The Genius Of… Orange Rhyming Dictionary by Jets to Brazil - Guitar.com - Dictionary

If you are of a certain vintage, the regular online clamour from fans and stans desperate for success to fall in the laps of their indie favourites will likely have struck an odd chord with you. Haven’t they heard of selling out? “Am I so out of touch?” you muse to yourself. “No, it’s the children who are wrong.”

You think back to the good old days of the mid-1990s, when signing to a major label was verboten and you were entirely justified in wishing failure and ruin on any band who chose to go down that route. Bands such as Jawbreaker. Especially Jawbreaker. “You’re not punk and I’m telling everyone,” they once sang – and no-one got the joke.

One of the most important and influential Bay Area punk bands, their excellent, slightly cleaner and more adventurous final LP Dear You was released by DGC in September 1995 and swallowed whole by the discourse surrounding it. “Dear You… eventually wound up on some nameless secondhand store’s shelf to inflict its half-life of misery on someone else,” ran a retrospective 2.3 Pitchfork review in 2004, and that writer used to like the record back in the day. This shit lingered and mutated.

Jawbreaker folded soon after the album’s release, and their charismatic punk-poet guitarist and vocalist Blake Schwarzenbach binned the whole being-in-a-band thing for a while, moving east and settling in Brooklyn, where he met Handsome vocalist Jeremy Chatelain through his girlfriend. They didn’t know it at the time but they had plenty in common.

Hurt before

Like Jawbreaker, Handsome had been chewed up and spat out by the major label machine. A post-hardcore meeting of minds featuring members of Helmet, Quicksand and Cro-Mags, their sole album is a monument to a sound that bands such as Far would take further into the public consciousness: dense, heavy, atmospheric guitars paired with emotionally intuitive vocals.

Chatelain and Schwarzenbach began working on new music, bringing in another bruised musician in Texas is the Reason drummer Chris Daly, whose own band had gone to the grave with a major label deal on the table. The songs came together quickly and bled beyond boundaries regularly, wilfully. Jets to Brazil’s first moves were part exorcism, part provocation, and people were desperate to hear them.

They recorded a demo early in 1998 and signed to Jade Tree before heading out on tour with Milwaukee emo heroes the Promise Ring. By the time they hit the studio to record an album proper, things were in place and humming along.

Orange Rhyming Dictionary was assembled in the summer of 1998 at Easley McCain Recording in Memphis, Tennessee – previously home to indie-rock luminaries Sonic Youth, Guided by Voices, Wilco and Pacer – with producer J Robbins, another punk who’d gone to the dark side by teaming with Atlantic to release Jawbox’s For Your Own Special Sweetheart in 1994. He, though, had found some manner of acceptance among the band’s faithful. “They cut us slack,” he told Dan Ozzi in the book Sellout. “But Jawbreaker fans did not cut them that same slack.”

“We all liked the idea of going out of town to record, to fully immerse ourselves in the making of this thing,” Schwarzenbach told Punk Rock Theory. “It was really a perfect arrangement – I can’t imagine that record happening anywhere else. The main room at Easley was so enchanting: lots of lamps, space and a piano. It just encouraged late-night experimentation as a space.”

And now for something completely different

The first thing to note about Orange Rhyming Dictionary is how quickly it makes the furore around Dear You look silly. That made you want to spit in someone’s mouth/throw beer bottles at them/ban them from your venue? Wait ’til you get a load of this. Even Accident Prone, that record’s six minute centrepiece, didn’t have all this going on.

“We all lived together during that week in Memphis,” Chatelain told Punk Rock Theory. “We charted the record out and discussed the parts in detail. J attended rehearsals and made suggestions. He played a few guitar parts and sang some harmony. There are a few very J Robbins vocal harmonies on the record. He has a sound that is all his own.

“In general, he made all of us feel comfortable during the process of tracking our first record. He does this thing where he puts his palm on his forehead and asks, ‘Are you married to that part?’ He’s great, very diplomatic about the process. He helped us feel good about the outcome.”

Opener Crown of the Valley employs snaking lead lines, octave riffs, playful wah and surging drops built around Schwarzenbach’s use of open strings. A left-handed player most commonly associated with a series of Les Pauls and a JCM800, Schwarzenbach’s meticulous style meshes with Robbins’ off-kilter framing, creating a multi-tracked latticework of guitars that is only amped up by the explosive Morning New Disease, which “seems like the ur-Jets track” according to its writer.

