A trade as noble and necessary as it is dangerous and influenced by political ups and downs was justified in the Conversations of Formentor
The Conversations of Formentor have organized a sort of summit of translators, who are so relevant and essential to literature and often mistreated. ‘Traduttore, traditore’, goes the fateful Italian saying, but the First European Conference on Translators showed that good professionals are the exact opposite. Of course, there was controversy over the withdrawal of a Ukrainian translator who was dissatisfied with the presence of Russian colleagues and the award of the Formentor Prize to Liudmila Ulítskaya, a Russian of Ukrainian descent who opposed Putin and was exiled to Berlin. The forum stressed that no Spanish publisher has suspended the publication of Russian authors as sanctions against Putin’s regime mount.
It became clear that translation is also a dangerous job. “In the fourteenth century it was already said that the translation of the Bible into English was the work of the antichrist,” said Aurelio Major. Translators of Salman Rushdie’s ‘Satanic Verses’ have been stabbed and murdered and the British Indian author has recently been brutally attacked. Major recalled the mistranslation of the title, as the phrase “satanic verses” was invented by the British Orientalists of the 19th century to denote one or more verses of the Qur’an, “but it is not used in the Muslim world.” , where they refer to these are discarded as ‘gjaraniq’ (‘the cranes’).
Basilio Baltasar, director of the Formentor Foundation, complained to the table about Russia and Ukraine that the meeting had not been removed “from the warlike fervor”. He was referring to the absence of Iuri Lech, a Ukrainian who wanted to protest against the presence of Russian translators and for awarding the prestigious prize to an author of this nationality.
Yulia Dobrovolskaya, literary agent and translator of Ulitskaya, expressed her respect for Lech’s decision, but hoped that “our children and grandchildren will find a way to understand each other.” He also stressed that “no Spanish publisher has suspended the publication of Russian writers”. On the contrary, as the translator Jorge Ferrer also noted, voices are revealed such as those of the Tartar Guzel Yájina, who has had four editions of her first novel, or those of Mariya Stepanova, both translated by him for Cliff.
Christian Hansen called for a European initiative that brings together the work of translators and builds bridges between the continent’s diverse literature and cultures. It was specified by the Dutch Brigitte Coopmans, who called for “an international and institutionalized forum to discuss translation issues”. “Like a digital system with an open dictionary, a literary field under construction, where translators of the same author around the world could discuss terminology and specific concepts. A core discussion of these features would lead to a much higher level of translation around the world,” he summed up.
The topic of artificial intelligence and mechanical translators was discussed. A tool that according to most of those present ‘cannot be used for literature’. Aurore Touya contrasted the way a computer works with art and Gustavo Guerrero launched a challenge: «Put a paragraph by Javier Marías on the machine and see what comes out», as the robots «do not capture the nuances or the emotional reverberation».
Is the Tower of Babel a curse? Would a world without translators be desirable? It doesn’t seem like it, according to the debate about Europe’s lingua franca. However, the general director of the book, María José Gálvez, argued that linguistic diversity defines Europe and asked to resist the hegemony of English as much as possible.
Some thirty speakers took part in this “synod” of translators, including publishers, to create a cartography of literature in Spanish in Europe, the United States and Canada. Objective “achieved and surpassed”, according to the moderator, the journalist Xavi Ayén, since, in addition, “several of the hot topics related to the profession and literature in general have also appeared.”
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
