Category Archives: newsletter

Theme Semester Newsletter #12

Students display and discuss translation projects at the Translation Showcase, December 10

This has been a fantastic semester of translation-related events, courses, blogging, and game-playing! Thanks to everyone who has shown interest in translation studies.

On December 10th, the theme semester culminated in our Translation Showcase. Students presented multi-media translation projects, prizes were awarded for theme semester contests, and attendees had a chance to play That Translation Game!

Information about the Language Bank, with Julie Evershed (Director of the Language Resource Center), at the Translation Showcase.

Julie Evershed from the Language Resource Center (pictured left) invited volunteers to sign up for the new Language Bank. Check out more photos from the Showcase in our photo gallery, and click here to read what students have been posting on our blog.

Interview with Rona Beresh (Junior in Comparative Literature) at the Translation Showcase

Excerpts from theme semester events will be available soon on our video archive. We are grateful to faculty, students and staff for help with organizing many events, especially Meg Berkobien and Patrick Tonks (pictured below) for coordinating the North Quad Translation Mondays and for managing our website and publicity, respectively, and to staff members in the Comp Lit office and in LSA for supporting all these efforts.

Meg and Patrick

The work we have begun to highlight translation initiatives at our university will continue beyond the theme semester. Our website will feature ongoing activities related to “Translation at Michigan,” and the Department of Comparative Literature is proposing a new undergraduate Minor in Translation Studies. Anyone interested in getting involved, as a student or faculty member, please contact Yopie Prins or Christi Merrill. Thanks again for a great semester!

Theme Semester Newsletter #11

Translation Showcase, December 10

Welcome to the final week of the theme semester, which begins this evening (5-8) with our Translation Showcase in North Quad! There will be exhibits of student projects and prizes for theme semester contests. Winners listed below!

There will also be an opportunity to play That Translation Game! at the Showcase. The game was created for ipad as a theme semester project, to play inside and outside the classroom. Read more in LSA Today.

That Translation Game! was funded by a NINI Grant from LSA Instructional Technology. The development team was led by Christi Merrill (Comparative Literature) and Johnathon Beals (Language Resource Center), with help from staff and students in LSA and the School of Engineering, the School of Information, and the School of Education, including Hans Anderson, Caitlin Barta, Alex Migicovksy, Evan Moss, Pranay Sethi, Patrick Tonks, and Jen Steiner Tonks.

Upcoming Events, December 10-14

Translation Showcase—see below
Monday, December 10, 5-8pm, North Quad

Global Arabic Poetry Reading—Enjoy recitations in Arabic by the poets themselves and translations into English by Michigan students. Eight poets will join live via videoconferencing: Zainab Laith (Bahrain), Ahmad Al Shahawy (Cairo), Nizar Chakroun (Tunisia), Driss Allouch (Morrocco), Saadiah Mufarreh (Kuwait), Musa Hawamdeh (Jordan), Ibtesam Al-Mutwakel (Yemen), Abdul Nabi Bazzi (Lebanon-Canada).
Friday, December 14, 4-6pm, 2011 Modern Languages Building

Schedule for the Translation Showcase
Monday December 10, 2012

4-6:00 pm Student Exhibits, “Translating Medicine: Medical French” in North Quad Media Gateway
5-6:30 pm Student Exhibits, “Translating Medicine: Medical Spanish” in North Quad Media Gateway
5-6:00 pm Presentation of Theme Semester Prizes in 2435 North Quad
6-8pm Exhibit in 2435 North Quad of student prizes, theme semester activities, and projects for theme semester courses, including the Sophomore Initiative Course: “22 Ways To Think About Translation”

Presentation of Theme Semester Prizes
5-6pm, in 2435 North Quad

Video Contest, sponsored by LSA Translation Theme Semester: Where in your world do you see translation? (Winner to be announced!)

  • Finalist: Miranda Ajulufoh: “Students at UM: Where do we see translation?”
  • Finalist: Madeline Moore: “Kopitonez A Cappella Group: We sing songs in different languages”
  • Finalist: Rena Steed: “UM Undergraduate Composers: We translate silent film into music”

Creative Translation Prizes, sponsored by LSA Translation Theme Semester: Translate a poem into another medium

  • Komal Govil and Unique Moffett, “Tu Risa” (poem by Pablo Neruda “translated” into choreography for two dancers)
  • Ah Sun Kim and Katherine Marion, “Vitamina X” (poem by Luis Llorens Torres “translated” into lullaby for two voices)
  • Anthea Mitchell, “Ape” (poem by Russell Edson “translated” into graphic art)
  • Corey Smith, “l/a” (poem by e.e. cummings “translated” into a musical composition for solo piano)

Theme Semester Essay Contest, sponsored by the Department of Political Science and LSA Student Government: How do you translate justice?

