Reading for Ukraine

After the former president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, did not sign the European Union Association Agreement in November 2013 the political situation in Ukraine changed very quickly: after demonstrations on the Maidan in Kiev which lasted for weeks and a number of eviction attempts by the security forces, violence escalated mid-February and Yanukovych was toppled. On the first weekend in March the Crimean Peninsula was occupied by Russian army units in violation of the Law of Nations.

The occupation of Crimea is an attack on the sovereignty of Ukraine and the team of the TransStar project vehemently opposes this action.

We would like to express our solidarity with the democracy movement in Ukraine and with our Ukrainian project partners as well as our Ukrainian project participants. For this reason we will publish a poem of a Ukrainian writer and its German translation on the facebook site (and Homepage) of our project, every day beginning March 10.

Please visit our facebook site.

On three consecutive days participants of the EU-funded project TransStar Europe read texts by contemporary authors telling their story of life in present-day Europe. It is a story about identity and homelessness, social dislocation, alienation, new beginnings, of borders and the way they shift or are violated.

Thursday, 13 March, 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

TransStar reading at the Croatian Stand (I) – Surrelistic Stuff

Magda Wlostowska and Katharina Kowarczyk read excerpts from:

Return of the Old Komodo Dragon by Michael Ajvaz (Czech Republic) translated by Katka Ringesová

The Two-Gigabyte Stick by Yuriy Izdryk (Ukraine) translated by Constanze Aka

Bestiarium by Tomasz Różycki (Poland) translated by Marlena Breuer

Ballad(yna)s and Romances by Ignacy Karpowicz (Poland) translated by Katharina Kowarczyk

Location: Stand of the Croatian Ministry of Culture, Hall 4, D 402

Friday, 14 March, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Book Presentation and Discussion: Majdan! Ukraine, Europa

The Ukrainian authors Serhiy Zhadan (Kharkiv) and Oksana Forostyna (Kiev) will introduce the edited volume Majdan! Ukraine, Europa and will discuss the current  situation in Ukraine.

Reading and discussion with Serhiy Zhadan (author from Kharkiv, Ukraine) and Oxana Forostyna (author and sociologist from Kiev, Ukraine).

Moderation: Claudia Dathe, EU-funded project TransStar Europe (Tübingen)

Location: Stand of the Ukrainian Publishers and the Lviv Book Forum, Hall 4, E 506

Friday, 14 March, 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

TransStar Reading at the Croatian Stand (II) – European History as Family History

Sofia Onufriv, Maja Konstantinović and Martina Lisa read excerpts from:

Zinandali by Myroslav Dokhynez (Ukraine) translated by Nina Hawrylow

Who gives a fuck about a thousand dinars now by Boris Dežulović (Croatia) translated by Maja Konstantinović

Germans: Geography of Loss (Czech Republic) by Jakuba Katalpa translated by Martina Lisa

Location: Stand of the Croatian Ministry of Culture, Hall 4, D 402

Saturday, 15 March, 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

TransStar readings at the Croatian Stand (III) – European History as a History of Memory

Franziska Mazi and Maja Konstantinović read excerpts from:

The Teapot and the Chinese Emperor by Dzwinka Matiyash (Ukraine) translated by Constanze Aka

Gulasz z turula by Krzysztof Varga (Poland) translated by Melanie Foik

Roses by Stanja Hrastelj (Slovenia) translated by Tjaša Šket

Location: Stand of the Croatian Ministry of Culture, Hall 4, D 402

Sunday, 16 March, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Recounting European History – Literary Perspectives from Five Countries

How do authors recount their history in present day Europe? A history that is influenced by societal, social and economic transitions, by changing ideologies and indescribable individual fates. Their texts portray people in the midst of violence and indifference, alienation and constriction, confrontation and despair, generating a mosaic of European biographies in the 20^th and 21^st centuries.

Martina Lisa, Christian Nastal and Schamma Schahadat from the EU-funded project TransStar Europe will introduce Daniel Odija, read text excerpts and will provide insight into transcultural entanglements of the old continent.

