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David Servan-Schreiber – épilogue

Hommage à David
St Eustache 27 juillet 2011
Emile Servan-Schreiber
 
Je ne vais pas vous parler de la vie de David, mais de sa mort. Car elle est en elle même une leçon de vie. Pendant treize mois, depuis le premier diagnostic de sa rechute jusqu’à sa mort, David s’est battu comme un taureau dans l’arène, avec autant de courage dans la bataille que de lucidité sur ses chances, quasi-nulles, de gagner, avec autant de détermination à vivre que d’humilité face à son destin. Quand, il y a cinq mois, la tumeur est réapparue malgré tous les douloureux traitements de pointe, il savait, nous savions tous, qu’il lui restait très peu de temps.
Cette ultime épreuve de la mort, il s’y est engagé complètement. Pour, fidèle à sa méthode, se donner le sentiment de prendre la main sur le mal, pour prendre le pouvoir au lieu de subir. Il a su ainsi profiter pleinement
des possibilités qu’offre cet étrange intervalle de vie que l’on sait être le dernier.
Alors que la tumeur progressait de jour en jour, en gourdissant ses membres un à un, affaiblissant sa voix jusqu’à un simple murmure, réduisant sa capacité de concentration à seulement quelques heures par jour, il a choisi de jeter ses ultimes forces physiques etcérébrales dans l’écriture d’un dernier livre. Ainsi, pour la troisième fois, il fit en sorte que son épreuve personnelle se transforme en une expérience positive et utile pour les autres.
Ce dernier opus fut arraché a la maladie, à la mortelle même, avec le succès que l’on sait. Ce formidable accueil du public, pour son livre le
plus personnel, l’a profondément gratifié. L’une des dernières choses qu’il ait fait l’effort de tenir dans sa main engourdie, quelques jours avant de mourir, a été le classement des livres de L’Express avec le sien
tout en haut. Cela lui donna le sentiment d’avoir, d’une certaine façon vaincu la maladie en l’empêchant de l’empêcher d’être encore utile.
Comme les deux précédents, ce livre est, pour ses lecteurs, un puissant médicament. Car, face à la mort, et jusqu’au bout de sa maladie, Dav
id est resté un médecin attentif aux autres.
Ceux d’entre nous qui ont eu la chance de prendre soin de lui ces derniers mois, de l’accompagner dans son calvaire, ont eu l’impression que c’est plutôt lui qui nous accompagnait, lui qui nous rassurait que tout allait bien se passer, lui qui faisait preuve d’une patience infinie face à nos maladresses, lui qui d’un doux regard reconnaissant dissipait toute la gêne que son état d’extrême dépendance aurait pu causer. Il prenait soin de nos âmes. Dans" On peut se dire au revoir plusieurs fois", David s’interroge sur sa réserve de courage et demande à ses proches de ne pas lui en vouloir s’il devait trembler au seuil de la mort.

 

Hommage à David Servan-Schreiber – epilogue

 

St Eustache 27 juillet 2011, Emile Servan-Schreiber

 

Je ne vais pas vous parler de la vie de David, mais de sa mort. Car elle est en elle même une leçon de vie.

Pendant treize mois, depuis le premier diagnostic de sa rechute jusqu'à sa mort, David s'est battu comme un taureau dans l'arène, avec autant de courage dans la bataille que de lucidité sur ses chances, quasi-nulles, de gagner, avec autant de détermination à vivre que d'humilité face a son destin.

Quand, il y a cinq mois, la tumeur est réapparue malgré tous les douloureux traitements de pointe, il savait, nous savions tous, qu'il lui restait très peu de temps.

Cette ultime épreuve de la mort, il s'y est engage complètement. Pour, fidele à sa méthode, se donner le sentiment de prendre la main sur le mal, pour prendre le pouvoir au lieu de subir. Il a su ainsi profiter pleinement des possibilités qu'offre cet étrange intervalle de vie que l'on sait être le dernier.

Alors que la tumeur progressait de jour en jour, engourdissant ses membres un à un, affaiblissant sa voix jusqu'a un simple murmure, réduisant sa capacité de concentration a seulement quelques heures par jour, il a choisi de jeter ses ultimes forces physiques et cérébrales dans l'écriture d'un dernier livre. Ainsi, pour la troisième fois, il fit en sorte que son épreuve personnelle se transforme en une expérience positive et utile pour les autres.

Ce dernier opus fut arrache à la maladie, à la mort elle même, avec le succès que l'on sait.

Ce formidable accueil du public, pour son livre le plus personnel, l'a profondément gratifie. L'une des dernières choses qu'il ait fait l'effort de tenir dans sa main engourdie, quelques jours avant de mourir, a ete le classement des livres de L'Express avec le sien tout en haut. Cela lui donna le sentiment d'avoir, d'une certaine façon vaincu la maladie en l'empêchant de l'empêcher d'être encore utile.

Comme les deux précédents, ce livre est, pour ses lecteurs, un puissant médicament. Car, face à la mort, et jusqu'au bout de sa maladie, David est reste un médecin attentif aux autres.

Ceux d'entre nous qui ont eu la chance de prendre soin de lui ces derniers mois, de l'accompagner dans son calvaire, ont eu l'impression que c'est plutôt lui qui nous accompagnait, lui qui nous rassurait que tout allait bien se passer, lui qui faisait preuve d'une patience infinie face a nos maladresses, lui qui d'un doux regard reconnaissant dissipait toute la gêne que son état d'extrême dépendance aurait pu causer. Il prenait soin de nos âmes.