But there’s also an appreciation for space and pacing, something felt most keenly on the spare, affecting Sea Anemone. With a guitar line only a step removed from alt-country, the song hangs in the air at the album’s midpoint, using only a few motifs across its five minutes and making the jumbles on either side feel all the more pointed, excited and bristling with ideas.

Blake Schwarzenbach. Image: Jim Bennett / WireImage

Jawbreaker reunion

According to Jade Tree boss Darren Walters, Orange Rhyming Dictionary became the label’s biggest-selling release. Jets to Brazil subsequently added Van Pelt guitarist Brian Maryansky to the line-up, allowing Schwarzenbach to play keys more often, and toured regularly and without ego, appearing all over the place like any other punk band earning their stripes.

Their two later records, 2000’s Four Cornered Night and 2002’s Perfecting Loneliness, went further and deeper into melody, stately keys and rock bombast. They are quite lovely but don’t feel as alive as the band’s opening statement.

Twenty years later, Jawbreaker have done the unthinkable and reformed, Chatelain has served time playing the heaviest of low ends in Helmet, and Jets to Brazil’s music can be viewed free from ties and expectations. They were a great band – different to some other great bands that came before and afterwards but great all the same.

Jeremy Chatelain. Image: Chad Buchanan / Getty Images

Infobox

Jets to Brazil, Orange Rhyming Dictionary (Jade Tree, 1998)

Credits

• Blake Schwarzenbach – guitar, vocals, keys
• Jeremy Chatelain – bass, backing vocals
• Chris Daly – drums
• J Robbins – producer

Standout Guitar Moment

Morning New Disease

For more reviews, click here.

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How to translate speech to a different language in Google Meet - TechRepublic - Translation

Google Meet offers a translation feature for business and educational users. Here’s how it works.

Image: Cybrain/Adobe Stock

You’re running a conference call in Google Meet, and one or more of the participants speaks a different language. No problem. With the right version of Google Meet, you can display captions translated from one language to another as each person speaks. The translation feature requires a business or educational version of Google Workspace and can translate between English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish.

SEE: Feature comparison: Time tracking software and systems (TechRepublic Premium)

Must-read CXO coverage

To use the translation feature, you’ll need one of the following paid editions of Google Workspace: Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus or Teaching & Learning Upgrade. With the right plan, you can use and see the translations in Google Meet on a PC or Chromebook as well as in the iOS/iPadOS and Android apps for Google Meet.

You first need to enable the translation feature. In a Google Meet meeting from your computer, click the More options button at the bottom and select Settings (Figure A).

Figure A

At the Settings window, select the option for Caption. Turn on the switch for Translated captions. Click the dropdown menu for Translate To. Assuming your default language is English, you can set the target language to French, German, Portuguese or Spanish. When done, close the Settings window (Figure B).

Figure B

Each of the other meeting participants can also enable translation captions on their ends if they wish. On an iPhone, iPad or Android device, you would tap the More options icon and select Settings. Turn on the switch for Live Captions, tap the option for Translation Language, and then choose the target language. Close the Settings window to return to the meeting (Figure C).

Figure C

As people speak in the default language for the meeting, the live captions display the translation in whatever language was chosen by each person (Figure D).

Figure D

Each person’s translation appears on the screen briefly and is then replaced by the next translated sentence. If no speech is heard, the last translation disappears from the screen after a few seconds. As you see each translation, click the option for your default language to read the original spoken words. You can switch back and forth between the source and target languages (Figure E).

Figure E

To discontinue the translation on a PC, click the gear icon and turn off the switch for Translated Captions. To dispense with the live captions altogether, click the button at the bottom for Turn Off Captions (Figure F).

Figure F

To stop the translation on a mobile device, tap the More Options button and select Settings. At the Settings screen, select the option for Translation Language and change it to Don’t Translate Captions (Figure G).

Figure G

To turn off live captions on a mobile device, tap the More Options button and select Hide Captions (Figure H).

