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ITI Scottish Network Newsletter September 2015
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September 2015
ITI SCOTNET NEWSLETTER
Isabel Hurtado de Mendoza MITI Tel: 07762 300068 ITI Scottish Network Newsletter Editor Email: [email protected]
All good things come to an end
Spring and summer seem to have been
popular seasons for industry events this
year. In this issue, we have reports on ITI
network workshops, a CIoL talk and even
the Swedish Association of Professional
Translators conference!
Of course, you’ll feel nostalgic when you
read Michael’s review of our very own
ScotNet summer workshop and see some
great pictures of the weekend. But all
good things must come to an end.
When autumn settles in, you might want
to forget all about boats and kites and
snuggle up with a book. If so, you might
consider reading the novel Jeannette has
kindly reviewed for us.
Another option would be to choose your
favourite pen and write a piece for the
next issue of this publication. Maybe an
exhibition review? An article on an
invaluable piece of software? A short
story? Just contact me
([email protected]) and we’ll
discuss your ideas!
If you’re not feeling *that* energetic, you
can always consider doing some CPD.
Let’s turn this ending into a new
beginning!
Isabel ♦
The end of a melody is not its goal: but
nonetheless, had the melody not reached
its end it would not have reached its goal
either. A parable.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche
Photo: Nicholas Canup
Inside this issue
Dates for your diary 2
Your typical Scottish summer? 3
A conference newbie 6
“Whose voice is it, anyway?” (probably that
of a star-struck fan) 9
The phases of Fo 11
What exactly do you expect me to do? 15
So who needs a translator anyway? 16
The travelling translator goes to London 17
Book review: Someone Else’s Conflict 19
Member news 21
ScotNet grants 22
Looking forward to the next issue… 22
Your committee at a glance 23
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 2
Dates for your diary
ITI ScotNet Autumn Workshop: Saturday, 3rd
October, Royal Over-Seas League, 100 Princes
St., Edinburgh, from 9.30 onwards. “It’s not
what you spend but the way that you spend it”
by Alison Hughes, followed by lunch at the
same venue. Book now to avoid
disappointment!
The Scottish Society of the Chartered Institute
of Linguists (CIoL): The next meeting is at 2 pm
on Saturday 21 Nov. at the Holiday Inn Express,
Picardy Place, Edinburgh. Our AGM will be
followed by a talk on Japanese language and
culture by Dr Yoko Matsumoto Strut. All are
welcome to attend and to join members for
lunch in the hotel at 12:15 beforehand.
As Scotnetters know, CIoL Scottish Society
events cover a wide range of subjects: e.g., we
had a hugely entertaining and informative
event in Perth in September when our speakers
were Sharne Proctor, Director of the
International Office at Durham University, and
Chinese student Lei Wang on the experience of
non-EU students studying in the UK. The first
meeting of 2016 may be of particular interest
to translators however. The speaker will be Ian
Higgins who co-authored the Routledge series
on translation method entitled Thinking
Translation. He has also published extensively
on French war poetry and French poetry in
general. The challenges of translating poetry
will be the subject of his talk on 27 February
2016 at 2pm in the University of Dundee Tower
Building on Perth Road. Anyone interested in
joining us will be very welcome. Contact Anne
Withers ([email protected]) for more info.
ITI ScotNet AGM and Christmas lunch: Saturday,
5th December, National Piping Centre, 30-34
McPhater St., Glasgow, from approx. 10.00
onwards. Get the date in your diary NOW!
Setting Up as a Freelance Translator ITI Online
Course: starts 15th September 2015. Over more
than 20 hours of webinars and individual
sessions, you will learn how to develop a
freelance translation business and gain an
understanding of how the translation market
operates. For more information visit
www.iti.org.uk/professional-development-
events/iti-online-courses.
Wanderlust: Great Literature From Around the
World (And Other Stories and Free Word): Free
Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, London. This
is a new series of monthly events, the first of
which took place on 7th September
(Championing Haroldo Conti: ‘Southeaster’ and
the translator as self-publisher). For
information on future talks, as well as on all the
other events the Free Word Centre has on offer
(translators surgeries, International Translation
Day, etc.), please visit
www.freewordcentre.com/events.
Language Show Live: 16-18th October, Olympia
Central, Hammersmith Road, London. To
register for Europe’s leading annual event for
languages for free please click here. Full
information on the event can be found at
www.languageshowlive.co.uk.
Scottish PEN: Remember that this association
regularly organises translation slams and book
events. You can check their diary here or
contact Rosemary Burnett for further
information at [email protected].
For more events, remember to visit
www.iti.org.uk, where you will find the International Calendar of Events (ICE), or
our own website www.itiscotland.org.uk/diary.
Also, if you would like to advertise your own event, please get in touch with us:
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 3
Your typical Scottish summer?
For the past few years, a trend seems to have emerged and you can only be sure to have
good weather in Scotland if your holidays coincide with the ScotNet summer workshop.
But the weekend of 5-7th June was not going to be all play and no work for ScotNetters
attending “Being good and keeping safe: ethics, privacy, data — security and disaster
planning”, as Michael Loughridge reports.
Event speakers: Peter Barber, Sarah Dougan and
Christopher McKiddie
ScotNet’s 2015 summer workshop was held
on Saturday 6 June at the Western Isles Hotel,
Tobermory, on the island of Mull, with the
traditional associated social events extending
from Friday evening to mid-afternoon
Sunday. Given the relative remoteness of Mull
for most members, and its beauty, the
weather mattered rather more than usual for
overall enjoyment. Prognoses were iffy, but
in practice we got a very acceptable package,
sunshine for Friday arrival and Sunday
excursion, low cloud and drizzle on the
indoor workshop day: thanks go to Angelika
in faraway Vorarlberg for some efficacious
black magic.
