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Poet and activist Gorman
Photo:
Kelia Anne
SPIEGEL:
Amanda Gorman's poem "The Hill We Climb" will be published in a bilingual edition by Hoffmann and Campe on March 30th, and three translators are currently working on the translation into German.
Why three?
Tim Jung:
We are dealing with what is currently probably the most famous poem in the world.
That was one of those moments that you never forget when Amanda Gorman came to the lectern at Joe Biden's inauguration and read her poem "The Hill We Climb".
The translation of a poem that is of such power and beauty and at the same time has such an impact means a great deal of responsibility for a publisher.
SPIEGEL:
To what extent?
Jung:
In Amanda Gorman we were able to win an author for Hoffmann and Campe who also has urgent political issues.
She is an activist who works against racism, who fights for diversity in society.
This gave rise to the idea of taking an unusual approach at the publishing house and commissioning three people with different expertise and experience as a team of translators.
SPIEGEL:
The team includes Kübra Gümüşay, Hadija Haruna-Oelker and Uda Strätling.
How crucial was it for the selection of the German translators that Hadija Haruna-Oelker is a black journalist, that Kübra Gümüşay is a headscarf-wearing Muslim and feminist?
Jung: In
the editing department, we discussed how we could best deal with the responsibility of publishing this poem in German.
The basic idea was that personal experiences and experiences should also be included.
Ms. Haruna-Oelker is intensively involved in migration and racism research.
She brings experiences that white Germans do not have.
And Ms. Gümüşay is a proven expert on the power of language and the question of how language determines our thinking.
Ms. Strätling, on the other hand, is a gifted literary translator who has translated Claudia Rankine and Teju Cole into German, among others.
The three of them formed a team and together they created a translation that incorporated different expertise and experience and which I think is brilliant as a result.
more on the subject
Discussion about "The Hill We Climb": Should a white person translate Amanda Gorman's poems?
SPIEGEL:
The Dutch publisher von Gorman, which commissioned Marieke Lucas Rijneveld to translate the poem, has been criticized because Rijneveld is a white person;
she resigned from the task.
How do you assess this case?
Jung:
Not at all, because I don't know all the backgrounds.
However, I attach importance to the fact that we made our decision in favor of our translators long before the events in the Netherlands and that our team was there a long time.
SPIEGEL:
Do you
think
that a black translator from Germany can empathize better with the world of a young black woman from the USA?
Jung:
I think that unfortunately it makes a difference whether you are perceived as black or white, and not only in the USA, but also in Germany.
I would very much like it not to be the case, but the social reality is different.
SPIEGEL:
What are the fundamental consequences for translation work?
It is part of the job description to think into the world of experience and language of the respective author.
Jung:
Of course, it is always about linguistic ability, cultural knowledge, research and empathy.
Therefore, nothing fundamental can be derived from our particular approach in this particular case.
Every new book and every new author raises new questions and demands its own answer to the question: Who translates?
We will continue to make individual decisions over and over again in the future.
"In the end, it depends on a translation that is appropriate to Amanda Gorman's brilliance."
Tim Jung
SPIEGEL:
Amanda Gorman is the daughter of a single mother.
Do such empirical values also have to be covered by a translator?
Where are the borders?
Jung:
In this case, where we pulled them.
I believe that we made the best possible choice with our translators.
In the end, it is important that a translation is created that is appropriate to Amanda Gorman's brilliance and that is at the same time supported by respect for the author's concerns.
And that is the case.
SPIEGEL:
When looking through German editions of English-language novels, it is noticeable that women writers are often translated by translators and books by men are translated by translators.
Has this been given special attention in the past?
Jung:
For us as a publisher, the question of who is the best possible translator arises with every book.
The choice of translator is based on the individual challenges that the respective text presents.
And of course who is currently available also plays a role.
Incidentally, the debate that was triggered by the Rijneveld case has once again brought the meaning of translations into focus in a fundamentally new way.
Translators are important and indispensable ambassadors whose work is extremely valuable.
SPIEGEL:
However, the bad pay for translators is legendary.
The fees do not show how demanding this work is.
Jung:
It's true that the work of translators is extremely valuable.
But if you ask around among translators who usually work for different publishers, I could imagine that Hoffmann and Campe do not come off badly in comparison.
comment
Identity politics: whoever screams winsA comment by René Pfister
SPIEGEL: In
terms of the length of the text, translating Amanda Gorman's poem "The Hill We Climb" is a manageable task.
How do the three translators divide up the work?
Jung:
We didn't fillet the poem, certain parts of it weren't translated by different people.
The translators worked as a team and translated "The Hill We Climb" into German with one voice.
This can of course go wrong, but it worked very well here and the result was fantastic.
Special challenges sometimes require special measures.
And we took hold of it here.
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