Figure H

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TRANSLATION/INTERPRETATION AGENCY FOR GLOBAL SUMMIT 2022 - ReliefWeb - Translation

Background

The International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) is a global coalition of PLHIV and community activists working to achieve universal access to optimal HIV, HCV and TB treatment of those in need. Formed in 2003 by a group of 125 HIV activists from 65 countries at a meeting in Cape Town, ITPC actively advocates for treatment access in eight regions across the globe. ITPC believes that the fight for treatment remains one of the most significant global social justice issues.

The Make Medicines Affordable Campaign works to bring down the price of HIV, TB, Hepatitis C, and potential COVID-19 medicines and vaccines, specifically in middle-income countries (MICs). Make Medicines Affordable (MMA) believes it is every person’s right to access the treatment they need, and that intellectual barriers (IP) preventing access must be removed. The MMA campaign is a civil society-led initiative made up of civil society organizations from over 20 countries. These organizations include patients, lawyers, health experts and activists, who have chosen to challenge the IP measures through successful legal and technical interventions, in-line with the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects to Intellectual Property) agreements, and working to change patent laws to improve access to medicines.

In the over two decades of TRIPS implementation, civil society and particularly community-based groups like people living with HIV, HCV and cancer have played a key role in advocating for, ensuring the use of, and even directly implementing TRIPS flexibilities through patent oppositions and litigation. The extent of work and expertise of CSOs and the critical role they play in balancing WTO mandated IP rules with public interest and health while also resisting the onslaught of TRIPS-plus measures is underappreciated and under-resourced.

The Global Summit will coincide with the anniversary of the Doha Declaration adoption and shall serve as a platform to reflect, discuss and strategize on over two decades of the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement and Doha Declaration, its impact on health and access to medicines and to both imagine and reimagine what the next two decades of TRIPS implementation will or could bring. The recognition, preservation and sustainability of the work of civil society in this regard is central to the theme and sessions at the Global Summit. The Summit will take place in a hybrid in-person and virtual format for 3 days on 8-10 July, in Istanbul, Turkey.

Consultant Scope of Work and Deliverables

ITPC is seeking a translation/interpretation agency capable of providing interpretation for the Global Summit on Intellectual Property and Access to Medicines 2022 in a hybrid format following language combinations:

· French/English

· Spanish/English

· Portuguese/English

· Russian/English

· Thai/English

Duration of Consultancy

· 1 June to 10 July 2022

· 3-day meeting held 8-10 July in Istanbul, Turkey (with participants attending virtually) and written translations in the lead-up to the event

Deliverables

· Provide simultaneous interpretation in the aforementioned languages for 3 days

· 5 interpretations booths for 3 days

· Approximately 100 headsets

· Provide written translation of agenda, concept note and subtitles as requested

Education & Experience Requirements

● Degree or certification in translation

● Minimum 2-5 years-experience providing interpretation and translation services in most of the requested languages

● Experience providing interpretation and translation services in French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai is a plus

● Experience providing interpretation and translation in-person and through online platforms (i.e. Zoom)

● Experience of participation in technical summits/workshops as well as high-level events in professional settings is a plus

● Experience providing interpretation and translation services on the topics of global health, intellectual property and access to medicines, drug manufacturing and trade issues is a plus

● Previous experience working with civil society and international organizations and agencies is a plus

● Demonstrated effective organizational skills and ability to work flexibly and adapt to changing requirements

Method of Selection

Competitive Negotiations method shall be used to determine the winner. The following selection criteria with relative weight of criteria showed in percentages shall be used for selection for the bidders’ proposals that meet all obligatory qualification/eligibility requirements above and that essentially meet the above scope and deliverables:

1. Degree of completeness of services proposed in response to Request of Proposals (ToR): number of languages proposed, written translations and coordination services (relative weight of criteria 30%) – shall be assessed based on received proposal documents;

2. Quality and relevance of experience in translating at events and/or of materials on the topics of HIV/AIDS, public health or related field (relative weight of criteria 20%) – shall be assessed based on CV and;

3. Quality and relevance of experience in translating at events and/or of materials on topics of access to medicine and intellectual property topics (relative weight of criteria 20%) – shall be assessed based on CVs of translators or short description of translation team experience with description of previous works;

4. Value for money (relative weight of criteria 30%) – shall be assessed based on provided quotation and scope of the work.