The meet hit the ground running, if gales of
laughter up and down the dinner table on
Friday night were anything to go by. Corinne
and her camera were in action from the start.
The unexpected bonus that evening was
provided by the Western Isles Hotel, all
Victorian gravitas to the eye, but getting us
looked after by two waiters who not only
entered into the spirit but contributed their
own line in dry wit. Almost directly below,
Tobermory Bay shone changeably blue, and
dozens of boats lay head to wind.
The Western Isles, high on its coastal crag, is
one of the grandest places we have worked
in, but felt welcoming. The two main
reception rooms have long views east to the
Sound of Mull and south over hilly, wooded
Tobermory. On Saturday all the presentations
and discussions took place in the splendid
40-foot long dining room. I hope the
speakers found this venue as rewarding as I
and other participants did: not only a
gracious room with masses of space for
everyone, but also acoustically better than
many more modern venues.
This long bright room was also the setting
for the conference dinner. Handsome A4
menus, three courses with plenty of choice
for each. And this was where ‘Chip’ (Ciprian,
from Rumania, I gathered) came into his own.
The Western Isles, high on its coastal crag, is one of the
grandest places we have worked in, but felt welcoming.
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 4
Entrance of the Western Isles Hotel
Already remarked on Friday evening for
combining the build of a slight 14-year-old
boy — he was maybe 19 to 21 — with an
astonishingly deep, resonant voice —
‘stentorian’, that’s it — he now used it to
dominate the full length of the dining room.
In tones that would have quelled an unruly S5
class, he reduced the whole ordering process
to five minutes by the simple means of a
show of hands for each course. And it was
done with charm.
The food, I think it was generally agreed, was
delicious, and ample. The Mull-based
members responsible for the choice of venue
and all who shared the work of preparing this
weekend did a brilliant job and deserve
everyone’s gratitude. Their efforts were
crowned by the Saturday night ceilidh, with a
great five-piece band, much intermingling of
ScotNetters, other guests and locals,
excellent compering, and a selection of
contrasting favourite numbers to have
everyone come away happy.
This long Saturday of workshop and dinner
and ceilidh had begun in an interesting way:
some time round 8 a.m. the hotel’s fire
alarms sounded, although not all that
convincingly. Out of shower or sleep to
phone Reception: ‘Is this some kind of
practice?’ — but no, it was real, everyone
outside in the wind, dressed or not, lots of
smoke billowing forth. Much jangling and a
(surely rare) sortie by the Tobermory fire
brigade. Half an hour of refugee
accommodation at the hotel up the road, bits
of emergency clothing found. Chip — who
else? — the hero of the hour in various ways.
The welcoming Isle of Mull
On Sunday, all got their lie-in, smoke-free,
and at 9.30 four or five cars headed up the
hill for the rolling road to Calgary on the
west coast — 12 miles but a good half-hour
away. Here a welcome spot of hospitality
from Carol, briefly sharing out the privilege
of living in this wonderful spot. And then she
led us 100 yards down the road, up and over
the lovely craggy little woodland trail and
sculpture park with its summit view over the
bay — bathed in sunlight after Saturday’s
rain — and down over the machair to the
beach. Nobody mentioned bathing, but one
of our party got an energetic lesson in kite
control (central Europe doesn’t do wind
much).
Pad uphill again to the craft centre for a
rather good light lunch, and then it was back
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 5
in the cars for a further ten miles of
capricious single track with opposing cyclists
— the ‘Isle of Mull Sportive’ had attracted
dozens of competitors, including one
ScotNetter’s husband, uphill-downhill
dialogue not recorded — before we reached
our final stop of the weekend, Lip na Cloiche
on Loch Tuath. This was an imaginatively and
beautifully planted and landscaped garden
open for public delight. But it was not your
usual flat toddle: average slope from house
to top fence roughly 45 degrees, or 1 in 1.
Brilliantly engineered paths up and down —
with stout rope handrails. And it was here, on
the rather less steep small lawn below the
cottage, that we spent our last half-hour,
with tea and home baking to enjoy in warm
sunshine, before we split up and went our
different ways.
Perfect ending to a really super weekend!
Congratulations and thanks to all of you who
made it happen, and to Corinne who helped
me with the write-up.
Michael Loughridge
translates from German
into English and
specialises in academic
(Geisteswiss.); politics;
travel and tourism.
Contact:
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 6
Many thanks to our photographers, Corinne, Kay and Nathalie for such a beautiful rendering of the
weekend.
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 7
A conference newbie
Translation conference virgin Jenni Syrjälä decided to test the waters with the ITI
conference in Newcastle and she must have liked the experience, because soon after she
was already attending the SFÖ conference in Sweden. Let’s read what she got out of it!
All photos courtesy of Gisela Weltzin Thunberg
Less than two weeks after my first ever
conference in Newcastle I was already on my
way to my second one, the SFÖ (Sveriges
Facköversättarförening) conference in
Eskilstuna, Sweden. I knew it would be hectic
to have two large conferences back to back,
but because so many people in the
Scandinavian Network had recommended the
SFÖ conferences, and because I badly needed
more contacts in my language pairs, I
decided it was worth the investment.
And what a great decision that was! The
three days spent in Eskilstuna were fantastic,
and I came back not only with lots of
contacts, but also with so much new
knowledge, a couple of books, a new piece of
software and lots and lots of notes on things
to implement in my own business. I would
love to tell you about all the fantastic talks I
heard, but as there are word counts to stick
to, I had better just summarise the best ones.
