October 6, 2018 – Tsadra Conferences

Criteria for Beauty and Readability

Migmar Lama — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 08:18:17 +0000

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 remain receptive and trust in the genius of his or her own contemporary language to deliver both beauty and readability.

Uncontrived Elegance in Tibetan Songs

Migmar Lama — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 08:17:08 +0000

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.

Vocabularies of Longing

Migmar Lama — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 08:16:17 +0000

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 register. Lara considers emotional register from the Indic and Tibetan perspective and the translator’s job in creating a new emotional community. The group then considers the translator’s effect on the way emotion is embraced in the target language and the responsibility of reciprocity of translation work.

An Act of Bardo: Translating Tibetan Poetry

Migmar Lama — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 08:15:09 +0000

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 the stalwart–those who struggle for the sake of human expression. His talk is an act of fortification, and encouragement for those brave enough to approach the arduous and meticulous task of translation to persevere despite the possibility that the poetic consciousness might remain lost in the bardo.