Instructions to Tenderers

Tender proposal validity should be no less than 60 days counting from the closing date of receiving proposals indicated below.

Tenderers shall have the right to seek written clarifications on any aspect of the tender documents and receive responses from ITPC in good time before the deadline for submission of tenders, not less than 2 days prior to the deadline.

The starting date of this tender is 27 April 2022. Closing date for receiving proposals is 23 May 2022 23:59 SAST.

Questions should be sent by potential bidders before 20 May 2022 to the same email address as indicated below.

Expected proposal acceptance date is 29 May 2022, although this deadline could be extended by ITPC, if needed.

Tender proposals shall be evaluated by ITPC and the outcome of the selection procedure shall be notified to tenderers by email.

Compensation

Applicants are invited to submit a quote with daily rate for simultaneous translation and fixed fee or daily rate for coordinator with total budget for simultaneous translation for translators and coordinator, and separately please provide price per word for written translations (for written translations the total). Payment will be made within 30 days upon delivery of the monthly invoice.

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Post-Editing Machine Translation Limits Creativity in Literary Translation — Research - Slator - Translation

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Post-Editing Machine Translation Limits Creativity in Literary Translation — Research  Slator

California man charged for threats to dictionary publisher - CTPost - Dictionary

BOSTON (AP) — A California man's online threats of violence against dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster Inc. over updated gender definitions have landed him in a Massachusetts federal court.

Merriam-Webster closed its main office in Springfield, Massachusetts, and another in New York City for five business days last year in response to comments from Jeremy David Hanson, prosecutors said. An email seeking comment was left Monday with a Merriam-Webster spokesperson.

Hanson, 34, of Rossmoor, California also allegedly made anti-LGBTQ threats to other organizations.

Hanson was charged last week with interstate communication of threats to commit violence, according to statement from the U.S. attorney's office in Boston. He is scheduled to appear in federal court on Friday in Springfield.

Prosecutors say Hanson threatened a shooting and bombing at the publisher, however the affidavit did not specify whether any weapons or explosives were found during the investigation.

If convicted, Hanson faces up to five years in prison.

In an interview with the FBI on Oct. 27, Hanson said he has obsessive-compulsive disorder, Asperger’s syndrome, anxiety and depression, and struggles with impulse control. He said he understands the threatening remarks he makes online are illegal, but is unable to control himself. His mother said in an interview with the FBI in May 2021 that he had no access to weapons.

No defense attorney is listed in court records. A home phone number for Hanson had been disconnected.

Prosecutors say Hanson sent Merriam-Webster threatening messages and comments between Oct. 2 and Oct. 8 using the website’s “contact us” function and in the comments section on its webpages that corresponded to word entries such as “girl,” “woman,” and “female," prosecutors said.

One definition of “female” is “having a gender identity that is the opposite of male."

“It is absolutely sickening that Merriam-Webster now tells blatant lies and promotes anti-science propaganda,” Hanson wrote in one comment, according to prosecutors. “There is no such thing as ‘gender identity.’ “

The statements were traced back to an IP address linked to Hanson, the FBI said.

“Some statements expressed hostility toward different gender identities and some threatened bodily harm to people,” according to an FBI affidavit in the case.

The investigation identified several related threats over the past few years, according to prosecutors, including to the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Land O’ Lakes, Hasbro, and the president of the University of North Texas.

“Hate-filled threats and intimidations have no place in our society,” U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement. “We believe Hanson sent a multitude of anonymous threatening and despicable messages related to the LGBTQ community that were intended to evoke fear and division."

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Webster's Dictionary Threat; Wildlife Crossing | SoCal In Brief - Yahoo News - Dictionary

LOS ANGELES, CA — As the weekend wraps up, we've rounded up all the stories you may have missed Saturday and Sunday to prepare you for Monday.

But before we jump into the Southland's top stories, Golden State residents should know that the state just broke ground on the world's largest wildlife crossing for mountain lions and other animals caught in Southern California's urban sprawl.

The bridge will stretch 200 feet (61 meters) over U.S. 101 to give big cats, coyotes, deer and other wildlife a safe path to the nearby Santa Monica Mountains.