Dans « On peut se dire au revoir plusieurs fois », David s'interroge sur sa réserve de courage et demande à ses proches de ne pas lui en vouloir s'il devait trembler au seuil de la mort.

A aucun moment il n'a tremblé.

Au contraire. Quelques jours avant la fin, il reposait sur son lit d'hôpital, presque entièrement paralysé et sans voix. A ce stade, pour s'exprimer, il ne pouvait plus bouger que sa main droite, et son regard. Alors que je pris sa main dans la mienne, croyant ainsi le rassurer et lui transmettre un peu de courage, je fus surpris quand un instant plus tard, me fixant droit dans les yeux, il se dégagea pour prendre ma main dans la sienne. Je compris que c'est moi qu'il tenait a rassurer que tout irait bien.

David n'avait pas peur de la mort, il croyait que celle ci allait l'emporter vers un royaume d'amour, via ce fameux tunnel de lumière dont temoignent ceux qui ont eu ce qu'on appelle « une expérience de mort imminente ».

Nous te le souhaitons, David, mon frère, frère de Franklin, frère d'Edouard, notre frère à tous.

Pour ta part, tu nous as donne un superbe exemple de ce que l'on pourrait appeler « une expérience de mort réussie. » Un précieux cadeau de départ que chacun de nous gardera dans son cœur, pour y puiser, de temps a autre, un peu de la force nécessaire a affronter la vie.

Jacqueline Suskin – linguist of the month (original interview).

This column has been expanded in scope to include all linguists, not just translators. This allows us to interview socio-linguists, juridical terminologists, etc. But no-one we ever interview is likely to have as unconventional an occupation as our current interviewee, Jacqueline Suskin, 29, a "performance poet", who has chosen this niche field within the world of poetry.

We interviewed Jacqueline at Echo Park Lake, an island of tranquility in the bustling city of Los Angeles. Jacqueline appeared for the interview, very elegantly dressed and carrying the tools of her profession – a tiny Hermes Rocket typewriter and small loose-leaf note-pad.

JS - Echo
                photo Jonathan G.

At the end of the interview, conducted while sitting on a bench overlooking the lake, we asked her to write a poem on the subject of French. Her text was as follows:

French

Taken from the tone of old world
the feeling is in truth
a place and all that land can gather.

So much that time and lineage
show us what it is to be from
some magic center of culture
that continues to speak with hints
of history, romantic and fully
formed by those who keep such
rythmic language alive.

– jacqueline suskin

Feb 2014


In addition to the quality and depth of her poems, one astonishing aspect of her work is her ability to begin typing her poem the moment she hears the subject given to her. Immediately we told her our chosen theme, she instantly began banging out the poem and completed it within about 2 minutes.

JS typewriter & poem

———————

LMJ: The name Jacqueline is very French. Do you come from a French family?

JACQUELINE: I am third-generation American but I have French ancestors on both my parents' sides.

LMJ: When did you first take up poetry and what influenced you to follow that direction?

JACQUELINE: I still have notes that I made when I first learnt to write at kindergarten. They are cryptic and largely unintelligible, but they reveal a definite desire on my part to express myself in writing. In 7th grade I was allocated part of a literary project and I ended up
writing a complete book. Later my father, a very literate person, read literature to me and installed in me a love of words and an appreciation of their power. At university I studied anthropology with the focus on linguistic history. I also took creative writing courses, mostly in poetry.

LMJ: The highlight of your working week takes place at the Hollywood Farmers Market, where you sit and receive poetry orders from passers-by. "The lady with the typewriter",  a fixed feature of the Market, sits amidst the fruit and vegetable vendors, the musicians and other participants. What made you choose that unusual work location?

JS - poem store 2


JACQUELINE : I love the vibrancy and diversity of the Market. The click-clack of my typewriter keys attracts the attention of passers-by. My typewriter serves as my mouthpiece. Some people are fascinated by this antiquated tool. Some younger people have never seen a typewriter.

LMJ: You could have chosen a laptop computer, to store all the poems you write for future reference.

JACQUELINE: Each poem I write comes from deep within me, but once it is typed out, I have no need to remember it.  Each poem is unique, even those written on the same subject.

LMJ: Explain the process of writing each poem, from beginning to end.

JACQUELINE: People approach me. Whether I chat with them for a few minutes before they indicate the title or topic of the poem they want, or whether the request is made with hardly any prior communication, I immediately get a sense of the person's feelings, and I write a poem that is designed to strike a chord with that person. The words pour out of me spontaneously until the poem is complete. I read out the finished poem and then hand them the typed version. I don't charge for the poem. The recipients pays me whatever they like.

LMJ: Does your mind ever go blank? Are you sometimes lost for something to write? Do you ever hesitate?

JACQUELINE: Never.

LMJ: Many people have never read poetry. Most people would say it
is far removed from their fields of interest and occupation. How do you bridge that gap?

JACQUELINE: in the age of e-mails, all of us are poets, even if we don't realize it. I can impart to people the idea of the potency of words, particularly their power to express emotions.

LMJ: Do you ever feel a lack of appreciation from the person who has commissioned your work.

JACQUELINE: Never. The contrary is true. People often weep when they realize how deeply the poem has touched them. That is the true role of any poet, to find the depth and import of every subject.

LMJ: So how would you describe the service you provide?

JACQUELINE: I see myself as a muse, with the  responsibility of a  poet to reach out to as many people as possible. I feel I have something to offer. I have been called a seer, a therapist, a mystic and an empath.  I am pleased if I can have a therapeutic effect on people who are suffering in some way. But when I begin to write, my own personality is sublimated and the entire focus of my efforts is the emotional situation of the person for whom I am writing. My goal is to help them identify their problems, desires, fears or whatever.

