Sunday, December 11, 2011

Reasons against self-translation

In an interview with the New York Times the trilingual playwright Jonas Hassen Khemiri’ explains why he opted against self-translating his play from Swedish to English: “It’s almost impossible to translate your own words,” he said. “You need someone who’s a bit rough with the text, who can challenge it and take it for a ride.”

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Sibila Petlevski: Is Translating Your Own Writing Really “Translation”?

In an essay published on Literary Hub in April 2025, the Croatian poet Sibila Petlevski (*1964 in Zagreb, Croatia) reflects on self-transla...