Translalia
A place to engage in translation that is slow, plural, creative and decolonial
Online, translation happens immediately and automatically.
Words in one language turn into words in another. It looks like there is nothing to think about and nothing at stake.
But a lot is at stake and there is a great deal to think about.
Listen
Sit with the source text. Notice its rhythm, pauses, and the feelings it carries.
Explore
Compare options. Let the translation open up multiple possible ways forward.
Assemble
Choose with intention. Shape a version that sounds true in your own voice.
When you write, or speak, you don't just use 'a language'. You use your language – the words that feel right to you.
You do something particular with language every time you open your mouth or tap a key.
And when someone translates what you have made with your language, they need to make it feel right to them, in their kind of language, as they speak on your behalf.
Nothing ever lines up exactly; it is never just a matter of correct or incorrect. This is obvious if what is being translated is a poem or a novel.
But it is also a general truth. There are always differences to be thought about and choices to be made – choices that are ethical, aesthetic and political.
The same goes for you when you are translating someone else's words.
Translalia uses AI to help you understand
Understanding
Whatever text you are interested in translating – whether that is a poem, a piece of fiction or anything else.
Choices
It gives you choices. Multiple paths forward. Different ways to honor the original while making it your own.
Assembly
And it helps you work out how to pull your translation together with intention and care.
It puts you at the centre of the translation process.
It aims to give everyone a sense of what is at stake in translation.
Ready to translate?
Translalia is the creation of Matthew Reynolds and the AI, Decoloniality and Creative Poetry Translation Project (participants: Joseph Hankinson, Deepshikha Behera, Luciana Beroiz, Yingxin Chen, Karen Cresci, Annmarie Drury, Sarah Ekdawi, Vani Nautiyal, Mary Newman, Wen-Chin Ouyang, Rafaa Ragebi, María Eugenia Rigane, Xuemeng Zhang). The idea of making an app came from Lachlan Kermode. The process was supported by Dominik Lukes and Oxford University's AI and ML Competency Centre. The coding was done by Raj Trivedi.