In one of the first sessions Henrik Björklund
talked about how to succeed on LinkedIn. He
began by asking how many of us Google
ourselves regularly, which very few people
admitted to. He pointed out that our clients
certainly do, so we should make sure to have
control over what they find. LinkedIn is one
of the first things that will come up, and this
gives us great control over what our clients
will see, so we should use it to our
advantage.
Naprapath Karin Versteegh gave a talk on
how to include more movement in a static
work environment. Her key theme was that
whatever you do, you need variation. Even if
you sit in a perfect position, you should still
vary it, so unlocking the “rocking
mechanism” in your chair was recommended.
Other suggested changes were: getting a sit-
stand desk, keeping printers and folders far
away from the desk, not using the bits at the
back of your keyboard to prop it up, and
getting up every 30 minutes. Those using a
sit-stand desk were advised to lift it up when
you go for lunch and at the end of the day,
so you will automatically work standing up
when you get back to work.
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 8
On the second day Helén Vedlé spoke about
getting out of the “email trap”. Helén gave us
great tips on how to organise our email to
avoid spending too much time searching for
things, using the inbox as a to-do list and
archiving everything else, and to only read
emails at certain times of day, rather than
checking them as soon as we hear a *ping*
from our inbox. She suggested that those of
us who have clients who give out jobs on a
first-come, first-served basis direct less
urgent emails into other folders straight
away, and only have super urgent emails go
into the inbox to reduce the amount of
interruptions.
The only talk in English was given by Chris
Durban on translators’ blind spots. The
definition she used of a blind spot was “a
tendency to ignore something, especially
something difficult and unpleasant”. An
example of this was that, when translators
are asked how they know that their clients
are happy with the work, many reply “They
haven’t complained” or “They keep coming
back”, whereas Chris argued that this might
not actually mean that the clients are happy
— they may just not have the time to find
someone else, for example. To avoid these
blind spots, she said we should ask ourselves
the following questions: What do my clients
really think? How good is my work? How
much can/should I charge? Where am I now,
and where am I headed?
Apart from all the interesting talks, there
were also some excellent activities in the
evenings. On Friday night, participants were
split into three groups, with a choice of a
guided tour of the city, a visit to the Museum
of Art, and sampling different local beers.
The three groups then met up at the end of
the evening at Munktellmuseet — an
interesting museum where the conference
participants could network surrounded by old
tractors, followed by a buffet dinner. The
conference banquet on Saturday night
offered a different kind of excitement, with
the entertainment provided by the magician
Julien Dauphin. The after-dinner show was
followed by a DJ, and it did not take the
Swedish translators long to rush to the dance
floor.
I am very pleased that people in ScanNet
recommended this conference to me. I would
also like to thank the Scottish Network for
the generous grant that I received to attend
this event. The conference talks had a
fantastic focus on very practical topics, and
this is definitely something I will look for in
any future conferences that I attend.
Jenni’s language
combinations and
specialisms are:
Swedish/Finnish/English
& education, public
administration,
business, tourism.
Contact:
www.linguanordica.co.uk
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 9
“Whose voice is it, anyway?” (probably that of a star-struck
fan)
ScotNet speakers are always chosen very carefully and usually receive standing ovations.
Sometimes, they even have groupies. Or do they? Read this report of “Whose voice is it,
anyway?” by Barbara Bonatti Divers to find out.
It is true, I wanted to hear Charlotte Bosseaux
talk some more about dubbing, after the
short presentation she had given at the
ScotNet spring event; and it is also true that I
was looking forward to seeing Kari Dickson
again, who had so memorably revealed the
secrets of crime-fiction translation, last
summer in Dumfries... But if I have to be
entirely honest with you, my legs turned to
jelly the moment I saw that Christopher
Brookmyre was going to be there. Give me a
book by Brookmyre any day and I will be
RABID until it’s finished: don’t touch me,
don’t speak to me, don’t even think of asking
for help with your DIY (that’s why they call it
do-it-yourself, mate!)... So you see, I was not
entirely CPD-driven as I made my way to
Edinburgh on 15th May.
Kari, Theo, Rebecca and Charlotte
Photo: Barbara Bonatti Divers
The event itself, conceived by Angeliki Petrits
(Language Officer, DG Translation, European
Commission Representation in the UK) was
organised by Charlotte Bosseaux (University
of Edinburgh) and subsidised by the
European Commission. Three scholars
focused on the meaning and importance of
the human voice: Rebecca Tipton (University
of Manchester) in the context of the
interpreting performance in conflict
situations; Charlotte on dubbing for the
media and the film industry; and Theo
Hermans (University College London) on how
translators’ “voices” can often reveal
themselves, with examples from centuries of
(very liberal!) literary translations. Kari
Dickson chaired the panel session that
followed. I will not linger on Charlotte’s
presentation, as Hugh Fraser has already
reported on her similar one from March, but I
took away some interesting concepts from all
speakers.
From Rebecca: how social beings are
polyvocal, employing different registers for
different audiences; how translators may
impose their own voice over the author’s
through the use of footnotes, but the effect
will not be as lasting in our consciousness as
an interpreter’s decision to mimic or not
their client’s intonation and expression; a
decision which can have serious
repercussions. She spoke about the “illusion
of interpreters’ impartiality, which is
shattered in early practice”, and how the
charity Freedom from Torture is the only
client known to her who actually encourages
the “empathetic voice” of interpreters, to help
victims talk of unspeakable topics. This led
to the inadequacy of interpreters’ current
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 10
training that leaves them unprepared for the
emotional traumas they often have to face.
