Salvodon 4/19

“Translate what you love, what moves you. If you keep going back to it, translate it.” Marjorie Salvodon perfectly summed up her talk with this quote, capturing the essence of the entire lecture series. Truly, what an amazing series we had the pleasure of experiencing this semester! It's clear that each speaker we heard from genuinely translates what they love.

As a self-proclaimed wild-card translator, Salvodon shared insights on how to embrace artistic freedom in translation. Her advice included engaging in co-translation, taking risks—even when others may not agree—reading works that serve as literary companions, and tackling multivoiced novels. We were gifted yet another perspective on how to view translation.

Personally, I found her insights into co-translation the most enlightening. Salvodon described it as strengthening a relationship, almost like creating ‘a child’ together, and portrayed translation as something that can drive you crazy—intense, but fascinating. The inevitable disagreements and fights lead to uncovering new perspectives. This process breaks the isolation often felt in translation work and fosters a dialogue with the text you are translating.

I hadn't heard much about co-translation before. It’s an intriguing practice, and I've been curious about how it plays out in practice. Although Salvodon's experience was intense, I imagine it to be incredibly enriching. In this sense, the text embodies multiple voices: those of the translators, as well as the author's. Borrowing Salvodon’s metaphor of creating a child, co-translation is akin to co-living or co-habiting with a text, facing deep challenges from both the text and the collaborative process. This method requires translators to merge their individual insights and styles to create a unified voice that respects the original while adding nuanced, multi-layered interpretations. Such a collaborative effort surely enhances a translator’s skills, making it a profoundly transformative practice. While it sounds kind of scary, I hope to engage in this practice someday!

—Maria

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