Fifty Sounds: Polly Barton
The Translation Theory Lab is free and open to all translators, near and far, working in any language pair, who have an interest in the background questions, the theory and ethics of translation.
The Translation Theory Lab is an online-meeting via Zoom from 6.30pm to 8pm, organised by the Goethe-Institut in Glasgow. We will be meeting three times, between October and December, to discuss excerpts from the book
'Fifty Sounds' by Polly Barton and questions that arise from it.
We are also very pleased that Polly Barton has agreed to join us for a discussion and Q&A in the December session.
In this year of "Tokyo 2020", Translation Theory Lab will also be casting an eye to the "Land of the Rising Sun", read about the idiosyncrasies of its language, and ponder what we are learning -- about a country, a culture, life, philosophy and ourselves -- when we are learning a language.
We will be reading Polly Barton's translation memoir
Fifty Sounds, a personal dictionary of her experience of moving to Japan and learning the language at the age of 21. The chapters are each guided by Japanese mimetics, a category of onomatopoeia common to Japanese and Korean, but not as clearly defined as such in English.
Fifty Sounds begins with Barton's decision to study Japanese, her experience of studying for an undergraduate degree in philosophy (expect an excellent summary of Wittgestein's philosophy of language and how it applies to translation), and takes us to the small island of Sado north-west of Honshu, to Tokyo and back-and-forth between the UK and Japan. The stations along this journey are as much stops en route to improving and mastering a language, to a getting closer to the meanings of words while developing personal associations between expressions and people, but also express the struggle to assimilate or not, to find a place for oneself as a translator, and as a human being, who has chosen a life with and between languages.
Registration
New members are asked to register on
Eventbrite ideally at least three days prior to the event. Please note: Those already on the mailing list do not have to register again.
Relevant text excerpts will be emailed in advance via our mailing list. Participants are asked to read these excerpts beforehand and reflect on them in preparation for the sessions, although you are always encouraged to read the whole book, which is available on the websites mentioned, amongst other places.
And, if you like, why not join our
Facebook group for more discussion?
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