It is expected to be completed by early 2025.

Read more about that here

From an Orange County man who reportedly made violent threats to Webster's Dictionary over the revised definitions of the words "girl," "woman" and "female" to hundreds of Southland residents that could be eligible for refunds after a settlement accused Sameday Health of giving fake COVID-19 test results to customers — here are some of the stories you missed this weekend.

CA Sameday Customers Could Be Eligible For Refunds For COVID Tests

Swaths of Californians could be eligible for money back on COVID-19 tests after the company was accused of distributing fraudulent results.

OC Man Arrested Amid Threats Made To Webster's Dictionary Over Gender

An OC man was arrested after officials said he made violent threats to the company for the definitions of "girl," "woman" and "female."

RivCo Man Found Guilty In Fatal Shooting Of Banning Man

A convicted felon was found guilty of shooting a 28-year-old man to death in Banning last year.

CA Breaks Ground On Largest Urban Wildlife Crossing

Construction has begun on what is billed as the world's largest wildlife crossing for mountain lions and other animals in SoCal.

Woman Survives Off Yogurt For 6 Days In CA Snow: Report

A woman managed to survive for six days in the wilderness by rationing a six pack of yogurt.

Firefighters Quell Major Rubbish Fire Along 10 Freeway

Crews fought a large rubbish and pallet fire burning under an off-ramp to the Santa Monica 10 Freeway.

Man In 'Grave' Condition After Falling In Griffith Park

Authorities assisted a 76-year-old man who reportedly fell off his bicycle in Los Angeles on Saturday.

Murrieta Innovation Center Gets $2.4M Federal Grant

The U.S. Department of Commerce gifted a hefty grant to Murrieta's hub for science and innovation.

CA Woman Rescued After Falling 'Head First' Into Outhouse Toilet

Fire crews came to the aid of a Golden State woman who fell into a vault toilet in Washington after attempting to fish her phone out of it.

Arrest Made In Homicide At Desert Hills Outlet Mall

An 18-year-old Victorville man was arrested in connection with the shooting death of a man at the Desert Hills Premium Outlet Stores.

COVID-19 Hospitalizations Increase To 104 In San Diego County

The total number of COVID patients in intensive care beds was 17, an increase of four from the previous day.

9 People Injured After Pursuit, Traffic Collision In Encinitas

A man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of reckless driving that resulted in several injuries.

LA County's COVID Hospitalizations Rise Slightly

The number of COVID-positive patients in LA County hospitals has increased by nine people to 218, according to the state.

UCLA Survey: LA County Quality Of Life Hits Lowest Level In 7 Years

High prices, homelessness, rising crime and health concerns are taking their toll on the quality of life in Los Angeles County.

Sheriff's Department Searching For Felony Suspect In Vista

A sheriff's helicopter was used to broadcast details of the search to neighborhood residents Sunday afternoon.

Man Fatally Shot In LA's Florence-Firestone Area

Sheriff's deputies are continuing their investigation Saturday of the fatal shooting of a man in an unincorporated area of LA.

Beaumont To Receive New Interim City Manager

Elizabeth Gibbs has served in public administration for 32 years and has previously served as Beaumont's city manager.

This article originally appeared on the Los Angeles Patch

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Talking Translation: 'A language without works in translation is a diminished one and will soon wither' - Nation.Cymru - Translation

Tempo edited by Luca Paci and published by Parthian

Talking Translation: Tempo

Susie Wildsmith talks to poet, translator and editor Luca Paci, the Co-Director of the Italian Cultural Centre Wales, about the joys and difficulties of trying to represent the texture and variety of contemporary 21st century Italian poetry in one parallel text anthology.

It is an unusually sunny day in an unusual year when Luca Paci and I meet for iced coffee in the refectory before his next class at Cardiff University. The world is opening up again, but, we now know, only briefly and we are giddy with joy at being able to meet and discuss poetry and more in person rather than across screens and phone lines. It has been a period of collective grief and of personal grief, a time where crossing barriers with the shared experience of poetry feels more important than ever. After a devastating summer, Paci needs ‘to hug, to be more Italian’. We need to tame lines gone unruly in the production process, to discuss the last of the changes to the text. More than that, we need to reach out, and so we do. We begin at the beginning. With the impetus to start something, mark something, make something, in a time of too many endings…

What prompted you to put together this anthology of Italian poetry?

