Criteria for Beauty and Readability

Migmar Lama2022-11-16T23:40:42-07:00

When assessing the beauty and readability of a translation one might pose the following questions: does the text come alive in the target language? Is there a distinct emotional tone that comes through in the translation? Does a chosen grammatical structure have the power to convey what we are trying to convey? How do we summon that power to our work?

In this breakout group, Amelia Hall and Andrew Schelling, colleagues at Naropa University in Boulder, CO, address these questions and discuss the importance of techniques to invoke the power of the creative act of translation. They encourage the translator to […]

Criteria for Beauty and ReadabilityMigmar Lama2022-11-16T23:40:42-07:00

Uncontrived Elegance in Tibetan Songs

Migmar Lama2022-11-16T23:40:42-07:00

John Canti (Padmakara, 84000) and Sarah Harding (Tsadra Foundation) explore “uncontrived elegance” in poetry and song in Tibetan literature. Compared to the purportedly spontaneous composition of the original, is a translation ever uncontrived? John draws on examples from Dudjom Lingpa and Shabkar to illustrate the possibilities of translation and the evocative dimensions that can be expressed based on the source literature. Sarah suggests that a smooth, readable translation, facilitating ease of comprehension, may be the best we can do. After a lively discussion, Sarah leads the group in translating a short line of text to illustrate their points.

Uncontrived Elegance in Tibetan SongsMigmar Lama2022-11-16T23:40:42-07:00

Vocabularies of Longing

Migmar Lama2022-11-16T23:40:42-07:00

How do the translator and the reader work with emotion flowing from text? Sarah Jacoby (Northwestern) and Lara Braitstein (McGill) pose questions and present examples from Tibetan poetry in this breakout session convened on the first morning of the 2018 Lotsawa Translation Workshop. Sarah discusses how we move from literature to life if literary theory maintains that the stories are only words on a page. She explores the intersubjective encounter with what we read and how emotion can be decoded when considering the work’s literary origins and historical context, then offers some tips for translators to work with the emotional […]

Vocabularies of LongingMigmar Lama2022-11-16T23:40:42-07:00

An Act of Bardo: Translating Tibetan Poetry

Migmar Lama2022-11-16T23:40:42-07:00

Lama Jabb (Oxford) delivers this ground-breaking keynote lecture at the 2018 Lotsawa Translation Workshop. He weaves the extended metaphor of liminal space (bar do) throughout and softly punctuates his illumination of the translation process with insights from highly respected poets from numerous cultures while diligently considering the challenges and opportunities presented by the de- and reconstruction of languages. As he guides the audience through his translation choices, he explains his aims of preservation of cultural identity while delivering, with kindness, artistic richness to the reader. Ultimately questioning how translators can communicate in words that which is ineffable, Lama Jabb encourages […]

An Act of Bardo: Translating Tibetan PoetryMigmar Lama2022-11-16T23:40:42-07:00