LMJ: You have been quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying:

"This is the most physically draining thing I've ever done in my life. When I've written poems for four hours for people I don't know, I'm like a zombie. My brain is mush."

Why is that?

JACQUELINE: You are an interpreter and you know how exhausting it is to focus on every word being spoken in order to render it's true meaning. For me, the person's emotions are my "source language" and I have to strain every fiber  to turn them into words. It is a draining process.

LMJ: So what is the up side if your work?

JACQUELINE : It gives me a unique perspective of human nature,  the state of humanity. We all share the same kinds of problems deep down.

LMJ: How do you see your professional future?

JACQUELINE: I have completed my second book and am looking for a publisher. I hope to write many more. I have been writing poems professionally for 5 years, but I feel I am at the beginning of my career.

———————

Françoise de la plume de Dussert – Translator of the Month of June 2012

You were born in France. When and how did you learn English?

At secondary school where it was my first foreign language. But I was better at Italian although I took it up later; so at the baccalauréat and thereafter at university, where I read French lit, Italian became my first foreign language with English in a supporting role (in comparative literature for instance where reading the foreign text in its original language was optional).

My first love is for good writing. I loved Italian and got better at it because, closer to French, its beauty and its finer points were more readily accessible to me. As luck would have it, my desire to go to Italy as an assistant for a year was thwarted. As I had resolved to live abroad and was lucky enough to have relatives in England, I came as an au pair for a year and fell in love with the country. In order to stay on, I found a job as a French teacher and went on to teach in secondary education for over twenty years.

 

How did you become a translator?

It was a dream I had entertained for a long time. To begin with, my English was not very good and I instinctively turned to books to deepen my knowledge not only of the language but also of the culture, applauded in this by my cousin (a translator herself). The appreciation of literature with a capital L and a good turn of phrase had been my pride and joy: having settled in England I had a visceral need for the same accomplishments in my new current language. From time to time I was seized with the urge to translate a book I had loved.

Then, one fine day, I was through with French teaching – which had in the meantime provided ample food for thought on the respective workings of my two languages. I decided to quit and to satisfy my ambition.

 

You translate from and into French and english; that must have raised a few highbrows…

It is discouraged but, ironically, I did not have much choice! I wanted to try translating… Fine, but how do you start in the profession? I had to get qualifications, specialisms. I knew that the Institute of linguists who serves all foreign language professionals offered a Diploma in translation. That was all fine and dandy but a few hours spent on passed papers had soon persuaded me that I still had a lot to learn.

Translate indeed, but from and into which language? I had found that I could intimidate my British colleague with the quality of my English and students naturally more inclined to criticise than to respect our knowledge would often turn to me for tricky language questions. (I had garnered a vast vocabulary and could explain grammar.) Meanwhile my assiduous practice of English had weakened my grasp on my mother tongue. I was unemployed so I settled down to the translation of two books, one into French one into English, on alternative day: we’d soon find out. Now the translation of Puckoon towards French proved much more difficult than that of Le Très-bas towards English. This will come as no surprise to professional translators, who are well acquainted with the difficulties associated with the translation of humour, let alone Irish humour!

For good measure, in those days enrolment for the exam was subject to graduation in the language from which the candidate translated. My degree was in French literature therefore I had to take the exam translating towards English, with the native speakers. I passed, and got a merit in literary translation. However, what with French being my mother tongue, the Institute first insisted on my translating only into French. I decided that I would satisfy demand as it came: after all, I had the same qualification as my English speaking colleagues. In due course, the IoL recognised me as a bilingual translator.

 

Was it difficult for you to build a clientele and to gain a foothold in the profession?

Yes. My specialism in literature and history did not open many doors… I owe it to professional organisations and to my colleagues to have made it as a translator. A translation company offered me a work placement and continued to use me from time to time (I got a break as an interpreter for Oxfam that way). But I am even more grateful to Jamie Robertson at AlphaPlus for the good care he took to introduce me to colleagues and networks. This lead to the creation of a small multilingual team in a position to offer services in a number of languages and in this way, we landed several contracts with publishers. We worked to a cooperative model which enabled us to respond fast and aptly to demand both in terms of language and specialism and relying on mutual trust and respect. This experience would later place me in a position to respond at a moment’s notice to a demand from the French ministry of Foreign Affairs. Among translators, professionalism and mutual support seem a matter of course.

 

Do you often meet colleagues? Do you find participation to translation forums online profitable?

In my career, contacts have been paramount. Professional organisations (not restricted to languages) helped me meet local colleagues and we were able to support each other. At the same time several translation forums came online and I found more colleagues willing to share resources. I enjoyed this rich generosity which has in turn enabled me to ease colleagues into the profession. One of my joys is to collaborate on occasions with one of my former students! Online exchanges are very rich. I have learnt a lot that way, about languages, of course, but also about professional integrity. Our languages evolve constantly and it is not unusual to come unstuck and turn to collective wisdom for resolution. Methodology also comes under scrutiny there. Besides I owe the medium some good friends.

 

Translating is a lonely pursuit.  Does solitude weigh on you?

No. Much to my own amazement, even in the early days when I was not connected to the internet (which was not the sophisticated tool we now know) five of or six hours of wrestling with a sales contract were pure delight. Admittedly, time is subjective and they could seem a good deal less long than an hour and a half with some thirty kids bereft of any interest in French – and intent on letting you know… The fact of the matter is that I needed such solitude.

 

Do you work for agencies or private clients?

Mostly for private clients in the fields of art, politics, development aid, history, socio-economics. There too, I have forged some friendships.

 

What is your greatest ambition?

