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Many languages, one shared culture | Douglas Reid Skinner on International Translation Day
Tue, 20 September 2022
Making poetry accessible to a wider audience is a central aim of the AVBOB Poetry Competition, which awards R10 000 to each of the winning poets in all 11 official language categories. On International Translation Day (30 September) Douglas Reid Skinner shared his reflections on the value and meaning of translation. His involvement since the inception of the AVBOB Poetry Competition as English editor, judge and translator has been integral to its success.
For the annual anthology, Skinner translates the winning and commissioned Afrikaans poems into English and, during proofreading, helps to ensure that the English translations from the other nine languages are effective to an English reader.
No matter where we come from, we all experience much of our cultural life through the lens of translated texts. Skinner believes in the interconnectedness of writing and translation. “The moment you write a poem,” he says, “you are already translating the unshared interior language of the unsaid (and in many ways, unsayable) into the shared exterior language of reading and saying. This happens for yourself and for other readers, most of whom you’ll never know.”
He continues, “Translating between languages makes us more skilful writers in our own languages. It’s a way of importing the heritage, skills and culture of other languages into one’s own cultural locality.”
In striving to carry over as much of the original poet’s intentions as possible, Skinner works with collaborators who know the original language better than he does. “Translating is always a balancing act that involves much compromise. One must rely on instinct and feel as one goes along.”
He shares what motivates his ongoing involvement in the AVBOB Poetry Competition. “It’s important to remain as wide open as possible to new knowledge and understanding of poetry. Being the Project’s English editor is part and parcel of that. Every year, I discover how South Africans are feeling about certain aspects of their lives. It has been an ongoing education. As varied as we may seem from the outside, I see how much we are a family of people with similar concerns, desires and aspirations, how much of a shared culture we in fact have. It’s heartening and humbling to be part of it.”
Skinner is a poet in his own right, and his latest collection (his eighth!) was published in July this year by uHlanga Press.
These two verses from A Short Treatise on Mortality reflect exquisitely on the interconnected processes of poetry – writing, reading, and translating into meaning:
So many years had to disappear
before you found the book once more
that kept you glued one night for hours
to where you’d found the poem you felt
that you would always rue
because it seemed so perfect then
and seemed to frame near everything
that the author had wanted to say.
If only it was me, you’d mused,
if only I could write that way.
Translation is a two-way process, Skinner says, “As I have learned what people are feeling, so they have learned much as well. Over the years, I have seen writers striving more and more to write better poems, particularly as regards form and technique. Each year there are more good poems and working out which of them deserves the highest accolade has been more and more difficult.”
Reading thousands of poems in the four-month competition window requires tremendous discipline. “If I don’t stick to a daily routine, catching up becomes very demanding. After the competition closes, translating and proofreading the annual anthology require single-minded application to manage the load.”
To fully appreciate Skinner’s monumental and beautiful translation, obtain the latest copy of the annual anthology on the AVBOB Poetry Competition website: https://www.avbobpoetry.co.za/Content/PoemAnthology
For the annual anthology, Skinner translates the winning and commissioned Afrikaans poems into English and, during proofreading, helps to ensure that the English translations from the other nine languages are effective to an English reader.
No matter where we come from, we all experience much of our cultural life through the lens of translated texts. Skinner believes in the interconnectedness of writing and translation. “The moment you write a poem,” he says, “you are already translating the unshared interior language of the unsaid (and in many ways, unsayable) into the shared exterior language of reading and saying. This happens for yourself and for other readers, most of whom you’ll never know.”
He continues, “Translating between languages makes us more skilful writers in our own languages. It’s a way of importing the heritage, skills and culture of other languages into one’s own cultural locality.”
In striving to carry over as much of the original poet’s intentions as possible, Skinner works with collaborators who know the original language better than he does. “Translating is always a balancing act that involves much compromise. One must rely on instinct and feel as one goes along.”
He shares what motivates his ongoing involvement in the AVBOB Poetry Competition. “It’s important to remain as wide open as possible to new knowledge and understanding of poetry. Being the Project’s English editor is part and parcel of that. Every year, I discover how South Africans are feeling about certain aspects of their lives. It has been an ongoing education. As varied as we may seem from the outside, I see how much we are a family of people with similar concerns, desires and aspirations, how much of a shared culture we in fact have. It’s heartening and humbling to be part of it.”
Skinner is a poet in his own right, and his latest collection (his eighth!) was published in July this year by uHlanga Press.
These two verses from A Short Treatise on Mortality reflect exquisitely on the interconnected processes of poetry – writing, reading, and translating into meaning:
So many years had to disappear
before you found the book once more
that kept you glued one night for hours
to where you’d found the poem you felt
that you would always rue
because it seemed so perfect then
and seemed to frame near everything
that the author had wanted to say.
If only it was me, you’d mused,
if only I could write that way.
Translation is a two-way process, Skinner says, “As I have learned what people are feeling, so they have learned much as well. Over the years, I have seen writers striving more and more to write better poems, particularly as regards form and technique. Each year there are more good poems and working out which of them deserves the highest accolade has been more and more difficult.”
Reading thousands of poems in the four-month competition window requires tremendous discipline. “If I don’t stick to a daily routine, catching up becomes very demanding. After the competition closes, translating and proofreading the annual anthology require single-minded application to manage the load.”
To fully appreciate Skinner’s monumental and beautiful translation, obtain the latest copy of the annual anthology on the AVBOB Poetry Competition website: https://www.avbobpoetry.co.za/Content/PoemAnthology
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