She mentioned some interesting cases, such
as interpreting during child abuse interviews,
when older children sometimes resort to
baby talk; and she concluded with some
humorous examples from her own public
service interpreting experience.
Theo Hermans gave an entertaining
panoramic view of English translators’
liberties taken over four centuries, when in
the name of decency authors were “castrated”
in numerous creative ways: from having
sexually explicit content translated into XVI
century French (Payne’s English translation of
The Decameron, in 1893) or in Latin
(Egerton’s English version of The Golden
Lotus, in 1930). My protest that censorship is
still going strong in British publishing (the
“unabridged” English edition of The
Thousand and One Nights and even The
Outlander — an American novel — have
entire sections omitted, compared to the
Italian translations) elicited a disappointing
response: “don’t be too harsh on censors,
you would not want a child reading certain
things”... which left me rather shell-shocked,
I must confess. He then showed us an extract
of Hitler’s Mein Kampf — opposite its English
translation published during World War II,
heavily annotated by the publishers — and
suggested that the translator was also
showing a bias against the content. The
German readers among us failed, however, to
find evidence on his slides that the translator
had done anything but his professional best.
When asked about it later Hermans replied: “I
would be very surprised if he did not show
any bias, when biased publishers were paying
for his work”.
Barbara with Christopher Brookmyre
Photo: Katrin Frahm
At last, centre stage was taken by Brookmyre
and his German translator Hannes Meyer,
with Charlotte asking them about the
challenges and rewards of translating Tartan
Noir, as well as the relationship (or lack
thereof) between authors and translators. For
our amusement Brookmyre produced a long
list of dubious questions asked by his French
ex-translator (whose name was given — alas!
— and quickly forgotten); he assured us
however that he is approachable and happy
to answer queries by translators - provided
they check on Google first. On this subject,
Meyer explained how he asked his online
community of Scottish gaming pals for the
exact meaning of “the close”, only to discover
that the Edinburgh close (an outdoor,
covered alleyway) is not the same as the
Glasgow one (the indoor access to tenement
flats). Brookmyre admitted he has no way of
judging the quality of his work in translation,
The charity Freedom from Torture is the only client […] who actually encourages the
“empathetic voice” of interpreters, to help victims talk
of unspeakable topics.
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 11
but was relieved to hear the audience laugh
in all the right places when he attended a
public reading by Meyer of one of his books
in German. He said he does not really worry
about the way translators decide to convey
his content, provided his values are being
respected, and he wondered in the passing if
any of his translated books have any Latin in
them. Meyer was asked by Kay McBurney
whether he is aware of writing with a specific
voice for Brookmyre, different from that of
other authors; his reply was that he listens to
the characters’ voices, not the author’s: over
time he has learned to recognise the
different styles and registers associated with
each character and to reflect this in German.
Brookmyre read aloud an extract from one of
his books, and I finally plucked up the
courage to ask him for an autograph and a
photo, courtesy of Katrin Frahm.
My day was made, I felt fifteen again. What
else is CPD for?
Barbara translates
English into Italian.
Specialisms: tourism &
environment. Contact:
intoitalian@
bonattidivers.plus.com
The phases of Fo
Last May, Simon Oladjins attended a talk organised by the Scottish Society of the CIoL.
There, he learnt all about Nobel prizewinner Dario Fo and his wife, Franca Rame, leading
figures in contemporary playwriting.
Four times a year The Scottish Society of the
Chartered Institute of Linguists holds a
meeting, centred around a talk on a subject
related to languages and the cultures within
which they exist. The idea is to provide
something of interest to CIoL members (and
therefore by definition to anyone else
interested in languages), so that translators,
for example, can lift their weary heads and
sore noses from the grindstone, and enjoy
broader horizons as a change from the
routine of daily toil. Past topics have ranged
from Icelandic prepositions (!) to the works of
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, for example, and
meetings are rotated between Edinburgh,
Glasgow, Perth and Dundee to make
attendance easier for the more far-flung
membership (some members are further
flung than others).
On May 20th 2015 in Glasgow, the guest
speaker was Professor Joe Farrell, Professor
Emeritus at the University of Strathclyde, who
gave a talk on the Italian dramatist and actor
Dario Fo entitled “The Phases of Fo”. As
someone who knows Dario Fo personally,
and his late wife Franca Rame until her death
in 2013, his talk was very much a series of
illuminations of aspects of Fo’s work and
character rather than a chronological recital
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 12
along the lines of “and then he wrote this and
that play, which was very good ...” giving it a
more intimate and personal feel than a
detached academic lecture.
Empty theatre (almost). Photo: Kevin Jaako
To set the scene, Prof. Farrell likened Fo’s
work to the comedy “Yer Granny”, which at
the time of the talk was a current touring
production of the National Theatre of
Scotland. This is a domestic comedy based
on the Argentinian “La Nona” by Roberto
Cossa, about a centenarian grandmother who
eats her family out of first their fish and chip
shop and then their house and home, and is
very much in the style of Dario Fo.
Dario Fo was born in 1926 and his next
birthday will be his 90th, an event which may
be marked by an exhibition of the art to
which he has turned his hand in his latter
years as a departure from playwriting. He
was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in
1997, a controversial decision in some
quarters due to his very left-wing political
position as a social dissident and committed
Marxist. Before he was awarded the prize,
there was some speculation that he might
reject it, although according to Prof. Farrell
this was never Fo’s intention; if the prize
were offered, Fo would most certainly not
decline it. Apparently the name of Bob Dylan
was being considered as an alternative
recipient, but this proved unnecessary when
Fo accepted the prize. Bob Dylan is still
waiting.
