Journée de la traduction

Richard and I were asked if we'd be interested in going to a Journee de la traduction which we went to since I don't pass up invitations! I wasn't happy about waking up early but little did I know we were going to a chateau for the conference! Finally I got to see a chateau here in France. It was in Hardelot (pronounced Ardelo) and beautiful... and even more beautiful because it was the first sunny day in at least a month.

The conference turned out to be really interesting. There were translators of books from English to French, an English author, French authors of children's bi-lingual books, editors, and other professionals. One of the things I found most surprising was that people seem to think very few French people speak English compared to other European countries. Maybe it's just because I come from the US where most people only speak one language, but I totally disagreed. So far everyone else I've talked about it with has disagreed with me. But I can't imagine more people speaking English than already do. Of course France has Belgium and Germany for neighbors, which supposedly are the two best countries for teaching foreign languages (definitely evident judging from the two German assistants here who speak three and four languages respectively, very well!)

I read an article in Le Monde about the American "Good Job" education system of boosting self-esteem, where "creative spelling" is accepted and children are never wrong. It was interesting reading this article about optimism and America, and it got me thinking about how we turn kids into babies... I'm shocked at how teachers in France say how poorly a student has done in front of everyone and grades are made public. In the US grades are passed out face-down so no one else can see what you got. I've definitely come to appreciate this system and see faults with the American system (can't miss the most obvious disadvantage, the scores.) This must-be positive attitude in America is definitely a stereotype though. At the translation conference it was brought up more than once. A few people mentioned that movies and books have to be happy and purely entertainment for Americans, while elsewhere they're open to more and (I think they implied) the audience is more intellectual. It was fun to hear the commentary on America, especially since I think no one suspected there was an American in the room.

One thing I learned from the conference is that I'd never want to be a translator... it's a practically impossible job, and the only translators who get talked about are the ones who made huge mistakes.