  • Jennifer Xu, Essay on writing an article about autism for The Michigan Daily

Translation Theme Semester Contest, sponsored by the Modern Greek Program: “It’s All GRΣΣΚ to Me!”

  • David Catalan, “Touch of Spice” (translation of a scene from a Greek film)
  • Sundai Johnson, “Where” (poem) Abbey Roggenbruck, “Meditation on Ruins” (essay and photograph)
  • Nicole Sappingfield, “Agora at Thessaloniki” (prose poem)
  • Dimitri Roumanis, “The Pyrgo of Elia” (travel essay)

Theme Semester Prize, sponsored by Contexts for Classics: How do you translate Homer?

  • Ana Maria Guay, “The Parting of Andromache and Hector” (poem)

German Department Open-Book Translation Contest

  • 1st place, Steve Bareis
  • 2nd place, Brianna Felten
  • 3rd place, Nils Stannik

Theme Semester Prizes in Literary Translation, sponsored by the Department of Comparative Literature

  • Brianna Felten, “On the Waterfront” (from “Am Ufer” by Heinrich Boll, translated from German)
  • Katherine Klaric, “Bone to Bone” (poetry by Vasko Popa, translated from Serbian)
  • Todd Maslyk, “The Lay of the Nibelungs” (stanzas 913-998, translated into prose from German)
  • Libo Zeng, “Autumn” and “Winter” (poems by Mu Dan, translated from Chinese)

Theme Semester Newsletter #10

Silence and Translation symposium, December 3-4

This afternoon at 4, we are very excited to welcome renowned filmmaker Trinh T. Minh-ha to Rackham Auditorium. Professor Trinh’s lecture, entitled “Speaking Nearby: Voices from Silence,” kicks off the two-day Silence and Translation symposium. The symposium continues this evening with a screening of films by Trinh, as well as by Franco-Burkinabé director Sarah Bouyain. Tomorrow, UM faculty participants join Trinh and Bouyain for a panel discussion.

Celebrating Tagore: Translations through Music, Dance, and Poetry, December 6

This Thursday, December 6, the School of Music, Theatre, & Dance will host “Celebrating Tagore: Translations through Music, Dance, and Poetry” in Hill Auditorium. The evening’s program will include performances by the 90-member University Choir, a 20-piece string orchestra, and students and faculty from SMTD’s Department of Jazz & Contemporary Improvisation, as well as classical Indian dancers and vocalists in a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore’s birth. Author Amitav Ghosh will speak to begin the festivities. The following day, Ghosh will sit down with Anton Shammas and Jonathan Freedman for an Author’s Forum event.

Translation Showcase, December 10

Please stop by our Translation Showcase, 5-8pm on December 10 in Space 2435 North Quad. This is the final event in the Translation Mondays series, and a festive celebration to conclude the theme semester, with presentation of theme semester prizes, snacks, exhibit of student translation projects, videos and more! Students who would like to display their work should contact Meg Berkobien in advance: mmberkobien@gmail.com.

We welcome you to vote for your favorite video from among the finalists for the theme semester video contest. Votes must be cast by December 7. View the entries and read about the participants here.

Upcoming Events, December 3-10

Puerto Rican artist Nayda Collazo-Lloréns—A lunchtime talk and video screening.
Monday, December 3, 11:30am, 3512 Haven Hall

Speaking Nearby: Voices from Silence—A lecture by Vietnamese filmmaker, feminist writer, and postcolonial theorist Trinh T. Minh-ha (UC Berkeley). Part of the Silence and Translation symposium.
Monday, December 3, 4pm, Rackham Auditorium

Film screening and discussion with Trinh T. Minh-ha and Sarah Bouyain—Part of the Silence and Translation symposium.
Monday, December 3, 7:30pm, 2435 North Quad