To succeed in having at least one of the four novels I have translated published. In three cases (one towards English, two towards French), I had the authors’ collaboration and I despair of my ineffectiveness in honouring their patience with me and in having them appreciated.

 

ROS SCHWARTZ – CV

 

ROS SCHWARTZ

 

34 Heriot Rd, London NW4 2DG

 

Tel. +44 (0)20 8202 7877 – E-mail: ros@rosschwartz.co.uk

 

 

 

TITLES TRANSLATED FROM FRENCH

 

 

 

Holy Virility, Emmanuel Raynaud, Pluto Press, 1982. Sociology/history.

 

I Didn’t Say Goodbye, Claudine Vegh, Caliban Books 1984 and E.P. Dutton (New York) 1985. Interviews with Holocaust survivors.

 

The Blue Bicycle, Régine Deforges, W.H. Allen, 1985. Lyle Stuart (USA).

 

101 Avenue Henri Martin, Régine Deforges, W.H. Allen, 1986. Lyle Stuart (USA).

 

The Devil is still laughing, Régine Deforges, W.H. Allen, 1987. Lyle Stuart (USA).

 

Resting in Peace, Marta Caraion, 2 Plus 2, 1986. Short story.

 

Black Docker, Ousmane Sembène, William Heinemann, 1987. Novel.

 

The Net, Ilie Nastase, W.H. Allen, June 1987. Novel.

 

Desperate Spring, Fettouma Touati, The Women's Press, 1987. Novel.

 

Cuisine Extraordinaire, Conran Octopus and Mcgraw Hill, April 1988.

 

Return to Beirut, Andrée Chedid, Serpents Tail, 1989. Novel.

 

Women in Evidence, Sébastien Japrisot, Secker and Warburg 1991 and Crown (USA).

 

The Reformation, ed. Pierre Chaunu. Alan Sutton, 1989. History. (co-translator).

 

The Book of Inventions and Discoveries, Queen Anne Press, 1990, 1991, 1992.

 

Dining with Proust, Anne Borel, Alain Senderens. Ebury Press, 1992.

 

The Gallimard Guidebook Series: Amsterdam, Everyman's Library, 1993

 

Russian Art Collectors, Christina Burrus, Tauris Parke Books, 1994

 

Allah O Akbar, Abbas, Phaidon Press, 1994, (under nom de plume Linda Black)

 

A History of Scientific Thought, Michel Serres, Blackwell, 1995.

 

Pushing back the Horizons, Editions du Rouergue/Council of Europe, 1994.

 

Skopelos, a brief study of vernacular architecture, Marc Held, 1994.

 

Nature, Artifice and Japanese Culture, Augustin Berque, Pilkington Press, 1996

 

The Mistress of Silence, Jacqueline Harpman, Harvill, 1996. Seven Stories USA

 

Orlanda, Jacqueline Harpman, Harvill, 1999. Seven Stories USA

 

Theo’s Odyssey, Catherine Clément, Flamingo, 1999.

 

Visitor’s Guide to the Paris Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme, 1999

 

Extracts from novels by Agnès Desarthe and Marie Desplechin, in ExCITÉs,  Flamingo1999.

 

First Novel, Mazarine Pingeot, Harvill 1999.

 

In the Name of God, Yasmina Khadra, Toby Press, 1999 (under nom de plume Linda Black)

 

La Prisonnière by Malika Oufkir and Michèle Fitoussi, Transworld, July 2000, Talk Miramax USA  (Oprah’s Book Club selection).

 

Catalogue for the exhibition Paris en Relief, Musée Carnavalet, September 2000.

 

Catalogues for the Toulouse Lautrec, Miró, Braque and Artists of the 20th century exhibitions held at the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation, Athens.

 

Chocolat mon amour, M. Richart, Somogy, 2001

 

Wolf Dreams, Yasmina Khadra, Toby Press in 2003 (under nom de plume Linda Black)

 

Book of the Stars, Quadehar Erik L’homme, Chickenhouse Publishers, Scholastic USA, 2003

 

Book of the Stars, Lord Sha, Erik L’homme, Chickenhouse Publishers, Scholastic USA, 2004

 

Inside the Mind of Killer, Jean-François Abgrall, Profile Books, 2004.

 

Book of the Stars, The Face of the Shadow Chickenhouse Publishers, Scholastic USA, 2006

 

The Star of Algiers, Aziz Chouaki, with Lulu Norman, Graywolf Press, USA, 2005, Serpents Tail, London, 2006

 

A Little Grain of Sand, by Christophe Allwright (play), performed New Orleans 2002 and White Bear Theatre, London, 2004

 

Dead Horsemeat, Dominque Manotti in collaboration with Amanda Hopkinson, Arcadia, London, 2006. Shortlisted for the Duncan Lawrie International Dagger Award 2006

 

Belly of the Atlantic, Fatou Diome, with Lulu Norman, Serpents Tail, 2006

 

Martine (4 albums), Casterman, Brussels, 2006

 

Alexander Villedieu’s Fountain Pen, Michel Guede, Editions la mesure du possible, Brussels, 2006

 

Iran and the Bomb, Thérèse Delpech, Hurst & Co., 2007

 

Paris Noir, Serpents Tail, 2007

 

Lou, albums 1, 2, 3 (teenage graphic albums), Julien Neel, Highland Books, 2007, 2008

 

The Enigma of Islamist Violence, (co-translator), Amélie Blom, Laetitia Bucaille and Luis Martinez eds., Hurst & Co., 2007

 

Lorraine Connection, Dominque Manotti, Arcadia, 2007

 

(Winner of the Duncan Lawrie International Dagger Award 2008)

 

The Politics of Chaos in the Middle East, Olivier Roy, Hurst and Co.2008.

