Articles

Posted by Nia Davies on 16/2/12

Literature Across Frontier's Nia Davies introduces their Arabic translation training programme, and explains how their translation workshops in Egypt have been affected by the revolution.

In early February of last year Literature Across Frontiers (LAF) was scheduled to be in Cairo, to run a week-long workshop for young literary translators into Arabic at Al-Alsun Faculty of Languages, Ain Shams University.  The workshop was a pilot project aiming to develop training opportunities and contribute to the professionalization of literary translation in the Arab world.

However it soon became clear that we would have to cancel the workshop – the participants and the workshop leaders were in the streets, along with so many other Egyptians, demanding nothing less than the end of the military dictatorship.

One year on and the real revolution so desired by Egyptians is still desperately being fought for. While true democratisation has not yet been realised, some small but significant changes are to be celebrated. When the workshop was finally re-scheduled in September 2011, we witnessed the University holding elections for the most senior posts at the institution, and the sense that doors were being opened to new ideas and free debate was palpable.

“The Faculty teaches the highest number of modern languages in the Arab world. This provides the ideal opportunity to introduce not only systematic training in literary translation but also matters concerning the professional status of translators, something that’s much needed in the current publishing climate," explains LAF’s director Alexandra Büchler.

The wide range of languages taught at Ain Shams is in stark contrast to the lack of resources allotted to state universities in Egypt. Researcher and Arabic translator Alice Guthrie, working for LAF on the workshop, explains that Ain Shams is not one of the rich private universities for the elite. As such, students usually have to make do with studying in conditions which are depressing and restrictive, and the feedback about the workshop was very positive.

“It was inspiring to see the impact that even an event with a small budget could have, and the enthusiasm of the participants was quite humbling – they aren’t even used to simple teaching aids like Powerpoint,” says Alice. “They spend their student years sitting on wooden benches in classrooms with broken blinds, no air-conditioning, only fans churning dusty, hot air.”

But what the participants appreciated most was the rich programme of the workshop and the featured speakers, who included a range of translators from various countries, Arab publishing professionals, foreign literary organisations and well-known Arab writers talking about their use of the Arabic language.  “What translators need is a good grounding in the language into which they translate – Arabic,” says one of the organisers of the workshop, literary translator and Faculty staff member, Khalid El-Biltagi. “They have to develop their knowledge of Arabic and their writing skills, as much as they need to work on their foreign languages.”

LAF plans to expand the project and introduce other elements, such as creative writing workshops and the translation of genres other than prose. In the meantime a second week of training in Egypt is planned for Autumn 2012, preceded by a seminar which will bring literary translators and publishers together to discuss industrial issues such as contracts, rates of pay and the editing of translations.

There is a long way to go before the pilot grows into a regular training programme addressing all aspects of the translation process and staking out a professional place for the translator in the book publishing business. But the workshop, carried by the enthusiasm and high expectations generated by the 2011 revolution, turned out to be a well-timed start.