Everybody knows novelists like Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco and Elena Ferrante but if you ask people about Italian poetry I suspect you would struggle to find a name apart from Dante. There is very little contemporary Italian poetry published in the UK apart from the usual suspects: Montale, Ungaretti and Quasimodo who are really (male) mid 20^th century authors. When it comes to the 21^st century there is an awkward void. I am also passionate about poetry in translation. A language without works in translation is a diminished one and will soon wither.

There’s real range evident in the selection of poets, their style and themes…

I have always wanted to give the English-speaking reader a sense of the unique and diverse texture of Italian poetry. I selected this mix of established and new poets based on my experience of the scene as a working poet and literary critic. The anthology tells the story of contemporary Italy. The politics, culture, society, current affairs and history. The (melo)drama and tragedy. I would like to think that the reader will be more knowledgeable about the present state of Italy after going through the collection. In this respect perhaps the book could work as a sociological reflection.

How did you select the translators to work with?

Translators and poets frequently travel in pairs like Jehovah witnesses. When you choose a poet there is often another poet who translates or interprets their work. It is a real labour of love and there is a lot of care and attending to the words, form and style. Many of the poems selected had been previously translated but they often had appeared in academic journals or small selections. There is something magical about the juxtaposition of two good poems in the same context; their energy is expanded, and you discover new connections.

Although you haven’t personally translated the poems in this anthology, you do work as a translator. What does translation mean to you?

Translation is a big part of my life. I translate all the time, in different contexts: at home with my (bilingual) family; at work; when I teach. Perhaps we don’t realise it but every kind of communication requires a specific degree of translating skills. You don’t need to be a professional to translate. If you explain something complicated in other words you translate.

As Umberto Eco puts it, translation is (a form of) negotiation. I’ll give you an example taken from my experience. My first ‘foreign language’ was French. I used to speak French with my wife when I was in Paris for my Erasmus exchange and then when we moved to Scotland in the late 90s I switched to English. Initially I used a kind of baby talk, so frustrating. I was working as a kitchen porter in a Tex Mex in Glasgow. It was fascinating but I could not speak, I had to listen all the time! Learning a language is a great exercise in humility. It is that kind of gentleness and humility that is so important when you translate thoughtfully. Negotiation is an essential skill here.

How has living in Wales influenced your approach to language and translation?

There are a lot of exciting things about Wales and one of them is the Welsh language. It is the only original British language that is still widely spoken. In many ways it is more similar to the Italian than English, since it has a great Latin influence. The cadence and rhythm in Welsh poetry are also very continental. So, when I translate from Welsh I often pass through Latin or French. I was very privileged to have Menna as a poet to translate. She is extremely patient and encouraging. For Bondo, her last collection of poets we had a verbatim translation which then was ‘sublimated’ into Italian in kind of alchemic process. I found that the most important part was to serve the text as well as I could. Predictably, learning another language has opened other doors of perception!

I have also had the honour of being part of the executive committee for Wales PEN Cymru for three years now. We have campaigned for freedom of speech especially in Turkey. PEN promotes literature and defends freedom of expression. We campaign on behalf of writers around the world who are persecuted, imprisoned, harassed and attacked for what they have written. There are committees representing writers in prison, translation and linguistic rights, women writers and a peace committee. We have put on an impressive number of events but still need support from the writing community. Subscribe today, the membership is only £4 a month!

What is the translation style that appeals to you most? Has this changed over time?

It really depends on the situation. As I said, translation is everywhere, we just don’t think about it. For example, if I want to crack a joke in my poor Welsh I don’t need to care about the literal translation. What is important in this context is to convey the fun, the laughter. If I succeed in it, I have performed a good translation. Grammar, structures, and the literal meaning of the joke are irrelevant in this case.

However, if I translate a poet, say Menna Elfyn, I need to know how to serve her poem in another language. I need to know a number of things about Elfyn’s use of Welsh and her style to prepare my work. And then I need to make a number of choices which are again dictated by the context. If I am translating into Italian there will be a number of things I need to explain to the reader either implicitly or explicitly.

Why was it important to you to have an editorial role rather than a translating role in the creation of this book?