 

Beckett before Beckett, Souvenir Press. 2008

 

Metropolitain, Arthur Rimbaud (with Anthony Rudolf) in All that Mighty Heart, London Poems, ed. Lisa Russ Spaar, University of Virginia Press, 2008.

 

Affairs of State, Dominique Manotti, Arcadia, Dec. 2009

 

Holy Ignorance, Olivier Roy, Hurst & Co., Dec. 2010

 

The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Collectors Library, 2010

 

Russie, l’Envers du Pouvoir, Marie Mendras, Hurst, 2012

 

Within Spitting Distance, (play) Taher Najib, based on the French translation from the Hebrew by Jacqueline Carnaud.

 

Lou, albums 4 and 5, Julien Neel, Highland Books, to be published 2011.

 

Kite, Dominique Eddé, Seagull Press, to be published 2012.

 

 

 

HONOURS

 

2009: Chevalier d’Honneur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, French Ministry of Culture

 

 

 

ARTICLES ON LITERARY TRANSLATION published in The Linguist, the ATA Bulletin, The ITI Bulletin, Context (Dalkey Archive Press). I contributed a chapter to The Translator as Writer, Bassnett and Bush, eds, Continuum, London + New York, 2006, the British Council literary translation website, In Other Words, the journal of the Translators Association and the British Centre for Literary Translation.

 

Context No. 21, Conversation with Nicholas de Lange

 

 

 

TEACHING/TRAINING

 

1985-1990: Translation workshops at Goldsmiths' College, University of London

 

1995-1998: Tutor on MA course in Translation Studies, University of Middlesex.

 

1997- : Involved in international training seminars to encourage the involvement of practitioners in the training of literary translators: Dallas, Prague, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Straelen, Arles, Istanbul, Vigo, Athens, Paris, Oslo.

 

Visiting lecturer: University of Westminster, University of East Anglia, Middlesex University, University of Bath, University of Warwick

 

2002-2005, external examiner, University of Westminster.

 

British Centre for Literary Translation summer school.

 

2007, organised a Forum on editing translations with the Arts Council, British Council, BCLT and Translators Association, leading to the publication of Translation in Practice by Dalkey Archive Press.

 

2009 organised a series of peer-training translation workshops with the Translators Association, funded by the Arts Council of England.

 

Translation in the Catskills, summer school 2009

 

Co-organiser of Use your language, use your English, a joint translator training initiative (online course and summer school) with the Universities of London and Westminster, 2011, 2012

 

Translation in the Catskills, summer school 2009, 2011

 

Translation in the Townships, Quebec, 2012

 

Translation mentor Gallic Books, 2011-2012

 

 

 

 

 

MISCELLANEOUS

 

-          Consultant on the revised Robert and Collins French-English/English-French Dictionary.

 

-          Judge for the Larousse "Grand Prix de la Traduction", Paris, 1995

 

-          1999: Judge for the Aurora Borealis Prize of the Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs.

 

-          Film work: numerous films for the National Film Theatre, Barbican cinema and TV documentaries.

 

-          Member of the Translators' Association of the Society of Authors and is actively involved (Chair 1991–1992, Vice Chair 1996).

 

-          Fellow of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting

 

-          Chair of the European Council of Literary Translators Associations (CEATL) 2000– 2009, and “Membre d’Honneur”

 

-          Chair of the Advisory Panel to the British Centre for Literary Translation, 2005–2009.

 

-          2010 –  Chair English PEN’s Writers in Translation Programme.

 

-          Translation slam, Norwich Showcase 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChGyETKCja8

Les Traditions Juridiques du Droit Civil et de la Common Law

Source : Réseau Ontarien d'Education Juridique

Les systèmes judiciaires diffèrents d'un pays à l'autre. Deux systèmes judiciaires très répandus sont le droit civil et la common law. Souvent, le choix d'utiliser un système plutôt qu'un autre se fonde sur l'histoire du pays ou de la région en question. Par exemple, la France utilise le droit civil et l'Angleterre utilise la common law. Le Québec utilise donc le droit civil, car il a été colonisé par la France, alors que les autres provinces et territoires canadiens utilisent la common law, car ils ont été colonisés par l'Angleterre.

Le droit civil
Le terme « droit civil » peut avoir deux significations. Tout d'abord, il peut se rapporter à des questions de droit privé, comme des préjudices personnels, des différends contractuels ou d'autres litiges entre particuliers. Le droit privé est distinct du droit criminel. Deuxièmement, le terme « droit civil » peut également se rapporter à un système judiciaire fondé sur un code civil, comme le Code civil du Québec. Le présent document porte sur cette signification du terme.
Le système de droit civil est le système judiciaire le plus ancien et le plus répandu au monde. Il tire ses origines de l'ancien système romain. Dans un système de droit civil, les gouvernements établissent des codes de lois complets. Ces codes sont continuellement actualisés pour tenir un registre à jour des affaires que l’on peut et ne peut pas soumettre aux tribunaux. Par conséquent, dans le système de droit civil,  la législation établie par le gouvernement est la principale source de droit.

La common law
Le système de common law tire ses origines de la Conquête normande de 1066. Dans ce système, les lois ne sont pas uniquement établies par les corps législatifs, elles se fondent également sur les décisions rendues par les tribunaux. Bien que les corps législatifs établissent des lois, celles-ci sont interprétées par les tribunaux et ce sont les décisions des juges quant à la signification et à l'application des lois qui donnent lieu au droit. Par conséquent, la common law comporte plus de flexibilité pour s’adapter aux nouvelles circonstances et aux nouveaux cas.