Reading and discussion with Daniel Odija (Poland), Christian Nastal, Martina Lisa and Schamma Schahadat (TransStar Europe)

Moderation: Claudia Dathe, TransStar Europe (Tübingen)

Location: Forum OstSüdOst, Hall 4, E 505

Sunday, 15 March, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

Book Presentation and Discussion: Majdan! Ukraine, Europe

Together with Rebekka Harms, a politician from the German Green Party, the Ukrainian writers Natalka Sniadanko and Serhiy Zhadan will present the book Majdan! Ukraine, Europa and will discuss the current political situation in the country.

Reading and discussion with Serhiy Zhadan (Kharkiv), Natalka Sniadanko (Lviv), Rebekka Harms (Brussels)

Moderation: Sofia Onufriv, TransStar Europe (Berlin)

Location: Forum OstSüdOst, Halle 4, E 505

Local Meeting of the Ukrainian-German Group, 2–4 December 2013 in Berlin

We finally had the chance for all of us to meet because Constanze was unable to make it to our first meeting in Kyiv in April 2013. This time we spent three days at Sofia’s home in Berlin, surrounded by books, cookies, chocolate, coffee, and news updates about the Euromaidan protests during every break.

Claudia sent us our working program in advance, so we all knew what to expect and what we would be working on. There was enough time scheduled for each of us. We worked on Stefan’s translation of Marianna Kiyanovska’s novel Hra u zhyve i mertve (The Game of the Living and Dead) and asked ourselves, for instance, how to translate the very specific short nickname that the protagonist uses for her grandfather: eventually, Di became Did. The rhythm of this lyrical text was not easy for us to maintain at first.

Afterwards it was Nina’s turn. She had prepared three short texts by Myroslav Dochynets. We tried to determine how to translate the spoken language the right way, in order to make the personality of the character clear. Claudia gave us some hints on how to retain the dialect coloring in the text, using one of Dochynets’ stories as an example. Constanze had also prepared some short stories for our meeting. She chose three texts from Dzvinka Matiyash’s book Istoriyi pro troyandy, doshch i sil′ (Stories of Roses, Rain, and Salt). They gave us the chance to practice creating a child’s perspective and how to strike the right note in a text. An important aspect here was also the proper use of German tenses. A specific problem that we encountered in several of our texts was the perception of social hierarchies and intimacy, which are visible in the way the characters are addressed.

Last but not least, we dealt with Sofiya’s translation of Lina Kostenko’s Zapysky ukrayins′koho samashedshoho (Notes of a Ukrainian Lunatic). How many additional explanations are needed and useful for understanding the cultural context of a text, and what kinds of explanations should one use? Is it better to embellish the text, or to add a glossary or an afterword at the end? We chose the first alternative. Another problem we faced in Sofiya’s translation was the use of political jargon.

Together we were able to find many good solutions and we stocked up on new motivation for the next translations at home. We are also looking forward very much to meeting in Krakow in January 2014!

Some photos are available here.

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On a rainy Saturday in November, the German-Slovenian TransStar group gathered at the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Arts for its local meeting. To start things off, Tanja Žigon informed us about the logistical details for our January 2014 network meeting in Krakow. We also discussed our impressions of the Slovenian Book Fair, which we visited the previous day.

We then surprised our colleague Janko Trupej. He had defended his doctoral dissertation the previous Tuesday, and we presented him with a gift as a memento.

Afterwards, we discussed our translations. Our advisor Amalija Maček first pointed out typical pitfalls when translating from German into Slovenian. Each member of the group had brought along a text and its translation, and told the others which passages he or she had found particularly tricky or difficult to translate. We discussed stylistic questions; for instance, whether one can break up or combine sentences. The participants presented some formulations in their translations that they felt were not ideal or not the most suitable. There was a lively exchange of ideas and suggestions, and abstruse parts of the original were also discussed. It is precisely in such situations that teamwork proves especially useful and effective. After several hours of an extremely interesting discussion, we decided that we would send our translations to the advisor so she could correct them and suggest changes. We also decided that in the coming weeks we would each select new texts that we would like to translate over the following months.