Prof. Farrell described Dario Fo as standing
four-square in the Italian tradition of
actor/authors, an exceptional actor as well as
an author of extremely funny comedies
suffused with his political convictions. A
quintessential man of the Italian theatre, Fo
was supported and influenced for many years
by his wife Franca Rame, whom he married in
1954 after meeting her in a Milan review
show in which they were both working, and
Prof. Farrell told how in later years she was
proud of being the one who had initiated the
relationship. She was already very much an
actress, playwright and political activist in
her own right when she and Fo met, and
came from a family at the heart of the Italian
tradition of touring actors that dates back to
the 19th century. This is a style of theatre
based on improvisation (the Commedia
dell’Arte more familiar to us is in fact only
one facet of Italian theatre), in which a
touring company of actors would typically
appear in a town or village and after talking
to various inhabitants to obtain some local
knowledge, would put together a piece based
on current events and personalities but
incorporating memorised existing speeches
and dramatic situations.
Fo, on the other hand, had no such family
history in the theatre, but nonetheless had
background influences of his own. Prof.
Farrell described how Fo was brought up in a
small town on the shores of Lake Maggiore,
where storytelling was a local pastime, and
the tradition of the fabulator and folk
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 13
narratives was alive and strong in a
community where the local working men
tended to be fisherman or glassworkers from
all over Europe. This environment greatly
coloured Fo’s later work, as reflected by the
strong elements of story-telling, fantasy,
irony, local satire and class division in his
theatre. The combination of Dario Fo and
France Rame - he the writer, she the actress
and performer - was to lead later to the
founding of a small company of real ability.
Fo was present in Milan
for the overthrow of
fascism during the war,
and was inspired by the
cultural hegemony theory
of Antonio Gramsci that
sees high culture as
imposed by the ruling
class on the working
people as a means of domination. Prof.
Farrell pointed out that Fo has always
regarded himself as a playwright of popular
as opposed to high culture, setting out to
subvert its accepted mores for political
reasons and overturn convention for comic
purposes. An example of this is Fo’s take on
the David and Goliath story; Fo sees it from
the perspective of Goliath, a harmless jovial
(but physically large!) character cruelly and
needlessly killed by the aggressive upstart
David.
Prof. Farrell then turned to the post-war
period, when Dario Fo became involved with
the “small theatres” movement of the time,
writing and performing his own monologues,
including on radio, and developing into the
typically-Italian actor-author figure. One
reason for this is that Italian theatre lacks a
history of major playwrights whose work
would be put on in municipal and national
theatres, giving scope (and creating the
space) for such actor-managers who write
and perform their own work. Fo became a
dominant figure in the field, beginning with
two collections of one-act farces, and over
the years creating a series of comedies and
farces satirising various aspects of Italian life
and politics. Although contemporaneous with
the theatre of the absurd, the comparison is
a false one, as Fo’s work, such as “The
Virtuous Burglar”, is
simple but successful
boulevard farce as
opposed to intellectual
farce. In 1956, together
with Franca, he co-
wrote and acted in a
film entitled “The
Screwball”, influenced
by figures such as
Jacques Tati, Buster Keaton and Charlie
Chaplin. This was described by Prof. Farrell
as somewhat of a fiasco in its time, but one
that holds up in retrospect.
Fo then entered a “bourgeois” period,
although Prof. Farrell pointed out that
“commercial” would be a better description,
producing one comedy per year involving
improvisation and satire but staged in official
theatres. The censorship in Italy at the time
meant that Fo’s plays had to be continually
re-written and depart from their script on a
daily basis in order to avoid being banned,
and as a result they evolved over time. In the
authoritarian right-of-centre Italian
establishment of the time, the Christian
Democrat party and the Church were wealthy
powerful opponents of a voice such as Fo’s,
and at one point even a TV talent show
featuring sketches by Fo was cancelled by
He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997, a
controversial decision in some quarters due to his very left-wing
political position as a social dissident and committed Marxist.
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 14
RAI (the Italian public service broadcaster)
due to censorship.
In 1968, after the “events” in France, Fo
broke with the bourgeois theatre and set up
an alternative theatre circuit. This featured
the popular figure from Italy’s past of the
jester or minstrel rather that stories with
human characters. Although this could have
been regarded as avant-garde, it was
anything but, as Fo despised the avant-
garde.
Fo’s most well-known play outside Italy, the
farce “Accidental Death of an Anarchist”,
followed in 1970, and was based on the
death of an Italian anarchist who was
arrested for bombing a bank (a charge later
disproved) but was mysteriously and swiftly
defenestrated from the Milan police station
after a brief period of police custody.
Although a farce and fictional in content, the
play’s similarity with real-life events meant
that unsurprisingly it had to be re-written by
Fo each night to avoid enforced closure.
Prof. Farrell also reminded us that the 1970’s
were also the time of increasing feminism,
and Franca Rame encouraged Fo to produce
a number of feminist pieces, although as
collaborators it is unclear who wrote what. In
1973 Franca was kidnapped by fascists for
several days, and tortured and raped,
allegedly with the connivance of the
Carabinieri, which illustrates the political and
cultural situation in Italy at the time.
In 1995, at the age of 69, Fo suffered a
stroke, and some of his attitudes seem to
change afterwards. He began writing books
on art, and although an atheist is now
fascinated by religious subjects, such as the
fact that Dante indicates in the “Divine
Comedy” that St. Boniface will go to Hell, the
raising of Lazarus, and St. Francis of Assisi.
He is also an admirer of Pope Francis.
