Translation and Identity - Olsson

 I was very interested in the readings, especially the “Conversation About Diversity and Literary Translation”. On a personal note, one line from that piece suggested that translators were generally assumed to be white English speakers; this surprised me, as before taking this class I generally assumed that translators were more likely to be native speakers of a language (ie spanish) that they were translating into English. My perception of translation was a very global, diverse discipline, so I’m curious about the profession’s own thoughts, which are apparently differing. Beyond that, though, I enjoyed the discussion of heritage language and translation—it reminded me of the speaker who visited the lecture series and spoke about translating a diary from the Cortez expedition. She spoke about her personal connection to the history of the piece, and how much more invested it made her. That level of passion is what I hope can be found behind every translation project.

As for the question of identity, I find it a bit difficult to answer as I’m not a POC. However, I am queer, and much of my own writing is related to that aspect of my identity. I think I would be ok with a non-queer person translating my work, specifically because of a portion of the Bhanoo article that struck with me: Junot Diaz wanted a Caribbean translator for his novel, and he got one, but Obejas is specifically listed as having dived into Dominican culture by listening to their radio stations, speaking with Dominican people, and consulting with the author over specifics of the book. I think any dedicated, thoughtful translator is capable of (and should be!) doing those things. However, I also think that an author should be allowed to make whatever requests they want about the translators they work with; if you feel like you need a Caribbean, then find one. By the same token, though, the Guardian article says that Amanda Gorman chose the white Dutch translator herself, and that should have also been respected. In my opinion, the most important factor of translation is the comparability between the author and the translator by whichever metrics the author chooses. While Amanda Gorman is “unapologetically black,” if she felt her work could be fully understood and appreciated by Rijneveld, then there should have been no issue with them working together. It’s a shame to see that two authors who seemed to be fans of each other’s work were kept apart because of one’s identity (to be clear, I refer to Gorman here, as it seems like there was extra pressure and scrutiny placed upon her due to her being black).