Julia Sanches Letcture + The Bird is a Raven - from Suis

 I felt that Julia Sanches had a really thorough lecture that answered the questions I had in regards to her translation approach. Her justification for domesticating the food items on the first page of “Dogs of Summer” made a lot of sense. She said she found it important to “ease the reader into the foreign place” when introducing a different culture to the English speaking audience, so she didn’t want to start off the first page with so many foreign items. I could definitely see myself considering this approach if I am ever tasked with a translation of a work that begins in a similar way. I also appreciated her justification for the English title of “Panza de Burro.” I had a strong feeling that she didn’t choose the title herself, that the publishers and editors had to do with the choice. However, she still attempted to justify the editor’s choice– that the original title wouldn’t resonate with the English speaking audience but also the majority of Spanish speakers since panza de burro is a term associated mostly with the Canary islands. Overall, she seems like a translator who is very educated and conscious of her translation choices.

The reading we were assigned to read this week was extremely disturbing. It definitely needed a trigger warning for its themes relating to violence and eating disorders. The translation, however, read smoothly. There were a couple lines that made me stop and wonder though. On page 13, I wondered why Henry says “grandmother is my mother’s mother.” I felt that in English, it’s more natural to say “grandmother on my mother’s side” and that would get rid of what I felt was a weird repetition. Also the line on page 4, “the wind is shaving my cheeks” read a little awkwardly as well. (But I’m being nitpicky.) The frame story or embedded narrative was interesting, but the story seemed really cliche. The last line was anticlimactic and cliche and I’m not sure what the title means. The line that the title draws from, Henry “quickly goes inside [the washroom] and closes the door.” Then the title line follows. I’m not sure if I’m missing something, or if something is lost in translation but I have no idea why Henry (who is described by Paul to have bird-like movements earlier) is compared to a raven here.