TORCH Goes Digital! Translation

8 June 2020

The ideal reader is a translator. He or she can pull a text to pieces, remove its skin, cut it to the bone, follow each artery and vein and thence fashion a new living being.

- Alberto Manguel

Welcome to the twelfth week of #TORCHGoesDigital! We would like to take this opportunity to extend our sincerest gratitude to everyone who tuned in to watch our tenth Big Tent, Live Events! - Creative Multilingualism with Professor Katrin Kohl (MML) and Professor Rajinder Dudrah (Birmingham City University). 

Open book, red flower, text says Translation

We thoroughly enjoyed learning about the AHRC-funded research programme Creative Multilingualism and all its facets. #TORCHGoesDigital! and our Big Tent, Live Events! would not be the successes they are without your interest, appreciation and interaction.

This week, we are focusing on the theme of "Translation". Translation is the process of transferring the meaning from one language (the source) to another language (the target). The English language draws a distinction between translating a written text and interpreting oral or signed communications. 

Translators endeavour to convey the original tone and intent of a text, whilst taking into account the cultural and regional influences and differences between the source and target languages. Translators have helped to shape the very languages into which they have translated. As Jose Saramago says, “Writers make national literature, while translators make universal literature.” 

Working with the great wealth of material created by the incredible researchers at the University of Oxford and beyond, the TORCH Team has curated a brilliant programme of blog posts, podcasts, news articles, poems, performances and more for you to enjoy. 

This week, we will be considering questions such as:

  • Is language a simple code, or is meaning conveyed as much by context, history, and speaker as by the arrangement of words and letters?

  • What is the difference between ekphrasis and translation? 

  • How can we rethink Modern Greek Studies in the 21st Century

  • How can learning Latin change your life? 

This Thursday 11th June 2020, from 5.00pm-6.00pm​, we have our next Big Tent, Live Events! live-streamed discussion: Voices from the Wings: Poetry, Performance and Translation on and off the page. This event presents a conversation between academic, translator and writer Karen Leeder and poet, performer and novelist Ulrike Almut Sandig who have been collaborating for the last eight years.

Remember, we are happy to feature content submissions related to this theme, be it a poem, artwork, blog post, or book review!

Unleash your creativity, and send your suggestions and content to torch@humanities.ox.ac.uk.