#Metaglossia took note, principally, of three female figures who stole the show last year in translation, at least on (social and mass) media outlets in English and French as international languages: writers Amanda Gorman and Sally Rooney, on the one hand, and podcast host Youngmi Mayer, on the other.
Early in the year, Amanda Gorman, the youngest poet in US history to mark the transition of presidential power, refused to grant permission to translate her works to a non-Black writer, namely Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, the Dutch winner of the 2020 International Booker Prize who had been chosen to translate Gorman’s poem, The Hill We Climb; the poem had earlier caught world attention as it was recited by the author at the inauguration of Joe Biden in Washington. The refusal undoubtedly sparked the greatest controversy of the year in translation: many wondered whether such refusal was ethically correct or not.
Meanwhile, Squid Game, the South Korean survival drama series — created by Hwang Dong-hyuk for the Netflix streaming platform — did not only become a huge hit in major languages worldwide, following its release in September. It also sparked widespread controversy as South Korean Podcast host Youngmi Mayer (with support from translation professor Denise Kripper) raised a well-relayed alarm, claiming that the English (subtitled) translation of the show was fundamentally different from the original.
In the same quarter of the year, it was the turn of the Irish writer Sally Rooney to decline the offer by an Israeli publisher to translate her book Beautiful World, Where Are You into Hebrew. Rooney argued that the refusal was in support of the Palestinian-led Boycott. Amidst the controversy, Rooney however said the Hebrew-language translation rights of the novel remained available, provided the rights comply with the boycott guidelines.
Prospects for the year 2022 seem exciting too, notably as Emmanuel Macron’s statement, “Les non-vaccinés, j’ai très envie de les emmerder”, hit headlines in different media around the world, with hotly-debated translations in and across languages.
From your own perspective, away from too generalist Word of the Year trends but perfectly in tune with the requirements of properly-situated context in professional practice, what was the 2021 buzz of the year in translation, interpreting or intercultural communication? We would very much love to hear from you, with anticipated thanks.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL #METAGLOSSIA FRIENDS AND ADVOCATES!