Translation Week is an opportunity to raise awareness among students about what translation is and what translators do.
Isabel Asensio, Ph.D., professor of Spanish translation and interpretation at Weber State University and organizer of Translation Week, said, “People don’t realize how important translators are in everyday life until they know or learn a little bit more about it.”
Translation Week highlights ways in everyday life that involve translators that most people do not think twice about.
“I would say that 99% of the students…say that they learned something new that they didn’t know and they’re amazed by how important the role of translators and interpreters is, but it’s all so silent. No one thinks of those,” Asensio said.
Translation and interpretation are often used interchangeably, as said by Asensio, “A translator does a very different job from an interpreter, and the skills they need are very different.”
Asensio said that Translation Week is a way to learn the difference between the two and truly understand what translators do.
Asensio describes a key part of a translator’s job using “Squid Games” as an example.
“That’s a Korean production. So if you want to watch it and you don’t know any Korean, you need dubbing or subtitles. Otherwise, you’re not going to know what they’re saying,” Asensio said. “But people don’t think about it. They just assume it comes with it. But there is a whole team behind the scenes.”
According to Asensio, without translation, no one would be able to understand other cultures. She related this to the famous novel series “Harry Potter,” “If it wasn’t for translators, the young audience of so many countries wouldn’t have been exposed to that text,” Asensio said.
Electra Gamón Fielding, Ph.D., chair of the department of world languages and cultures at Weber, said, “Translation is a bridge between cultures. It’s cliché to say that, but I think it works really well.”
Fielding said that to be a translator, one needs to have a deep understanding of the culture of both languages involved.
“You need to have that cultural competence … to really understand the culture in order to be able to produce something that is equivalent in the target culture,” Fielding said.
Translation Week is for everyone looking to get involved. Students do not need to be pursuing a degree in language or translation to participate in these events.
“I love listening to people speak in other languages. I don’t understand what they’re saying, but you can hear the rhythm and the music of the words,” said Asensio
There are going to be various activities during Translation Week, such as, “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Translator: Inside the World of Manga Translation,” on Sept. 30 at 9 a.m. Alyssa Weldon, a manga translator, will be visiting the campus and explaining her process of translating Japanese manga into other languages.
“Come to our events … Even if you only speak a few words in a language… come learn about the profession…We’d love to have you,” Feilding said.