Prof. Farrell summed up by describing Fo as
representing the development of modern
playwriting within the Italian tradition,
chronologically a successor to Pirandello
though not a follower, and someone who is
occasionally overtly political. His work is
always critical, satirical, and firmly in the
dissident tradition, with a coherence to his
point of view throughout. Above all, he is
very funny, and Prof. Farrell’s talk was
certainly an encouragement to explore his
work further.
Simon works from
German and French into
English. He specialises in
engineering and law.
Contact:
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 15
What exactly do you expect me to do?
When asked to proofread a text, Audrey Langlassé kept wondering what she was meant
to do precisely. Not even her clients were totally sure! So last June, she attended a
revision seminar.
For the past six months, most of my
workload has consisted of editing/
proofreading work for a variety of clients
(individual, businesses, institutions and
translation agencies). Each time, I have been
struggling with understanding their real
needs and expectations. Therefore, I was
very interested in the joint LRG/EU revision
seminar that was held on June 22 at the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers. To cater
for as many people as possible, this half-day
workshop was offered on a morning and
afternoon session. Travelling a long way from
Glasgow, I had opted for the afternoon
session, spending the morning on the train
busily working on a revision project.
This was not my first training on the subject,
but it was the first one with speakers from
the European Commission — Paul Kaye and
Stephen Turkington are language officers at
the European Commission’s London
Representation; Brian Porro is a legal
translator who has worked for the Court of
Justice, the EU and the Commission in his
27-year long career; and Peter Workman is
an EU translator based in Luxembourg.
In the first part, the speakers described the
different stages of their work as translators
and revisers at the EU. What was striking for
most of the audience was the way the
translation process and quality checking are
strictly defined and organised there, in
comparison with the vague instructions
freelance translators often receive from their
clients.
Writing in red. Photo: pedrik
I was reassured by a quick poll among the
attendees that revealed that the terms
“proofreading” and “checking” tend to be
most requested by clients, and that
“revision”, “reviewing” and “editing” are often
used interchangeably. Consequently, clients
may ask (and pay) for proofreading when
they really want revision, whereas the time
and expertise required for the two jobs differ
greatly.
It also emerged that none of the people in
the room who have done a postgraduate
course in translation had been introduced to
the issues of revision. As one of the speakers
summed up, “Everybody assumes that, if you
can translate, you can revise”.
A useful set of definitions drawn from the ITI
2008 Orientation Course referring to the
international standard (BS EN 15038) was
provided:
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 16
- “Revision: examining a translation for its
suitability for the agreed purpose, comparing
the source and target texts and
recommending corrective measures.” This is
the most complete and thorough service.
Revisers must know as much as the
translator.
- “Proofreading: checking of proofs before
publishing.” Proofreaders need only look at
one language version and concentrate on
purely formal aspects of the text.
- “Reviewing: examining a target text for its
suitability for the agreed purpose and
respect for the convention of the domain to
which it belongs and recommending
corrective measures.” Reviewers need only
look at one language version, but must be
expert in the subject to ensure that the style
and terminology are correct.
Although “editing” is not defined in BS EN
15038, it is generally understood to mean
“going through a text as you would do for
proofreading but also improve the style and
message.” Therefore, editors are expected to
have writing skills that go beyond
proofreading.
I must say that, since attending this
workshop, I have made sure to refer to these
definitions in my quotes; it helps my clients
understand the work and cost involved as
well as clarify their brief.
The second part of the workshop consisted
of a variety of hands-on exercises on
punctuation very much in the spirit of Lynn
Truss’s book, Eats, Shoots and Leaves.
This was quite useful and entertaining even
for non-native English speakers. However, I
left this workshop wishing I could attend a
similar event specifically tailored to my
language and its specific needs.
PS: Apologies for the lack of photos. I was so
engrossed in the workshop that I forgot to
take out my camera!
Audrey translates from
English into French and
specialises in
international develop-
ment, environmental
issues, advertising,
tourism and education.
Contact: www.alacarte-
translations.com
So who needs a translator
anyway?
French Swiss Alps café
advertising helpful services for parents of young children
(or a new type of cannibalistic
delicacy, perhaps?).
Thanks to Barbara Bonatti Divers for this translation blooper.
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 17
The travelling translator goes to London
When you are an islander, you have to travel far for your CPD. ScotNetter María Pelletta
knows this well, and here she tells us of her first training event down in London hosted
by the ITI Spanish Network.
Speaker Xosé Castro. Photo: Lisa Agostini
I have to confess that I feel a little bit of a
traitor for having chosen to go to the
SpanNet Training Event in London instead of
taking the ferry to Mull for the Scottish
Network summer event. But I didn’t have a
choice, really. I am a member of the SpanNet
coordination team and have been involved in
organising this event, the first one for
SpanNet and the first one of its kind.
We decided to expand the usual AGM + bash
(dinner, chat and networking) formula. We
wanted to offer something else to our
members. SpanNet is a pioneer in many
ways, for example creating the Mentoring
Scheme which has now been adopted by
several groups. We thought that, being a
language group, we should focus on training
specifically for our language, so the
workshop-in-Spanish-seed was planted. We
believe that it is the first training event given
in a language other than English, or one of
very few, in any case. Yet, the ScotNet event
formula was my inspiration.
We invited Xosé Castro Roig, a language guru
for those using Spanish in their work. Google
his name and you will find a funny bloke with
a massive CV (xcastro.com/en) and a career
that makes you think he started working
when he was in primary school. How does he
do it? He defines himself as “super
productive”. He even films himself to see in
which ways he wastes time. Have you ever
tried doing that? He asked us which was our
working tool and, of course, we all said
“language”. “Wrong”, he said. “Your tool is
your computer and you need to know how to
use it. Your computer is your money-making
machine. Imagine this conversation at the
garage:
- What is this tool for?
