Report: Translation Workshop with Lisa Weeda

19 March 2019

2019 writer in residence, Lisa Weeda, worked with students of Dutch from the Universities of Sheffield, Nottingham and UCL on our annual Translation Project, in collaboration with professional translator Jonathan Reeder (known for his English translations of Peter Buwalda and Christine Otten among others). Together, they translated Lisa’s text for a virtual reality project which will premiere at this year’s Passa Porta Literary Festival at Huis de Buren in Brussels.

Students from all three universities worked collaboratively on-line, culminating in a video conference on 5 March, when both the author and the translator joined the UCL students. In a translation class preceding the conference, our students got a taste of text and translation production in action, when the author actively encouraged them to cut the text down to make it snappier and more immediate than the source text and, most importantly, make it work in English for this specific medium. A final editing team consisting of students and Jonathan was appointed, and the text is now ready to air in April.

Congratulations to all students and colleagues, as well as Lisa Weeda and Jonathan Reeder for a fascinating project, professional experience and hard work!