Inaudible Dictionaries—A panel discussion with Sarah Bouyain, Frieda Ekotto, Mélissa Gélinas, Trinh T. Minh-ha, & Ruth Tsoffar. Part of the Silence and Translation symposium.
Tuesday, December 4, 2pm, 3222 Angell Hall

Celebrating Tagore: Translations through Music, Dance, and Poetry—featuring performers from the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, as well as classical Indian dancers and vocalists in a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore’s birth. Opening remarks by Amitav Ghosh.
Thursday, December 6, 8pm, Hill Auditorium

The Author’s Forum Presents: A Conversation with Amitav Ghosh and Anton Shammas, with Jonathan Freedman.
Friday, December 7, 4pm, Library Gallery, Hatcher Graduate Library

Plautus’s The Menaechmi—performed by the students enrolled in RCLANG 325/Latin325, under the direction of Gina Soter.
Friday, December 7, 4pm, The Classics Library on the second floor of Angel Hall

Translation Showcase—An exhibit and reception. Theme semester translation prizes will be awarded, and students from theme semester courses will display translation projects in 2435 North Quad and the Media Gallery.
Monday, December 10
5-6 pm Presentation of Theme Semester Translation Prizes
6-8 pm Exhibit of Student Translation Projects, Videos, and More!

Theme Semester Newsletter #9

Google Translate, Past, Present, and Future: A Conversation with Josh Estelle

This Monday, November 26th, the Translation Mondays Series at North Quad welcomed UM grad Josh Estelle, now a Staff Software Engineer at Google. Estelle, a lead developer on Google Translate, discussed 6 years of progress towards bringing fast, accurate translation to hundreds of millions of people, and what this means for the future of communication.

When students come into the Undergraduate Library asking for a good book to read, Learning Librarian Emily Hamstra recommends the Browsing Collection of the latest fiction and nonfiction. The Browsing Collection currently has a display of recommended reading in translation, including Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood and Jussi Adler-Olsen’s latest chilling novel of murder and suspense, The Absent One, translated from Danish.

The theme semester was recently featured in an article in Publishing Perspectives entitled “Translation Gains New Ground in American Academia.” The article, reproduced on our blog, cites the translation theme semester as a good way of highlighting both the University of Michigan’s language resources and its dedication to intercultural awareness.

Translating Slavery, Translating Freedom panel, November 28

This Wednesday, join Michigan faculty panelists Martha S. Jones and Jean Hébrard, along with Françoise Massardier-Kenney of Kent State University, as they discuss issues related to translation in the contexts of slavery and emancipation. Professor Massardier-Kenney studies literature, gender and feminism in translation and the pedagogy of translation. She is a co-author (along with Doris Kadish) of Translating Slavery.

Silence and Translation symposium, December 3-4

And we’re looking forward to next week’s Silence and Translation Symposium, which brings renowned filmmakers Trinh T. Minh-ha and Sarah Bouyain to campus December 3-4. Click here for more details.

Upcoming Events, November 26-30

The (medieval) Andalusian Cosmos and the (modern) Arabic Novel: Translation and Transculturation—a lecture by William Granara (Harvard). Part of the lecture series Spain and the Modern Arab World (1492-2012).
Monday, November 26, 4pm, 2022 Thayer (202 S. Thayer St.)

The Story of Google Translate: Past, Present, and Future—a conversation with Josh Estelle.
Monday, November 26, 7pm, 2435 North Quad

Translating Slavery, Translating Freedom—a panel discussion with Françoise Massardier-Kenney (Kent State U.), Martha S. Jones, and Jean Hébrard. Moderated by Christi Merrill.
Wednesday, November 28, 4pm, The Gallery, Hatcher Graduate Library

The Ethics of Medieval Translation—a lecture by Emma Campbell (University of Warwick).
Thursday, November 29, 4pm, 4th Floor Commons, Modern Languages Building

Theme Semester Newsletter #8

Vicente L. Rafael lecture, November 8

This Thursday, Vince Rafael (U. Washington) discusses how the politics of language in the American colonial education system in the Philippines escalated to what some see as a war of translation.

Words without Borders: Translation for a Digital Age panel (Translation Mondays Series), November 12

The Translation Mondays Series continues with one more event before the Thanksgiving break. Next Monday (November 12th), we are excited to welcome Susan Harris, editor of the online journal Words Without Borders, who will be joined by panelists Ray McDaniel, Naomi Silver, and Meg Berkobien.

