Week 6 Blog 2

Topoi- Advantageous

In our discussion yesterday, Dr. Pilinovsky illuminated our reading on “Translation Studies” by bringing her own personal experiences with translation to the table. She also offered wonderful insight into common research dilemmas. Dr. Pilinovsky neatly paralleled the issues surrounding what qualifies as a ‘good translation’ (as addressed in the Venuti article) with her own experience in hunting for original fairy tales. She established camaraderie with the class by personalizing her message and creating an open-forum discussion dynamic as opposed to a lecture dynamic (which I’m sure would have been equally fascinating).

I would argue that the information gathered from Dr. Pilinovsky is advantageous from multiple perspectives. From my personal perspective, the insight that she offered on translation proved advantageous to my general understanding of translation studies, but most useful was her recount of her own quandaries with research. Finding sources for a study on Atlantis has proven to be an arduous task. I would think that these same aspects proved beneficial for my classmates as well. Now thinking on a bigger scale, society and/or academia, it is advantageous for us to understand that there are casualties in any translation and that we often have to compromise literal interpretations (word for word) in order to achieve a greater understanding of authorial intent (spirit for spirit).