said. “Dr. Chambers summed that up really well.”

Both professors said they carefully select their projects based on the writing style of the original author to make their function as a bridge easier.

“There is a kind of conjunction, a kind of merger of personalities when we translate,” Fulton said about a translator’s relationship with the original text’s author.

Chambers said he agreed that translating requires a certain likeness between the original author and translator. He looks for a text that “resonates,” he said.

“If you don’t feel that kind of affinity with the author, it’s difficult to translate, to even muster the will to translate,” Chambers said.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 17th, 2007 at 8:27 pm and is filed under Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.