One of the most difficult tasks for an editor is to give poems the right platform to be appreciated, but it is a great job and that’s why I chose it. If you succeed, you create a narrative, a story with the poems you select. Similarly writing the biographies of the poets is exciting when you read them through the lens of their works. Poems, lives and events collide on the pages and the books becomes epic. Literally: a work of epics you offer to the reader.

Luca Paci

You are also a poet. How has that shaped your selection of poems?

I see poetry as my way of being myself in the world and as a way of making sense of the world around me. The ancient Greeks had the word Logos which is also present in the opening of the Gospel According to John: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ Words are everything and poetry knows it.

I am especially proud of the mix of genders, age, and social background within Tempo. We have Giovanna Cristina Vivinetto, a very exciting poet in terms of biography, style and content, egregiously translated by Cristina Viti. She reminds me a bit of the late Jan Morris.

Shirin Ramzanali Fazel is a great writer who deserves to be known much more both in Italy and abroad. I like the work Antonella Anedda who is translated by the poet Jamie McKendrick but also Laura Pugno and Chandra Candiani. I also gave space to poetic strands that are often suspicious of each other. Spoken word and lyrical poetry for instance. Or more experimental, concrete and rhymed.

All the poems I have included represent for me a huge dip into the poetic matter. There are different generations talking to each other and grappling with life in their own poetic terms. What fascinates me is that mundane events are transfigured, history is mythologised.

Do you think contemporary Italian poetry differs from say Anglo-American poetry?

It is very difficult to generalise because there is the risk of overlooking at the details and a lot of details make the whole picture. My impression is that Italian contemporary poetry has a number of forms but is embedded into (bio)politics. The individual is seen as a part of a nation and society that is failing his citizens, their desires and expectations. In opposition, it seems to me that the Anglo-American tradition is perhaps more focused on the individual as agent of freedom and desire. The biopolitical situation is radically different and consequently its expression is not the same. However, we can learn a lot from different traditions.

Why was it important to you that this book should be a parallel text edition?

Britain is crossing a very reactionary phase after Brexit which is a direct result of the politics of austerity enforced by the current government. This has led to the closure of dozens of modern languages departments all over the country. Over the past five years Wales has lost Italian departments in Aberystwyth, Bangor and Swansea. I suspect that German will be next. Learning a foreign language is not compulsory for GSCEs or A-levels. So, the parallel text edition becomes a strong cultural and political gesture.

We need more foreignness in our lives. We need to see, speak, be exposed to different cultures and this passes through language, translation, literature and poetry. Accessibility is so important. If the general public find Italian poetry exciting perhaps they will buy more poetry in general and develop a greater sensitivity for the humanities and humanity.

Tempo: Excursions in 21st Century Italian Poetry is a parallel text anthology in English and Italian edited by Luca Paci and can be purchased here.

Luca Paci was born in Novara, north Italy in 1970. He studied Philosophy at Pavia University and on the Erasmus programme in Paris, where he gained a First-Class degree. He moved to Swansea and in 2004 obtained a doctorate on the intellectual history of Benedetto Croce. Paci is currently the Co-Director of the Italian Cultural Centre Wales, the Italian Film Festival Cardiff and part of the executive board of Wales PEN Cymru. The past five years he has been teaching Italian Studies at Swansea and Cardiff University. He is a translingual poet, editor and translator into English, Welsh and Italian. Paci has published a number of essays, articles and poems in English and Italian. Among his translations are La Ragazza Carla/A Girl Named Carla by Elio Pagliarani (2006) and Bondo by Menna Elfyn (2021).

Susie Wildsmith is publishing editor at Parthian Books where she specialises in poetry and fiction and developing new writers. In recent years, she has visited the Guadalajara, Paris and London book fairs as well as being an International Publishing Fellow in Istanbul and a guest speaker with publishing conferences in Valencia and Galicia. Wildsmith has worked with authors, editors and translators from Turkey, the Basque Country, the Czech Republic, Italy, Germany, and Slovakia including two recent releases from 2021 Spanish National Poetry Award winner Miren Agur Meabe. She lives in south Wales where she also writes poetry and fiction as Susie Wild; her latest poetry collection is Windfalls (2021).

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