Many thanks to Canberra academic and Spanish/Australia literature specialist Jorge Salavert for translating one of my short stories for the Spanish online literary journal Hermanocerdo
I’ve been translated into a couple of languages now and its always a slightly strange experience. It’s a real art, translation, getting the nuances of colloquial speech right. How many ways could you write, say, ‘when she smiled at Russell Woodbridge who had yet to reveal himself as a dickhead he ducked his head as if something hard had been thrown at him.’ What is ‘dickhead’ in Spanish?
After French, j’adore Spanish and Italian. Somehow seeing the name ‘Kylie’ amidst those beautiful Spanish words seems not just strange but mystical, transformative, exotic. Translation to me is a bit like travel: it takes me to the unexpected.
Thank you Jorge.