Online | Open-Genre | Translation | Workshop

6-Week Online Workshop: Introduction to Writing in Translation

Ever wanted to translate but didn’t know how or where to start? This class is primarily geared to writers who have never translated before or who are just getting started in the process.

Beginner translators should have a basic or working knowledge of another language, but they definitely need not be fluent or even comfortable speakers. You can translate from any language, but all students will be translating work into English. And if you want to translate poetry but are an essay writer, it doesn’t matter! Translation is a fun and unique opportunity to dive into literary styles other than your own.

To hone translation skills, I will guide you in how to effectively use a dictionary, shape a voice, and dive into the art of revision. You will also read literature in translation and respond to what works or doesn’t, as well as compare multiple translations of the same work (i.e. The Odyssey and In Search of Lost Time).

After taking this class, you’ll have a deeper understanding of the translation landscape. We will read texts by translators who have written about their process, such as Kate Briggs, Susan Bernofsky, John Keene, Lydia Davis, and others. You will get a range of perspectives on how to approach the craft, from Walter Benjamin’s The Task of the Translator to David Bellos’s playful and insightful Is That a Fish In Your Ear?

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

Feel comfortable enough to say that you are now a translator

- Translate either two shorter works or one longer work

- Make an informed, thoughtful decision of which authors you are translating and how

COURSE SKELETON:

WEEK 1: Read and Respond to Literature in Translation—the first step to becoming a translator. Assigned reading and in-class discussion on why translation matters.

WEEK 2: There Are Many Ways to Translate the Same Thing. Get started with translation exercises and look at canonical works that have been translated many times.

WEEK 3: Choose a Writer You’d Like to Translate. Read about the politics of translation: Who gets translated, and who gets left out?

WEEK 4: Just Go for It: Translate the text you’ve chosen. Workshop #1.

WEEK 5: Revise and Try It Again. Edit your first translation piece and tackle a different text to translate. Workshop #2. Further reading on how other translators have done the job.

WEEK 6: How to Pitch and Publish Your Translations

*no class on November 12

Elisa Wouk Almino

Elisa Wouk Almino is a writer and literary translator based in Los Angeles. She is the deputy editor of Image magazine at the Los Angeles Times, and was formerly a senior editor at Hyperallergic. She is the translator of This House by Ana Martins Marques (Scrambler Books) and the editor of Alice Trumbull Mason: Pioneer of American Abstraction (Rizzoli). You can follow her at @ewoukalmino.

Testimonials

"I truly cannot say enough about Elisa as an editor. I am a freelance writer and work with many different editors at many different publications, and always feel that Elisa brings an exceptionally sharp mind and thoughtful perspective to my work. I trust her absolutely, and find that she has the dual ability to edit for content and tone, as well as grammar and the ever-needed typo-check! I am tremendously grateful to her for always strengthening my writing, and communicating about our shared work in a prompt, professional, conscientious, and positive way. She will be an asset to ANY organization. "

Sarah Rose Sharp freelance writer

"Elisa has been my editor for the past three years at Hyperallergic. Thanks to her guidance, my writing has remarkably improved. She excels at explaining the nuances of techniques in an approachable yet intelligible way, and because of her guidance I can now happily report that I am a staff writer there."

Zachary Small staff writer at Hyperallergic

"Elisa Wouk Almino was my first editor when I started freelancing at Hyperallergic three years ago, and I immediately enjoyed working with her. She approaches each piece with criticality and candor, and having her edit a piece is always an approachable lesson in strengthening and streamlining my writing. She also treats editing as a collaborative process, seeking real input from her writers, which in my experience is quite rare. It's something many editors don't seem to have the time or desire to do, and Elisa does it with care."

Monica Uszerowicz Hyperallergic contributor

"THIS HOUSE is a remarkable selection of work by Ana Martins Marques, tracking the day and the night, the light and the dark, in ways I feel a profound sympathy with. The excellent translations by Elisa Wouk Almino are a further offering to us, wonderful renditions."

Michael Palmer poet

"Faucet, fruit bowl, lantern, and clothesline undergo a reexamination in this colorful selection of poems from Brazilian author Ana Martins Marques’s three previous books. Brightened by intermittent illustrations, these poems invite readers into their own world. THIS HOUSE is a book driven by translation, personal in English and Portuguese alike and ready to take on new hues with each reading."

World Literature Today