We concluded the meeting with lunch at one of Ljubljana’s coffeehouses.

by Karmen Schödel and Ana Dejanović

Some photos are available here.

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Is the difference between sermon and mass the same in the German as it is in the Czech language? What do five points in Reinhard Jirgl’s novel mean? Should the translation sound good or should one rather try to maintain the style of the original, even if it sounds strange? And yes, one can still confuse coal and ash or cream and whipping cream after reading it fifty times. Be careful also with Latte Macchiato and Café Macchiato, this also one would not want to have confused… In the comfortable rooftop room in which the local meeting of the German-Czech group took place many details as well as complex linguistic and translation difficulties were discussed.

The meeting in Jindřichovice pod Smrkem in North Bohemia was productive and enriching in many ways. The group was also able to become familiar with the German-Czech past of the place which used to be called „Little Vienna“ and provided work for up to 3500 people in the region. With a population of 600 persons Jindřichovice today is a small and popular destination for bicyclists and mountaineers, where the young translators were able to distinctly feel hints of the past looking over the old factories and houses.

Ist der Unterschied zwischen einem Gottesdienst und einer Messe derselbe im Deutschen wie im Tschechischen? Was bedeuten fünf Punkte im Roman von Reinhard Jirgl? Soll die Übersetzung gut klingen oder soll man lieber versuchen, den Stil des Originals beizubehalten, auch wenn das seltsam klingt? Ja, auch nach fünfzig Mal lesen kann man Kohle und Asche oder Sahne und Schlagsahne noch verwechseln. Vorsicht auch bei Latte Macchiato und Café Macchiato, auch das möchte man nicht vertauscht haben… Im gemütlichen Dachzimmer, in dem sich das lokale Treffen der deutsch-tschechischen Gruppe abspielte, sind viele Einzelheiten sowie komplexe sprachliche und Übersetzungsschwierigkeiten angesprochen worden.

Das Treffen in Jindřichovice pod Smrkem (Heinersdorf an der Tafelfichte) in Nordböhmen war in vielen Hinsichten produktiv und bereichernd. Die Gruppe konnte auch die deutsch-tschechische Vergangenheit des Ortes kennenlernen, der ehemals „Kleines Wien“ genannt wurde und bis zu 3500 Menschen aus der Region Arbeit bot. Heute ist Jindřichovice mit 600 Einwohnern ein kleines und dabei beliebtes Urlaubsziel für Radfahrer und Bergliebhaber, in dem die jungen Übersetzer beim Blick auf die alten Fabriken und Häuser den Hauch der Geschichte deutlich spüren konnten.

by Anna Koubová

Here you will find some pictures.

W ostatni weekend września nasza grupa spotkała się w przytulnej polsko-niemieckiej księgarni Buchbund w Berlinie. Na początku raz jeszcze zajęliśmy się naszym wspólnym tłumaczeniem opowiadania pt. “Salzwasser” (“Słona woda”) Ulrike Almut Sandig, uwzględniając naniesione na nie uwagi redakcyjne. Następnie przeszliśmy do fragmentów tłumaczeń tekstów, którymi zajmujemy się indywidualnie. Każdy z wybranych przez nas utworów – począwszy od bajki, a skończywszy na monologu pełnym zawiłych gier słownych – rządzi się własnymi prawami i sprawia mnóstwo problemów, a niektóre elementy nieprzetłumaczalne trzeba wymyślać “od nowa”, dlatego też na ich temat dyskutować można by bez końca.

On the last weekend in September our group met in the cosy German-Polish bookstore Buchbund in Berlin. We first had another look at our translation of the short story “Salzwasser” by Ulrike Almut Sandig after it was corrected by a professional editor. After that we focused on translations of our own texts. Since we had to deal with different texts, from a fable-like one to complex plays on words, we sometimes needed to come up with almost new stories.

by Zofia Sucharska

Here are some photos.