Le système de common law repose sur la notion de stare decisis. Le terme provient de la phrase latine « Stare decisis et non quieta movere », ce que l'on peut traduire par « s’en tenir à ce qui a été décidé et ne pas bouleverser ce qui est établi ». Les décisions en common law sont nommées « précédents ». Les précédents donnent une orientation aux juges lorsqu'ils doivent prendre des décisions dans des cas similaires. Par conséquent, les tribunaux se doivent de respecter les précédents et de ne pas perturber les lois établies. Cependant, si les faits d'un litige sont différents des faits d'une affaire antérieure, les juges peuvent faire la distinction entre les affaires et établir un nouveau précédent fondé sur les nouveaux faits.
La notion de stare decisis repose sur l'hiérarchie des tribunaux. Les décisions des tribunaux supérieurs lient tous les juges des tribunaux inférieurs. Par exemple, les décisions de la Cour suprême du Canada lient tous les juges de tous les tribunaux inférieurs au Canada. Les décisions des cours d'appel provinciales lient tous les juges dans cette province. Les décisions de la cour supérieure lient les juges de première instance. Les juges ne sont pas liés par les décisions des autres juges de leur propre cour. Ces décisions ont un caractère persuasif, mais elles ne sont pas contraignantes.

Lorsque les juges établissent de nouvelles lois en interprétant la législation, leur interprétation peut se substituer au sens littéral de la législation en soi. Cependant, la common law demeure assujettie à̀ la Loi constitutionnelle. Les décisions judiciaires doivent respecter la Constitution et la Charte des droits et libertés. Souvent, les corps législatifs donneront suite aux décisions judiciaires en amendant ou en promulguant une nouvelle loi qui s’harmonise avec les décisions des tribunaux afin de « combler les écarts » dans le droit établi par les juges.

LE RÔLE DES JUGES ET DES JURYS
Le droit civil
Dans les juridictions de droit civil, en raison de l'accent sur les lois officielles et consignées par écrit, les juges tranchent les affaires en se fondant principalement sur le code applicable. En général, on ne recourt pas à des jurys. Les juges peuvent se rapporter à des décisions antérieures qui ont été rendues par certains tribunaux, mais ils ne le font que pour assurer la cohérence, et non parce que la loi les oblige à suivre les autres décisions judiciaires. Au lieu de recourir à des jurys, les tribunaux civils permettent à leurs juges d'utiliser un style très inquisitoire. Les juges interrogent les témoins et participent beaucoup plus au développement de la preuve.

La common law
Dans le système de common law, on peut recourir à des juges et à des jurys au cours des procès. Au Canada, toute personne traduite en justice pour un crime qui comporte une sentence de cinq ans ou plus a le droit à un procès devant jury. Lorsqu'on recourt à un juge et à un jury, ils jouent des rôles différents. Les juges assument le rôle de conseiller juridique; ils donnent des directives au jury sur les lois pertinentes et s'assurent que le procès se déroule de façon équitable. Lorsque les arguments ont été présentés, le juge informe le jury des lois dont il doit tenir compte et de la façon dont il doit traiter la preuve entendue. La tâche du jury est d’évaluer la preuve et les arguments, et de prendre des décisions sur les faits de l'affaire. Le jury rend ensuite le verdict ultime, déclarant l'accusé coupable ou non coupable, et responsable ou non responsable.

CEATL – annonce (English version)

CEATL – annonce

 

The Centre National du Livre français embarks on a project for a literary translation school

04-02-2012 - Training and education | France

To satisfy the desire shared between French publishers and translators to train new generations of professional translators, particularly in the so-called ‘minority’ languages, and following the report commissioned from Pierre Assouline on The Condition of the Translator, the Centre National du Livre (CNL) has embarked on a project for a literary translation school with an international calling.

Based on ideas developed over many years by the Association des traducteurs littéraires de France (ATLF) and the Assises de la traduction littéraire in Arles (ATLAS), as well as experiments carried out by the establishment and its partners, CNL proposes an experimental programme of training for young French translators who have already published at least one translation and wish to acquire a deeper understanding of the practice.

Entrusted to Olivier Mannoni, the chairman of ATLF, this project seeks to develop an innovative educational approach based not on the teaching of a language but on the practice of translation. Based on the transmission of skills, it relies on professional translators who are proven and acknowledged for their excellence.

Unlike traditional courses, this one is arranged around two time-schemes: in the morning, professional training, involving everyone involved in the world of publishing: editors, translators, rights managers, members of the legal team…; in the evening, collective, interlingual work on the translation of texts, bringing together about fifteen translators representing up to ten or so languages. The collective work will be supervised by well-known members of the profession, who will make the participants work on texts in various language (each language being practised by at least two student translators), the purpose being to communicate elements of translation technique, from the handling of dialogue in a detective novel to research and the treatment of sources in a historical book, taking in the techniques of translating poetry, theatre or cinema.

 

The Centre National will welcome the first CNL/ETL session starting on 7 April 2012, every Saturday, lasting for twelve weeks. Course fees will be paid for by CNL. Any additional expenses are the responsibility of the participants.

Application forms can be downloaded from the site of the Centre National du Livre and should be emailed before 29 February 2012 to the following address: CNL-ETL@centrenationaldulivre.fr

Successful candidates will be informed by post from 15 March.

For further information: Florabelle Rouyer, creative writing department tel: +33 (0) 1 49 54 68 30.

