The ATA Chronicle - May/June 2022 - 11

WORDS
IDENTITY
Does identity play a role in how we translate?
The short answer is yes.
By Ray Valido
(Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect U.S.
Department of State policy.)
I
n early 2021, a debate
erupted in several European
countries about who was
qualified to translate " The Hill
We Climb, " a stirring poem
delivered at the inauguration
of U.S. President Joe Biden by
the young African American
poet Amanda Gorman. After
the task of translating the
poem had been assigned to
a White Dutch translator,
there was a backlash from
those who argued that a
person of color should do the
translation. Similar criticisms
were voiced in other countries
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where translations were being
undertaken, while some voices
decried the role of " identity
politics " in the selection
of translators.1
The story
continued to generate interest
the following year when a
Hungarian Roma translator
recounted how belonging to
a marginalized community
gave her deeper insight as
she translated Gorman's
poem into Hungarian.2
Around the same time
this translation controversy
was hitting the press, I
came across the translation
of a document aimed at
educating readers on issues
of diversity. As I read it, I was
pretty shocked to encounter
an instance in which the
English word straight (as in
heterosexual) was rendered
in the target language as
" normal or natural man/
woman. " Aside from taking
offense at the suggestion that
as a gay man I was somehow
not normal or natural, I
found myself asking if a
translator who identified
as LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender, queer/
MATTER,
MATTERS:
TRANSLATING THE VOCABULARY OF DIVERSITY
questioning, and others)
would ever render the word
straight in this way.
One might view Amanda
Gorman's poem as a simple
text without any difficult
vocabulary or concepts that
would make translation
challenging. Yet the poem
emerges from experiences
of racial inequality and
marginalization that
underlie every line. Can a
translator render a faithful
rendition without being
deeply in touch with the
poet's worldview? More
importantly, isn't it possible
for translators who don't
personally have to deal with
racism or discrimination on
a daily basis to inadvertently
insert personal beliefs or
ideologies in their choice of
vocabulary or in the way they
express certain concepts?
American Translators Association
11
http://www.ata-chronicle.online
The ATA Chronicle - May/June 2022

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