Meanwhile, this Thursday evening, join UM students, faculty, and staff in a storytelling event called Lost in Translation: Stories of Global Experiences. Audience members will get to listen to storytellers share about their international experiences.

Staged reading of Antigonick, a new translation of Sophocles by Anne Carson, November 13

Next Tuesday (November 13th), Anne Carson and friends will read from her new version of Sophocles, entitled “Antigonick,” followed by a booksigning.

Upcoming Events, November 5-13

Translation at Work: Panel on Technical, Legal, and Medical Translation—Part of the North Quad Translation Mondays Series.
Monday, November 5th, 7pm, 2435 North Quad

Censorship in Translation: “Reworking Reader’s Trash” Panel Discussion with Nigel Poor, Christi Merrill, and Patricia Yaeger—in conjunction with “Remainders: the Banned Book Project.”
Tuesday, November 6th, 12:30pm, 2145 North Quad

The War of Translation and the Friendship Among Languages: American English, Colonial Education and Tagalog Slang, 1920s-1970s—A lecture by Vicente L. Rafael (U. Washington).
Thursday, November 8th, noon, 2435 North Quad

The Cultural and Intellectual Life of Northern Morocco during the Spanish Protectorate (1912-1956): Tradition and the Dynamics of a Relative Modernization—A lecture by Jaafar Ben El Haj Soulami (Abd al-Malik al-Saadi University; Tetouan, Morocco). Note: This lecture will be given in Arabic. Part of the lecture series Spain and the Modern Arab World (1492-2012).
Thursday, November 8th, 6pm, 2175 North Quad

Lost in Translation: Stories of Global Experiences—Listen to storytellers share about their international experiences.
Thursday, November 8th, 7pm, 2435 North Quad

Words Without Borders: Translation for a Digital Age—A panel discussion with Susan Harris (editor of wordswithoutborders.com), Ray McDaniel, Naomi Silver, and Meg Berkobien.
Monday, November 12th, 4pm, 2435 North Quad

Antigo nick (sophokles)—A reading and booksigning by Anne Carson and friends.
Tuesday, November 13th, 5pm, The Gallery, Hatcher Graduate Library

Theme Semester Newsletter #7

Jonathan Stalling lecture (Translation Mondays Series), October 29

The Translation Mondays Series is building momentum, with events every Monday evening in 2435 North Quad. Tonight the series welcomes poet and translator Jonathan Stalling (Associate Professor of English Literature at the U. of Oklahoma). In a presentation—part lecture, part performance—entitled “丝蕊 The Silk Stamen and Pistil: Three Ways to Rethink the Meaning of Sound in Translation,” Stalling will demonstrate different ways to hear the problem of sound in translation and explore some of his solutions by discussing, chanting, and reciting Chinese poetry in Chinese, English, and in both at the same time.

Panel on technical, legal, and medical translation (Translation Mondays Series), November 5

Next week, Translation Mondays will have its second panel on professional translation. Building on our first panel on how to become a a literary translator, this second panel aims to provide insights into the more technical side of translation—whether for business, scientific, legal, or medical purposes.

Staged reading of Brian Friel’s play “Translations,” Nov. 1 & 2

Meanwhile, don’t miss the other interesting translation-themed events going on this week. This Thursday and Friday evening, students from the Residential College will put on a staged reading of Brian Friel’s play Translations in the Parker Room of the Michigan Union.

This Wednesday, Peter Bing (Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Classics at Emory) will lead a workshop on translating Greek epigrams. Students are invited to bring a poem they would like to work on during the workshop.

Also this Thursday, the Penny Stamps Auditorium on North Campus features Lawrence and Marie-Hélène

Lehérissey, two descendents of the early filmmaker Georges Méliès, among the first to translatestory to film. This presentation will translate a series of his silent films through narration (which will in turn be translated from French to English).