- I don’t know, I never use it.
- And this one?
- Errrmmm… no idea, didn’t even know it
was there.
- Oh… no, don’t touch that! I am scared of
touching that one!
This is what some of us sound like when
asked about some keys on our computers! I
blushed.
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 18
His first workshop “Advanced Word for
translators”, boring as it sounded, was mind-
blowing. Of course we all know how to use
some key combinations to avoid taking our
hands off the keyboard to go looking for the
mouse, but this was something else. At least
for me, as I am always chasing behind the
technology advances and IT stuff in general,
puffing and panting and never seeming to
catch up. Yet, delegates who claimed they
knew a lot about Word were amazed at the
amount of new possibilities Xosé revealed. I
can’t pass on any tips, because they are all
equivalent easily if you google keyboard
shortcuts. To sum up, I volunteered (why, oh,
why) to be humiliated in front of the 31
delegates on a speed competition. The task
took me 11 seconds to complete, Xosé
finished it — and added a creative something
else to it — in less than 1 second. I blushed
again. (In my defence, his keyboard was in
Japanese, he explained the laptop he was
using was a bargain he couldn’t resist, but it
had a detrimental effect on my brain, as you
can imagine.)
With our heads crammed with information
after three hours of Advanced Word, we
stopped to enjoy the lovely lunch that the
Arlington Centre (in the buzzing Camden
Town) provided, we chatted and relaxed, and
we drank lots of water (it was really hot in
London, when I saw the sun for the first time
since September 2014!) to ready ourselves
for the following 4 hours of entertainment.
Yes, Xosé could have been a successful
stand-up comedian too if he had wanted.
The second workshop was on editing. Details
on how to use commas and inverted
commas; notation for dates, hours, figures;
dialogues; when to use or not use capitals;
the use and abuse of formatting options;
etc., all compared to their uses in English.
Refreshing! As I was one who claimed that
my working tool was language, I felt a lot
more comfortable with this subject,
dissipating doubts, and generally able to
relate to what he was saying. Phew!
María and Susie Kershaw, winner of Xosé’s book,
Inculteces
Making the most of the sun as soon as the
workshop finished, we went for a lovely walk
to Primrose Hill to see the London skyline
from that vantage point, feeling like tourists
among tourists and locals that were enjoying
the sun in the park with dogs, frisbees, bare
feet and ice-creams.
We had a fantastic conclusion to the event at
Andy’s taverna, a Greek restaurant also in
Camden Town, busy, noisy and full of life,
served by a waiter who could speak perfect
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 19
Spanish! The meal was delicious and
abundant and the heavyweights that were
still there at midnight were treated to a
special Greek liqueur! Xosé wants to come
back! Me too. We are already thinking about
the next one and I won’t allow it to clash with
any ScotNet events, promise. That way, all
ScotNet members who work with Spanish will
also be able to come.
I flew back to Inverness, put my jacket on
and walked into the rain that was still falling.
Back to Macondo, I thought, and this quote
from One Hundred Years Of Solitude came to
my mind when I was running across the road
to catch the bus to town: “It rained all
Monday, just like Sunday. But now it seemed
to be raining in another way, because
something different and bitter was going on
in my heart. At dusk a voice beside my chair
said: ‘This rain is a bore’.”
María translates from
English into Latin American
Spanish. Her specialisms
are education, NGOs,
environment/renewables
and social sciences:
www.mariapelletta.com
Book review: Someone Else’s Conflict
Translators are readers by definition, but we are also readers for pleasure. This is why
from now on I would like to encourage members to write short reviews of books they’ve
enjoyed lately. The first review we’ll be publishing could be no other than Jeannette
Rissmann’s review of ITI member Alison Layland’s debut novel, Someone Else’s Conflict.
Holdwick in the Yorkshire Dales. The
Saturday market is bustling. Jay plays a tune
on his flute and starts telling his story about
a king’s daughter,
princes and knights. He
draws in the shoppers,
among them Marilyn,
who enjoys listening,
and Vinko, a teenager in
leather jacket who
bumps into her. Little
do they know that their
paths have crossed, not fleetingly, to change
their lives completely within a few weeks.
The narrative is written from three
viewpoints. Technically difficult, especially
when the three main characters come
together, this allows the reader an intimate
insight into each of their thoughts, fears and
hopes. Jay has been on
the road for years, not
wanting to settle down,
trying to escape ghosts of
the past in Yugoslavia,
especially that of a little
boy. Marilyn has just
emerged from a
controlling relationship
and is looking forward to setting up as an
independent artist in her own workshop.
Vinko, an illegal immigrant, is trying to
survive in the dark world of petty crime and
black market labour.
By translating some of her stories and an early novel from Welsh into English [Alison] gained the confidence to write in her own
language
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 20
At the centre of the novel are three themes —
love, friendship and trust. As Jay and Marilyn
get closer, the reader empathises with the
constant doubts and bouts of mistrust mixed
with moments of fulfilment. Why does Jay not
talk about his past? Would Marilyn
understand? And what about Vinko? Can he
trust Jay, the friend of his long-dead father,
neither of whom he’s ever met? Will he help
him build a life in Britain? As the past catches
up with Jay, he will have to face his inner
demons.
