Unsung heroes of the word

A new year, a new column. After 12 months of beating the drum for Catalonia's upcoming sports stars, it's time for a change of tack with a brand new column for 2015. Given my 'privileged' position at the very back of the magazine, the title 'The last word' (as in get the last word in an argument) sprung to mind.

So, what does this fabulous new journalistic endeavour consist of? Well, being the final article, it seemed appropriate to look back over the month's issue and comment on one of the reports, interviews, features or even images there in and provide a short commentary on the said material or topic it covers or makes reference to.

The reasons for doing this are manyfold and far too complex to go into here, but basically the idea is to highlight articles you may have skipped or points you may have missed, while providing a bit of thoughtful context in the hope of initiating further discussion. The email address at the top of this column is not just for decoration, so feel free to agree, disagree, or add your two penny's worth to the discussion.

To start the venture, I'd like to direct your attention to the two articles on pages 42-45, which deal with a new English translation of Josep Pla's work of autobiography, The Gray Notebook, which is translated by Peter Bush. In fact, the book review by Michael Eaude is followed up by an interview with Bush, who provides great insights into the work of a literary translator.

Now, let me declare my interests. I am also a translator, so naturally I have some sympathy with Bush's opinions about how challenging the job can be. In the interview, he stresses the sheer amount of work that goes into translation, whether it is the research (“Linguistic, historical, literary”), the responsibility (“A translator makes hundreds and thousands of choices in the process”) or the intensity of the job (“You co-exist for months in a very intense way that can also be physically exhausting”). Clearly, Bush is translating a major literary work, but his points are relevant to some extent for just about any translation job. (If only I had a euro for each time someone has sent me a complicated, 10,000-word text, and then has reacted with surprise when they hear how much it will cost or how long it will take). Translating is time-consuming work requiring expertise and good judgement, specialised work in other words, which makes it surprising how poorly it pays and how little recognition comes with it.

Moreover, now more than ever in this globalised world, translation is a vital service. Think about every time you sit down to watch a subtitled film, think about the manuals, catalogues, books, contracts, treaties, websites, menus, apps, warrantees, labels, poetry, or just about anything that is written down for presentation to a general public. It all needs translating, and until automatic translation services become sophisticated enough to be trustworthy, someone has to sit down and turn the text from one language into another. And if that is not enough, remember that translation has often played a major part in some of the key events of human history. For example, if it were not for the Arabic translations of classical works, the Renaissance may never have happened, while Martin Luther's Bible – which initiated the Reformation – was a translation.

So, next time you pop a video game in the console, or purchase plane tickets online, or are moved to tears by Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal. Or, even, read certain articles in Catalonia Today, spare a thought for the translator.