Upcoming Events,

October 29-November 5

丝蕊 The Silk Stamen and Pistil: Three Ways to Rethink the Meaning of Sound in Translation—A lecture by Jonathan Stalling. Part of the North Quad Translation Mondays Series.
Monday, October 29th, 7pm, 2435 North Quad

Translating Greek Epigrams—a workshop with Peter Bing (Emory University). Students are invited to bring a poem to work on during the session. Interested students should RSVP to Sandra Andrade in Classics.
Wednesday, October 31st, noon, Classics Library, 2175 Angell Hall

Ciné-concert Georges Méliès—a narrated performance by Marie-Hélène and Lawrence Lehérissey, accompanied by piano. The narration for these early films will be performed in French and translated into English.
Thursday, November 1st, 7pm, Penny Stamps Auditorium in the Walgreen Drama Center, North Campus

Translations—a staged reading of Brian Friel’s 1980 play Translations by students directed by Martin Walsh, as part of the Residential College course, “Modern Irish Drama and Film.”
Thursday and Friday, November 1st & 2nd, 7pm, The Parker Room, Michigan Union

Translation at Work: Panel on Technical, Legal, and Medical Translation—Building on our first panel on how to become a a literary translator, this second panel aims to provide insights into the more technical side of translation—whether for business, scientific, legal, or medical purposes. Part of the North Quad Translation Mondays Series.
Monday, November 5th, 7pm, 2435 North Quad

Theme Semester Newsletter #5

This Tuesday, Luise von Flotow  (PhD, Michigan, pictured at left participating in Monday’s panel), Professor and Director of the School of Translation and Interpretation at the University of Ottawa, gave a Rackham Centennial Alumni lecture tracing the effect of what in the 1980s was labelled feminist translation on the developing discipline of Translation Studies.

On Thursday, the Penny W. Stamps Lecture Series welcomed YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES. The Seoul-based duo, known for videos that “translate” across languages, media, and genres to question contemporary social and cultural conditions, as they addressed students at the Michigan Theater in conjunction with their installation currently on view at the UM Museum of Art.

As part of his theme semester course on Spain and the Modern Arab World, Professor Eric Calderwood has organized a lecture series about various “translations” of Spain’s Islamic past by modern Spanish and Arab writers and musicians. The first lecture this Friday featured Johnathan Glasser on Andalusian music in North Africa.

Meanwhile, there are several translation-related contests available to students this semester. The theme semester is sponsoring two college-wide contests:

These contests are sponsored by other units:


Events, October 9-15

Translating Women: Talking about Women in Translation Studies Rackham Centennial Alumni Lecture by Luise von Flotow (University of Ottawa)
Tuesday, October 9th, 4pm, Hatcher Graduate Library Gallery

Story, Sentence, Single Word: Translation Paradigms in Javanese and Malay Islamic Literature – A brownbag with Ronit Ricci
Wednesday, October 10th, noon, 2015 Tisch Hall

The Language of One, The Script of the Other: Early Armeno-Turkish Novels and Ottoman/Turkish Literary Historiography – A talk by Murat Cankara, 2012-2013 Manoogian Simone Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan
Wednesday, October 10th, 4pm, 1636 SSWB

YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES: One or Two Things We Know About Art – part of the Penny W. Stamps Lecture Series
Thursday, October 11th, 5:10pm, Michigan Theater

What’s Andalusi about Andalusi Music? On Index and Origin in Urban North Africa  – A lecture by Jonathan Glasser (College of William and Mary). Part of the lecture series Spain and the Modern Arab World (1492-2012).
Friday, October 12th, 5pm, 2022 Thayer (202 S. Thayer St.)

 

Theme Semester Newsletter #4

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The events in this week and next in our Translation Mondays series at North Quad encourage students to explore literary translation. On October 1st, Canon Translation Review hosted a party celebrating the release of its second issue. Next Monday, October 8th, we will feature a panel on “how to become a literary translator.”

This is the last week to view the special collections exhibit at Hatcher Library on “Translating Homer: From Papyri to Alexander Pope” (through October 7). A highlight is the discovery by curator Pablo Alvarez of an 1862 letter by a UM student fighting in the Civil War who rescued a translation of Homer from the flames in New Orleans and sent the book as a gift with this letter to his Greek Professor.

On our blog, read accounts by current UM students who visited the exhibit and went on their own odyssey into the library to find other translations of Homer.

Last Monday, in response to the library exhibit, UM faculty members participated in a panel discussion moderated by Professor Yopie Prins about the long and varied history of translating Homer. Professor Richard Janko (Classics) showed images of recently discovered examples of early Greek writing, Karla Mallette (Near Eastern Studies and Romance Languages and Literatures) related the dramatic story of the translation into Latin in the time of Petrarch, Pablo Alvarez (MLibrary Special Collections) highlighted some of the most exciting items shown in the library’s exhibit, Sean Silver (English) analyzed the history of Homer translations into English over the past five centuries, and Ruth Scodel (Classics) wrapped up the presentations by drawing our collective attention to the impact of the choice of translation in the classroom.

