ACT & NSW: Translating Poetry - Come along and try something different!

What could be better than literary translation over drinks on a Sunday afternoon? If this question has been on your mind lately, rest assured that AUSIT ACT has found the solution:

A poetry translation event at the Polish White Eagle Club on 28 March 2021!

Subhash Jaireth, a multi-lingual scholar and poet, will introduce participants to his approach to poetry translation, and then guide participants as they put their own spin on a piece of poetry. The source text will be made available two weeks before the event, and participants can choose to bring a draft translation to the workshop or improvise on the day.

Literary translation is an event of co-being of two languages and experiences. Its first aim, as Perry Link suggests, is to grasp the original and then to create a piece that meets the needs of the readers of the second language. No translation is perfect. Translators have to make value judgements in deciding what to leave out and what to keep.

Although a good knowledge of the language of the original is critical, it does not mean that the poet-translator needs to have that knowledge. The presence of an intermediary with a ‘working’ knowledge of both languages can provide a helping hand to walk over the bridge between two languages and cultures.  Translation in this model becomes an iterative process realised through a prolonged conversation between three participants: the original poem; the intermediary interlocutor; and the translator. The purpose of the iterative process is to achieve in the translated poem a balance between three intricately interrelated elements of the original poem: meaning, mood and the sound-world.

Presenter

Subhash Jaireth is a multi-lingual scholar and poet. His latest publications include, Spinoza’s Overcoat: Travels with Writers and Poets (Transit Lounge 2020) and a collection of translations titled Rain Clouds: Meerabai (Recent Work Press 2020).

Subhash ran an online translation workshop, ‘Translation: The Songs of Meerabai’, in October 2020 as part of the University of Canberra’s Poetry on the Move festival.
Although 2020 has been a tumultuous year, there is one thing that you can count on: language professionals letting their hair down for an AUSIT ACT end-of-year event.

Venue

The Polish White Eagle Club
38 David Street, Turner ACT 2612

Refreshments

Attendees can order their favourite alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks and engage in a creative afternoon!

Public Transport information:
 
A list of Turner buses is listed on the Transport Canberra website  - R1, R2, R3, R4, 60 & 51

Parking information:

The Polish Club is not open to the public on a Sunday, so there should be parking spots available at the venue. Alternatively, there is parking at O'Connor Shops and in the streets nearby.

Please contact act@ausit.org with transport questions or for mobility assistance.

Special COVID precautions:

Please note that the ACT has relaxed restrictions, but that the situation could change at any time before the event. There is a strict cap on numbers for this event and we ask that anyone who has visited a hotspot or who is exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms refrain from attending the event.

For more information on the ACT's response to COVID-19, please visit this site:
https://www.covid19.act.gov.au/what-you-can-do

Regards
AUSIT ACT Branch

PD Logbook:
Level: Introductory

Please  consult the NAATI Recertification Catalogue to allocate the relevant PD Points - downloadable from www.naati.com.au.  Some activities can be included under different categories, so please choose the most appropriate category for your recertification purposes.'

Certificates and recordings:

Certificates for PD purposes may take approximately two (2) weeks to be released following the event.