UDP Internacional

5 June 2023

In its fifth version, 20 students have participated in the virtual workshop that seeks to establish an international and bilingual academic exchange, in the process of translating their own literary projects.

Word for Word 2023 is an international collaboration program that has been carried out since 2017 between the UDP School of Creative Literature and the Master in Fine Arts (MfA) in Creative Writing at Columbia University, in New York.

This year three UDP students were selected to participate in the fifth version of the international online workshop, which brings together pairs of writers in training to work on the mutual translation of their own literary project.

“Columbia MfA students, through the Center for Translation, apply to choose their translation partner in Santiago, Berlin, Rome, Beijing or Lisbon. The selection is made in December of each year and they work during the summer and concludes in May”, explains Rodrigo Rojas, academic at the Creative School and UDP coordinator of the program.

The workshop has double supervision, that is, one in English and the other in Spanish. “It is a highly demanding literary program that opens doors to a different culture, a literary environment with other rules, and new opportunities for publication,” says the academic coordinator of the Program.

“This demands a high level of commitment and responsibility from UDP undergraduate students. They work as pairs with graduate students and they do it over the holidays at a defined pace and intensity in conjunction with the person from Columbia U. with whom they have been assigned,” he adds.

The general director of International Relations, Anoek van den Berg, agrees with Rodrigo Rojas on the high demand and responsibility involved in taking the workshop. “Students learn to read their works and those of others in depth, because there is no more demanding analysis than the one that occurs in the process of literary translation, since they must translate other people’s poems so that there is a version in Spanish and English with interpretations as equal as possible that go beyond a literal translation.

Likewise, the Director highlights this virtual exchange curricular initiative as a sample of what Global Training pursues, one of the strategic axes established in the new Internationalization Policy of the University.

“Word for Word is an example of what the internationalization of the curriculum and at home is, where by incorporating virtual activities with international partners, students can collaborate, exchange and share experiences with students from other parts of the world. This activity allows the students to acquire new perspectives, put their knowledge into practice and also practice their language skills”.

Danae Estay is one of the three UDP students who were selected to participate in the virtual workshop. Regarding her experience, she assures that “in general, it was a very interesting and enriching process, because, for my part, I learned a lot from literary translation and also from creative writing itself.”

“It enriched my training in the field of languages, it was a captivating experience learning expressions, information and the sound of another language, in this case, English, which is such a globalized and important language today. Also, the simple instance of generating a connection between areas (translation and literary creation) is enriching for a resume in the future professional. Finally, meeting and engaging in conversations with someone whose mother tongue is different from yours is an interesting opportunity to use another language”

In addition, Danae recognizes in the workshop an opportunity to be “published and even more, to be translated, by a person from Columbia University.” “That makes this instance a very significant, attractive and beneficial moment for someone who is interested in literary creation, and who also has a passion for languages; being able to translate and be translated”.

Rodrigo Rojas finally highlighted the benefits of taking this workshop: “The contributions of this instance are varied, from responsibility and autonomy to the fact that it allows them to publish abroad. On the other hand, there are other benefits that are not minor, such as building a bond of respect and collaboration with an author from another culture”.

The result of the work developed in the workshop is published by Columbia University every year and the 2023 edition is expected to be ready next August. In December, meanwhile, a new call will be opened.