 

Fred Vargas – Réponse de la traductrice à une critique (SUITE)

Talking of editors, readers may not always realize that translators are not the only people to have had a hand in the text. In a good publishing house, an editor (as distinct from the copy-editor, who comes later and regularizes spellings and other minor problems) will always read through the text, and ideally the editor will know the source language well. I have been very fortunate in my editors. For most of the Vargas books, my editor has been Geoff Mulligan. He has an eagle eye, knows French perfectly, and usually spots when I’ve left a word or even sentence out, queries mistranslations, and helps me avoid inadvertent sound repetitions etc. In any book-length translation all kinds of glitches are bound to occur, usually omissions. Of course, as we always agree, any mistakes or wrong calls that are left are my own.

            The ‘maguffin’. In the case of detective novels there is an additional hazard. The maguffin — shorthand for central plot element or clue – may be something difficult to translate. This has happened several times, and I have found ways round it, about which nobody has yet complained. It happens for example in The Three Evangelists, and is also a problem in the one I have just finished translating, L’Armee furieuse. Fred Vargas has a particular quirk, which is to pick up on apparently casual words or phrases and weave them in later, either as further red herrings or essential plot strands. Not wanting to issue spoilers, I won’t go into detail, but can do so in private!

            Now to some particular points: in order, the titles of the police;  the names of the police officers in Adamsberg’s squad; tutoiement; strength of expletives; and coffee bowls… I have kept the titles of the police (commissaire, commandant, lieutenant. etc,) simply because they don’t map exactly on to either UK or US police ranks, though they are easily comprehensible. Depending on the publisher’s house style, they may be italicized or not. As for their names, no, alas, I can’t change them to give them the resonance they would have for the French reader (Lamarre/ y’en a marre etc). I did allow myself a joke at the expense of Danglard (the Anglophile), by having him pronounce ‘Donglarde’ by the British policeman who speaks no French. I don’t know whether this works in the US, but ‘Dong’ is quite appropriate to Danglard in England, because of Edward Lear and the ‘Dong with the luminous nose’ who is a rather sad fellow in the poem (‘he goes, he goes’, in love with a Jumbly Girl who has sailed away).

            Tutoiement is a perennial problem in French novels: the moment two characters start to tutoyer each other can mark familiarity, contempt, a love affair, etc.  As a rule, I try to indicate by some inflection in the dialogue that greater familiarity has been reached. Sometimes just using first names will do it, but that depends entirely on how the novel has been written. In the case of Vargas, it is perhaps a reasonable assumption that many readers will have a little acquaintance with French practice (or other European languages) so that one can sometimes refer to it explicitly. But I put my hand up, in the Lucio example and others in the book, I could  and should have done more.

            Expletive deleted? As Nicole Dufresne notes, I’ve gone online about this before. Here’s my take on it in Vargas. Her novels, with a fantasy squad and plots based on medieval romance, are not realistic police procedurals, of the hard-boiled variety, where these days – and increasingly – the characters use language which would have been regarded as rather strong even twenty years ago. Yes, her cops say ‘Merde’ and ‘qu’est-ce qu’il fout maintenant’.  But they don’t for example (to take a word recently in the news in LA) say ‘putain’, or ‘bordel de merde’ etc. every couple of minutes.  They don’t on the whole blaspheme much either.  So sometimes, if it seems that the degree of annoyance is quite mild – the sort of thing children hear their parents say every day in France, I don’t always use the literal English word, saving it for more serious trouble on the whole.  It’s not that I’m particularly prudish, and I’ve recently translated a novel by someone else, where I’ve had to up the expletive count exponentially, in terms of quality and quantity. Still I think I could probably have been less wimpish in the example she quotes!

            Finally, coffee bowls. and under-translations: I wasn’t quite sure why Nicole Dufresne didn’t like these.  In the novel, there’s quite a lot about Adamsberg drinking coffee in his kitchen: he is an old-fashioned guy who uses filters, not a cafetière, let alone a Gaggia machine, and he drinks his coffee from a bowl, as my own family and friends in France do, and exactly as Professor Dufresne describes it. My son-in-law would never drink his breakfast coffee from anything else: a small bowl, the size of a large cup, into which you can dip your bread. But I can’t possibly translate this kind of ‘bol’ as ‘cup’ or ‘mug’, because they have handles.   Googling ‘coffee bowl’ or bol de café brought up many images of the same, and the term ‘bowl’ used in France doesn’t seem to bother anyone.  But I missed out on haut de gamme [top-of-the-range or top-drawer didn’t seem to do it for cops – so I went with top brass, which is a very English expression]; and I completely missed out on moisi.  Sorry! But thank you very much, Nicole, if I can do the equivalent of tutoiement in signing off, for a generous but constructive critique.

 

Siân Reynolds, Edinburgh, March 2012

Preserving the Human Factor in Translation

by James Nolan

James NolanDeputy Director, Interpretation, Meetings & Publishing Division, United Nations (ret);

Head of Linguistic Services, International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ret).

Mr. Nolan was our Translator of the Month in May 2013. He is the author of "Interpretation. Techniques and Exercises”, published by Multilingual Matters; (October 2012) and "Spanish-English/English-Spanish Pocket Legal Dictionary", Bilingual Edition, published by Hippocrene Books, (October 2008).

 

                     Nolan cover 2               Nolan book 1


For the benefit of our readers, Mr. Nolan has summarized an oral presentation he made to the Twenty-Sixth Annual Conference of the Carolina Association of Translators and Interpreters (CATI), at Cape Fear Community College – Wilmington, North Carolina – April 27, 2013. The summary follows.

