Every translation is a whole new learning experience with challenges, difficulties and opportunities that help you learn more about the profession and yourself. I’m here to tell my experience as a novel translator, translating a Spanish contemporary novel, with a fellow translator, from my mother tongue (Spanish) into British English. Also, I was hired by the author herself, with no editorial intermediate, adding another element to the experience.
When you are engaging with the author you need to address their concerns and let they know you understand what you are facing, show yourself as trustworthy and as a person who will respectfully speak their mind, give an opinion, and show them knowledge on the field.
A key aspect of this project that I want to point out was working alongside a fellow translator who was much more experienced than me but with whom I was able to establish very clear rules, values, and codes to get along the during the whole 9 months of the process. I feel it is important to share and value teamwork in which no one establishes hierarchies over the other. Instead, we listen and try to grasp whatever knowledge the other person is willing to give. The more generous you are, the more rewarding the experience is.
Overall, the aim of this presentation will be to contribute to the diversity of voices, the empowerment of translators, to promote collaboration among colleagues and to give visibility to a learning experience.
Agustina Schirripa is a freelance translator (English/Spanish) and a copy editor and proof-reader. She has studied technical, scientific, and literary translation and is specialized in literary translation. Her most profound interests are feminism, literature, and evolutionary astrology studies. She is Argentinian, currently living in Madrid.