In conjunction with these theme semester events on Homer, Contexts for Classics at the University of Michigan is pleased to announce a creative contest in Translating Homer. For information about other contests in conjunction with the translation theme semester, click here.

Upcoming Events, October 1-8

North Quad Translation MondaysRelease Party for the 2nd Issue of Canon Translation Review, an online journal of translation by UofM students. Join us for a reading featuring this issue’s contributing writers.
Monday, October 1st, 7pm, 2435 North Quad

New Ways to Engage Students in Interdisciplinary Learning: Pedagogies of Translation – This session explores various disciplinary and interdisciplinary contexts for teaching the concept of translation. To register for this program (and lunch), click here.
Tuesday, October 2nd, 12:15-2pm, CRLT Seminar Room: First Floor, Palmer Commons Building

Buddhist Medicine in China: Disease, Healing, and the Body in Cross-cultural Translation – A lecture by C. Pierce Salguero, Assistant Professor of History at the Abington College of Pennsylvania State University.
Thursday, October 4th, 12pm, Room 1022, South Thayer Building (202 S. Thayer, at Washington)

Translation at the Origins of Italian – A lecture by Alison Cornish (UofM RLL). Part of La settimana della lingua 2012: How Italy Speaks Itself, sponsored by the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures.
Thursday, October 4th, 4pm, 2175 North Quad

Translating Echoes from the Past: Music-Making and the Politics of Listening and Relatedness in Turkey – A combined lecture and musical performance exploring the centrality of music in historical and contemporary practices of assimilation and cultural revival in Turkey by Nikolaos Michailides, Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology at Princeton.
Monday, October 8th, 4pm, Kalamazoo Room, Michigan League

North Quad Translation Mondays: Panel discussion about becoming a literary translator, with Luise von Flotow (Director, Univ of Ottawa Center for Translators and Interpreters), Dwayne Hayes (Managing Editor, Absinthe: New European Writing), Ben Paloff (Assistant Professor, UM Slavic Languages and Literature), Christi Merrill (Associate Professor, Asian Languages and Culture), Meg Berkobien (Intern, Words Without Borders). You’ve dabbled in translation. You’ve worked and reworked the poem that has haunted you since the day you first read it in a foreign tongue. But what comes next? How does translation work outside of the classroom? We’ve brought together a panel of translators, scholars, and publishers to help shed some light on how translating for publication operates both within and outside of the academic sphere, and how to take the next step in entering the world of literary translation.
Monday, October 8th, 7pm, 2435 North Quad

Theme Semester Newsletter #3

Just in time for the translation theme semester, the Language Resource Center has launched their new Language Bank, to provide translation services to the university community. This online resources matches Michigan students, faculty, staff interested in translating with those around campus and in the area who are looking for translation or interpretation. Do you have a translation or interpretation project? Click here to request a translator. Would you like to volunteer to translate? Sign up here!

If you haven’t yet seen it, we recommend taking a look at the exhibit entitled “Translating Homer: From Papyri to Alexander Pope” presented by the Special Collections and Papyrology Libraries, open now through October 7 in the Audubon Room, Hatcher Graduate Library. See this press release for more information. Coming up next Monday at 4pm, there will be a panel discussion of the exhibit with UM faculty members. The panelists will include Pablo Alvarez (UM Library), Richard Janko (Classical Studies), Karla Mallette (Romance Languages and Near Eastern Studies), Yopie Prins (Comparative Literature), Ruth Scodel (Classical Studies), and Sean Silver (English Literature). Click here to see the poster.

Following the panel discussion next Monday, please join us for a reception, 5:30-7pm, also in the Hatcher Library Gallery, to celebrate the Translating Homer exhibit and the launch of the theme semester.

We also invite you to join us for Translation Mondays at 2435 North Quad. In September we join forces with the Global Scholars program to co-host film screenings followed by informal discussion. Looking ahead to October, we will feature a reading on October 1 by various translators, celebrating the second issue of the undergraduate magazine of literary translations, Canon Translation Review. On October 8 we follow up with a panel of translators, editors, and professors: “How to Become a Literary Translator.” As the semester continues, be on the lookout for an evening of fun with translation (translation karaoke!), a panel on medical and technical translation, and a presentation about the invention of Google Translate.