Digitalization is dramatically shaping human communications and the media used to carry them, including communication across language barriers. But when language barriers are bridged by translation and interpretation, the cultural impacts go beyond the communication of messages because interpretation is not merely a communicative function potentially replaceable by technology but an art which plays a key role in human history by fostering inter-cultural understanding, transparency and tolerance.

Until recently, all translation was human translation because there was no other kind. Now, situations arise in which the need is felt to specify that we are talking about "human translation" [1] because verbally encoded outputs of computer algorithms are being produced and marketed as translations. Some of these products of artificial intelligence can be made to mimic self-conscious human thought and expression so convincingly that the effect is like finding a genie in a magic lantern and we could almost forget that what we are hearing is synthesized verbalization rather than articulated thought.

Globalization brought about a global village, making contacts between cultures ever more frequent and intense, creating pressure to resort to automated means of coping with the growing volume of communications. Now, with the digital revolution and advances in artificial intelligence, we seem to be moving towards a digital global village –automating or computerizing a growing number of human activities and through the use of programs or "apps" that mimic human faculties and cultural features, often without regard to whether the human element of the activity constitutes its essence and makes it a suitable or unsuitable candidate for automation.

In times when inter-cultural frictions and conflicts lead to acts of mass violence and terror, the human factor deserves more respect. While no one would deny, for example, that the process of packaging pharmaceuticals in a sterile robotic environment "untouched by human hands" is a technically sound way to perform the task, the question we now face is whether the process of transferring ideas, beliefs and feelings between human cultures can or should be done "untouched by human minds." I appreciate the practical uses of my smart-phone, but I have to ask myself how smart it would be to allow a device to begin doing my thinking for me. The human brain is still the most powerful computer, and the repository of some 300,000 years of evolutionary and historical experience, and it is the awareness of that cultural heritage that enables a translator or interpreter to extract the correct meaning from the context of an utterance in ways that eludes even the most advanced Machine Translation programs.[2]

What recent machine translation developments have in common is a failure to recognize that the activity they propose to automate is not an amateur pastime or a computer game but the world's oldest profession, one whose traceable origins in recorded history go back to about 3000 BC in Egypt, 2600 B.C. in Mesopotamia and 165 B.C. in China.[3]

INTERPRETER: Egypt, 3000 BC

More importantly, it is a profession based on mental processes that have been at the core of how civilizations grow and develop as far back as human memory can reach, longer in fact than some other professions that would not have developed as they have if language and communication had not developed ahead of them or in parallel with them. Cultures often grow through cultural borrowing –which is another way of saying translation– and translators and interpreters, as agents of that change, have often been the ones who built the bridges that enabled something new or useful to enter their cultures from abroad. A good example is medicine, which from its earliest times has owed many of its advances to underlying cultural processes of translation. [4] Yet, a recent article about European regulations that was discussed on a US translation agency blog reported that the pharmaceutical industry sees some translations as "a waste of paper." [5] One has to ask: If artificial intelligence and robotics developed to the point where it became possible to computerize medical practices, should we allow that to happen or would we be expunging the Hippocratic Oath and neutralizing the capacity for innovation that the history of medicine illustrates? And if computerization drains the vigor of translation and interpretation as a profession, such dehumanization may have a similar effect over time on medicine, law, education and other professions and disciplines that translation supports by providing links, forging connections and fostering cross-fertilization. The best translation (written or oral) draws on a deep understanding of human experience and the human condition from which insights and intuitions arise that shape the translation process in a creative way. We should take care to preserve those human insights and intuitions as an essential part of the craft of translation.

 —————

[1] See, e.g.: “The fact that translation is a largely invisible activity is not a problem per se; firms and administrations working in an international context still use it daily. On the other hand, the Directorate General of Translation (DGT) at the European Commission (and many experts and professionals that we contacted for this study), believe that by constantly remaining in the background, translation and especially human and professional translation may eventually be perceived as a superfluous activity, a cost that is not necessarily justified. If this perception were to spread among the citizens of Europe it could rapidly become a threat to European multilingualism, for which the translation activities in European institutions provide a solid base.”  Directorate-General for Translation. Studies on translation and multilingualism. Contribution of translation to the multilingual society in the EU (English summary) http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/publications/studies/index_en.htm

[3 By estimation, the brain has about 100 million MIPS worth of processing power while recent super-computers only have a few million MIPS worth of processor speed.

http://library.thinkquest.org/C001501/the_saga/compare.htm

[4] Roland, Ruth A.  Interpreters as Diplomats: A Diplomatic History of the Role of Interpreters in World Politics (Ottawa, University of Ottawa Press, 1999, 209 p.)

[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_medicine:

“Through long contact with Greek culture, and their eventual conquest of Greece, the Romans absorbed many of the Greek ideas on medicine.  (…) This acceptance led to the spread of Greek medical theories throughout the Roman Empire, and thus a large portion of the West. The most influential Roman scholar to continue and expand on the Hippocratic tradition was Galen (d. c. 207). Study of Hippocratic and Galenic texts, however, all but disappeared in the Latin West in the Early Middle Ages, following the collapse of the Western Empire, (…) After 750 AD, Muslim Arabs also had Galen's works in particular translated, and thereafter assimilated the Hippocratic-Galenic tradition, eventually making some of their own expansions upon this tradition, with the most influential being Avicenna. Beginning in the late eleventh century, the Hippocratic-Galenic tradition returned to the Latin West, with a series of translations of the Galenic and Hippocratic texts, mainly from Arabic translations but occasionally from the original Greek. In the Renaissance, more translations of Galen and Hippocrates directly from the Greek were made from newly available Byzantine manuscripts.” (bold font added)

[1] http://blog.fxtrans.com/2013/02/is-translation-waste-of-paper.html