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Fifth Annual Translate-a-thon

Join us for the 5th annual Rutgers Translate-a-thon at The Language Center (1 Spring Street) on Friday, Feb. 24th!

We have an exciting array of projects and workshops planned. This year, we also invite all participants to bring a poem in a language of your choice to translate into English (or a different language!), to be published on the Plangere Writing Center’s blog.

Lunch will be available for all participants starting at the beginning of the event. Coffee and dessert will be served at our closing reception and raffle, starting at 4:30 PM. Please auto-register here for further updates!

 

12-4:30 PM: Ongoing translation projects include:
  • Bring a poem in a language of your choice to translate into English (or a different language!) for the Plangere Writing Center’s blog. For more information, click here. (Room 403 and 4th Floor Lobby)

 

  • Translate flyers and other materials for the Plangere Writing Center into Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, and other languages (all languages welcome!). Coordinator: Carla Caponegro (mihaelag@rutgers.edu ) (Room 403)

 

  • Translate syllabi and course descriptions for Intensive English @ RELI into Chinese, Turkish, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, and Arabic. Coordinator: Howaida Wahby Eraky (howaida.wahbyeraky@rutgers.edu) (Room 403)

 

  • Work on various short term Rutgers Language Bank projects for community members. Coordinator: Laura Ramirez (ramirez.laura@rutgers.edu) (Room 309)

 

  • Work on translating a brief handbook for volunteers supporting Ukrainian refugee families (English->Ukrainian, Russian, and Polish — advanced level). Coordinator: Chloë Kitzinger (chloe.kitzinger@rutgers.edu) (Room 404 and Hybrid! To participate online, join the Canvas site at the link above or contact Prof. Kitzinger for the Zoom link.)

 

  • Explore machine and human translations of Nikolai Gogol’s “The Overcoat” (Russian/English — any level). Coordinator: Chloë Kitzinger (chloe.kitzinger@rutgers.edu) (Room 404)

 

  • Contemporary Lesbian “lily” Chinese manhua translation project. Coordinator: Bing’en Lin (bhl32@scarletmail.rutgers.edu) (Room 319 and hybrid! To participate online, join the Canvas site at the link above)

 

Workshops include:
  • 12:30 PM: “Rethinking Translation Through the Minimalist Language Toki Pona” — using semantic choice to examine the meanings and implications of the source text. Speakers of all languages welcome! No experience with translation required. Coordinator: Simon Wickhamsmith (simon.wickhamsmith@rutgers.edu) (Room 402 and Hybrid! To participate online, join the Canvas site at the link above.)

 

 

  • 2:00 PM: “Theater in Translation.” This workshop will feature a live dramatic reading and spontaneous translation of a scene from an untranslated play by Argentine playwright Griselda Gamboro. Participants will explore questions such as: How does the work of translation affect how we read, understand, interpret and spectate? How do translations of plays inform performance? How might a theatre translation limit or embrace a particular linguistic or cultural lens? Coordinators: Nela Navarro (nnavarro@english.rutgers.edu) and Jacqueline Loeb (jloeb@english.rutgers.edu). (Room 402)

 

  • 3:00 PM: “An Introduction to Simultaneous Interpretation.” Speakers of all languages welcome! No experience with interpretation or translation required. Coordinator: Miguel Jimenez (jimenez.miguel@rutgers.edu) (Language Lab, 4th Floor)

 

  • 3:30 PM: “Translating Yourself and Others: A Reflective and Collaborative Translation Workshop Inspired by Jhumpa Lahiri.” In her recent collection of essays, Translating Myself and Others, Jhumpa Lahiri reflects on how translation has affected practices of and identities as a writer, from her earliest memories to present day. In this reflective and collaborative workshop, we invite you to reflect upon the earliest memories of translation and of translating yourself- situations and interactions that prompted your awareness of the choices one needs to make in communicating across cultures.This workshop is comprised of two 15-minute sessions: Session 1, “Translating Myself” will begin with a 15-minute free-write exercise in which participants write about their earliest memories of translating themselves and how these experiences have shaped them as translators and writers. In session 2, “Translating Others” participants will exchange their work from session 1 with a fellow participant and translate their work to the language(s) of their choice. For full description, click here. Coordinators: Nela Navarro (nnavarro@english.rutgers.edu) and Nicole Houser (nmh101@english.rutgers.edu). (Room 402)

Please auto-register here on the Canvas site to check more details about the projects and help us plan the event!

 

This year’s Translate-a-thon is generously sponsored by the Center for European Studies, the Program in Comparative Literature, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, and the Language Center. Participating programs and departments include the Rutgers Writing Program and Plangere Writing Center, the Rutgers English Language Institute, the Language Bank, Spanish and Portuguese, and GREELL.
For further information, please contact the organizers: chloe.kitzinger@rutgers.edu and ramirez.laura@rutgers.edu. See you there!