For Hopscotch’s second anniversary, we asked a handful of translators to tell us about the “impassable” words that they’d found it tricky to bring into their target languages.
Translating Tawada and the Misplaced Mosquito
Margaret Mitsutani reflects on her many translations of Yoko Tawada’s Japanese works and on the need to trust your (important, but not infallible) ears while translating.
Listening in on «Fifty Sounds»
Yui Kajita immerses herself in the world of Polly Barton’s «Fifty Sounds», in this review that is likewise an encounter: “It’s even a little akin to meeting someone in person.”
Such a Close Form of Reading
Allison Markin Powell talks to Sevinç Türkkan about translating Japanese literature, and offers some practical tips to beginning translators about how to negotiate contracts.
Dreams, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll
David Boyd discusses the many styles and voices contained in «Terminal Boredom», the first collection of Izumi Suzuki’s science fiction stories translated into English.