Set in the present, the narrative relies on
flashbacks that shape the present action and
combines realistic narrative with elements of
fantasy. The way the past is remembered by
Jay represents the confusion of memory and
effects of post-traumatic stress disorder on
someone who is trying to come to terms with
mistakes and traumatic events experienced
in Croatia. The novel certainly does not lack
suspense and tension, especially with regard
to the rocky road of Jay and Marilyn’s
relationship and a thriller developing towards
the end of the story.
Alison Layland is a translator and writer. She
translates from German, French and Welsh —
works of creative fiction and specialist
information texts. Her writing career started
relatively late. When she moved to Wales in
1991 she started learning Welsh. After
finishing an A-level course, she continued by
taking a creative writing class in Welsh. In
2002 she won the short story competition at
the National Eisteddfod Festival. By
translating some of her stories and an early
novel from Welsh into English she gained the
confidence to write in her own language.
Alison has always been fascinated by oral
storytelling, giving her the idea for the
character Jay who uses stories to hide his
past. When translating a book on Croatia she
developed an interest in the Balkans,
travelling in Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia. She
decided to locate Jay’s past in the Croatian
conflict of the 1990s. Having read up on the
history of the Balkans and the conflicts of the
1990s, she also started learning the
language. Alison’s language skills help to
represent the character’s background and
characterise situations. For example, Vinko’s
mother tongue is Croatian but he has grown
up in Germany. He’s been in England for a
short time and his English is rather weak. So
it is only natural that more familiar Croatian
and German words slip in, especially in
moments of stress and tiredness.
At the moment, Alison is working on her
second novel. Someone Else’s Conflict is
published by Honno Press.
Jeannette’s language combinations are: GE-
EN, EN-GE, RUS-EN, RUS-GE. Specialist areas:
drama, tourism, history, general. Contact:
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 21
Member news
With the introduction of the new ITI membership structure recently, quite a few people
have recently moved category within ITI. If this applies to you, please remember to notify
the Membership Secretary of any changes to your ITI membership status since you joined
the network. In particular, let the MemSec know when you upgrade to MITI, as your
details will then be made available to Joe Public online.
New members:
Auriane Destrument: I am a freelance
scientific and medical translator working
from English into French. I am relatively new
to the profession, having recently decided to
swap a career in scientific research for one in
translation. After obtaining a degree and a
PhD in biochemistry and working as a
research assistant then as a research
associate, I took a professional break to
become a mother. This gap gave me the
opportunity to reconnect with my other
major interests - languages and linguistics —
and to retrain as a translator. I am currently
studying towards the Diploma in Translation
from the Chartered Institute of Linguists and
have completed two units already. At the
moment, I work mainly for agencies and
occasionally for direct clients, including my
yoga teacher who needs a yoga fanatic (that
will be me) to help him run workshops in
France.
Virginia Pastor: I am an English/French to
Spanish translator. I studied Modern
Languages and Translation at the University
of Alcalá (Spain) and hold an MA in Legal and
Financial Translation from the University of
Córdoba (Spain). I started my career as a
translator in 2012, when I graduated, and I
recently moved to Edinburgh to start my
freelance translation career. I specialise in
legal, financial and business translation, but
also in tourism, fashion, beauty and cooking
related texts, as they are some of my
passions. I also translate/localise websites to
help people and businesses to reach wider
audiences. Occasionally, I have worked as an
interpreter at several weddings… it was so
exciting and fun! I hope I can meet you all
soon at one of the workshops or events!
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 22
ScotNet grants
The ITI Scottish Network offers 2 levels of
grants to members as a contribution towards
the costs of attending ITI events:
1) Grants of up to £30 are available for
attending Scottish Network meetings.
2) ScotNetters may also apply for grants of
up to £70 for attending national ITI events.
How to apply for a grant
Contact our treasurer (currently Norma Tait)
at [email protected] before
registering for the meeting. Subject to
availability and meeting the eligibility criteria,
she will approve the grant and notify you.
In due course, forward her a copy of the
receipt for the event or transport expenses
and provide her with your bank details. She
will then pay the respective amount into your
account.
General conditions: Maximum one grant per
person per subscription year. You must be a
member of ITI, so Friends of the Network are
not eligible. Also members living in the
central belt are not eligible to receive grants
for network meetings in Edinburgh/Glasgow.
All recipients must be willing to contribute a
report on the event they attended to the ITI
ScotNet Newsletter.
The level of grants is reviewed every year at
ScotNet’s AGM. Under the current budget, 10
grants of £30 and 10 of £70 are available
each year. From time to time the committee
may also decide to offer additional grants to
enable ScotNetters to attend particular
events, such as they did for the 2013 ITI
Conference. ♦
Looking forward to the next issue…
While I write this, you’ll probably be enjoying yourselves at one of the many Scottish summer
festivals. In fact, three of you have already volunteered pieces on the Edinburgh Book Festival.
Many thanks for that! I have also lined up an event report, an author interview and a piece on
living in Italy. Would you like to contribute to this exciting upcoming issue of our ScotNet
newsletter? Send in your proposals to [email protected]! ♦
An exercise in collaboration. Photo: Giulia Forsythe
ITI ScotNet Newsletter Page 23
Your committee at a glance
Convenor
& Deputy Webmaster
Marian Dougan
0141 9420919
Deputy Convenor
Elena Zini
07765 987207
Treasurer
Norma Tait
0131 5521330
Newsletter Editor
Isabel Hurtado de Mendoza
07762 300068
Membership Secretary
Ute Penny
01368 864879
Deputy MemSec
Nathalie Chalmers
01888 562998
Events Coordinator (East)
Angelika Muir-Hartmann
0131 3334654
Events Coordinator (West)
Audrey Langlassé
0141 5603482
Webmaster
Iwan Davies
01738 630202
