Elliott Turner's Blog - Posts Tagged "writerlyfe"
Losing in translation
Hey y'all,
I have been busy these past two months, working with an editor buddy based in Peru, on translating and tweaking several of my short stories that I wrote about life in the RGV (Rio Grande Valley).
I am doing the translations from English to Spanish, but am not fluent in RAE rules by any measure. Also, I've lived in the US with my family for almost six years - a super long stretch of time - and my prose en letra castellana is a bit rusty.
Thus, I need and am getting a second set of eyes to review those accursed tildes (accents).
What's been most charming about this process is that I am finding things in the English language versions to improve both in terms of dialogue and plot, but also a few grammatical errors! And that's including stories already published! D'oh!
I also had two stories from this era that I abandoned in English, but have taken on new life in Spanish. Thus, these are in this weird neither world: are they translations? If the first incomplete draft is in English and serves as the structure/outline, does that count?
In a few days or possibly weeks, one of my short stories written in Spanish - Nicaraguan - will be published by the literary magazine Azahares. I also am close to landing a home for an excerpt from a Spanish language novela that is about to go out on submissions.
Thus, dear friends, brush up on that conversational Spanish y'all. Go to your fav taqueria and order sal-sa pi-co-sa in Es-pan-y'all. I really am not sure when/if I will be writing fiction in English anytime soon.
*And am aware of the irony of writing this in English.
**And I have 6 short stories in English that have been out on submission for about 1.5 years, so yeah hopefully one will find a home soon.
I have been busy these past two months, working with an editor buddy based in Peru, on translating and tweaking several of my short stories that I wrote about life in the RGV (Rio Grande Valley).
I am doing the translations from English to Spanish, but am not fluent in RAE rules by any measure. Also, I've lived in the US with my family for almost six years - a super long stretch of time - and my prose en letra castellana is a bit rusty.
Thus, I need and am getting a second set of eyes to review those accursed tildes (accents).
What's been most charming about this process is that I am finding things in the English language versions to improve both in terms of dialogue and plot, but also a few grammatical errors! And that's including stories already published! D'oh!
I also had two stories from this era that I abandoned in English, but have taken on new life in Spanish. Thus, these are in this weird neither world: are they translations? If the first incomplete draft is in English and serves as the structure/outline, does that count?
In a few days or possibly weeks, one of my short stories written in Spanish - Nicaraguan - will be published by the literary magazine Azahares. I also am close to landing a home for an excerpt from a Spanish language novela that is about to go out on submissions.
Thus, dear friends, brush up on that conversational Spanish y'all. Go to your fav taqueria and order sal-sa pi-co-sa in Es-pan-y'all. I really am not sure when/if I will be writing fiction in English anytime soon.
*And am aware of the irony of writing this in English.
**And I have 6 short stories in English that have been out on submission for about 1.5 years, so yeah hopefully one will find a home soon.
