Collective residences
LEIRE MARTINEZ DE MARIGORTA VARELA
From Friday, 1 April 2022 to Friday, 8 April 2022
Bio
She studied Translation and Interpreting at the University of the Basque Country, and a Masters in Translation and Technology at the same university. She has worked as a translator, interpreter and proofreader mostly with Basque and Spanish languages, and she is now teaching French in a public high school.
She has translated literature on her own, so for her this stay is a great opportunity to overcome this intimacy and learn from other translators sharing their experiences. She finds translating poetry is as complex as beautiful, and considers it a continuous learning process and a nice challenge.
Project
During my stay at the residence I'm going to translate some of Ovidi Montllor's songs and poems into Basque. His work has never been translated into Basque so far, althought his poetry is still essential these days.
When it comes to minority languages such as Catalan and Basque, translation takes on special importance, as I think it is essential to promote cultural, social and political bonds and exchanges between these language communities. That's why I find relevant to bring Ovidi Montllor's work to Basque-speaking community.
A lonely profession and an opportunity to network
Thanks to my experience at Faberllull Olot, I could dedicate the time I needed to define and visualize my translation project, but also we had the chance to network among translators, and in that sense it has been a wonderful opportunity, since translators’ work is such a lonely one.
The residence gave me something simple but at the same time difficult to obtain on my daily routine: quality time to dedicate it to my project, and the opportunity to network with people who are dedicated to the same thing. I could immerse myself in my translation project, surrounded by a group of people with whom I share similar motivations and concerns, and that one is an added value that is difficult to find. Thanks to this stay we could share experiences, learn from them, share ideas, doubts and solutions related to our translation projects, and also realize that we all have similar problems and obstacles in our daily work. My stay gave me confidence and motivation to continue with my project.
Of course, the environment couldn’t be better, in a small city but also in the middle of nature, just a step away from beautiful excursions to disconnect and enjoy my stay even more.