WHEN LANGUAGES MEET ONSTAGE
Unlike fiction translation intended primarily for private reading, translating a play is a collective and evolving process. A play does not fully come to life until it is spoken, embodied, and experienced on stage. For this reason, we translators must consider not only meaning, but also the rhythm, tone, humor, emotion, and timing of the language. The translated words must sound natural in performance while preserving the spirit and intention of the original work. As rehearsals unfold, the translation can continue to change in response to the actors, the director, and the needs of the production. In this way, translation becomes an integral part of the creative process through which a play reaches its audience.
Translating a play also requires openness to what is unfamiliar. We cannot assume that we have fully understood another culture simply because we have found words to represent it. Doing so can make the unfamiliar seem familiar too quickly and erase the very differences that make the exchange meaningful. At the same time, refusing to engage with what is foreign can leave us confined within our own perspective, preventing us from discovering other ways of seeing and understanding it. The translator, director, and performers therefore share the responsibility of creating a space where cultures can meet without losing their individual identities. Translation, in this sense, is not simply the transfer of words from one language to another; it is an opportunity to listen, to discover, and to experience the world through another way of thinking.
María José Zubieta is Clinical Professor and Co-Director of Language Program in NYU’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
- Thu Oct 8 – Sat Oct 10
Tom at the Farm
The funeral is over. The lying has just begun.
- Theater
- International
- US Premiere