As always, please contact Patrick Tonks with any questions about the theme semester or any of the events listed here.

Upcoming Events, September 19-25

Translating Homer: Panel Discussion with UM faculty – in response to the special collections exhibit in the Hatcher Library Audubon Room. Followed by a reception. See this poster for more information.
Monday, September 24th, 4pm, Graduate Library Gallery

North Quad Translation Mondays – After the success this past Monday of our first film screening, followed by lively discussion of the documentary Speaking in Tongues, we are happy to announce a second screening this coming Monday. We hope you’ll join us for movie-themed snacks and a showing of We Still Live Here (Âs Nutayuneân), a remarkable story of language revival and cultural translation by the Wampanoag of Southeastern Massachusetts..
Monday, September 24th, 7-9:30pm, 2435 North Quad

Theme Semester Newsletter #2

Have you seen posters, banners, and screens around campus, asking “How do YOU translate”? This question was projected in giant orange letters on the walls of 2435 North Quad, where students gathered on September 10 for a theme semester Open House. MTranslation Tweets traveled in red lights across the ceiling, while students ate pizza and lounged in plush chairs for a live demo of “That Translation Game Show.”

The Michigan Daily stopped by for interviews, and students had a chance to talk about getting involved with the theme semester. Many were surprised and excited to learn that there is funding available (up to $500!) for initiating their own events related to translation. Some also signed up as volunteers for The Language Bank, recently launched by the Language Resource Center.

This week we are pleased to feature two events that highlight the translation from one form of expression to another: from hip hop to academia on the one hand, and silent film into dramatic narration on the other.

On Thursday, September 13th at 7pm in Rackham Amphitheater, Hip Hop Congress will present “From the Breaks to the Books: A Lecture with 9th Wonder.”  Grammy award-winning producer and DJ turned academic 9th Wonder will discuss hip hop as a form of “translating” between musical genres, and the “translation” of hip hop into academia. Click here to read more about this event in a post on our blog by History and DAAS student Korbin Felder.

The next evening, on Friday, September 14th at 7pm at the Michigan Theater, the Center for Japanese Studies Fall 2012 Film Series kicks off with a “translation” of the classic film I Was Born, But… (Otona no miru ehon – Umarete wa mita keredo, Dir. Yasujiro Ozu, 1932) by the visiting benshi artist Ichiro Kataoka. Benshi as a performative art developed in tandem with Japanese silent film. The benshi performer offers a live narration and interpretation of the film in front of the viewer. Billed as a “comedy of embarrassments,” I Was Born, But… shows the effects of the depression on the rapidly modernizing urban space of Japan, along with a curious class consciousness. Click here for more information, and see this poster for information about the CJS Film Series going on throughout the fall semester.

Please contact Patrick Tonks with any questions about the theme semester or any of the events listed here. If you would like to receive this weekly newsletter throughout the semester, you may sign up on this page (look to the right-hand column).

Upcoming Events, September 12-18

From the Breaks to the Books: A Lecture with 9th Wonder.
Thursday, September 13th, 7-9pm, Rackham Amphitheatre (4th floor)

Lost without Translation: Telling the Stories of a Silenced People – a colloquium with Professor Anushiya Ramaswamy (Southern Illinois University), translator of the Sri Lankan diasporic writer, Shoba Sakthi.
Friday, September 14th, 4-5:30pm, International Institute, Room 1636 (School of Social Work Building, 1080 S. University Ave.)

Translating Silent Film – Featuring a live performance by benshi artist Ichiro Kataoka, who will “translate” the silent film I Was Born, But… (Dir. Yasujiro Ozu, 1932). With introductory remarks by Professor Markus Nornes (Chair of the Department of Screen Arts and Cultures) about the tradition of Japanese Benshi performance as an approach to translating silent film. Also to be shown: The Cook (Buster Keaton and Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, 1918). Admission: $15 for adults; $7 for Michigan Theater members/students/ seniors/veterans
Friday, September 14th, 7-9pm, Michigan Theater

North Quad Translation Mondays – In conjunction with the Global Scholars Program, we will be hosting a screening of the must-see documentary Speaking in Tongues. A discussion of the film will follow. Movie-themed snacks will be provided! See here for more information.
Monday, September 17th, 7-9pm, 2435 North Quad