Monday, January 8, 2024

The Modern Retail Dictionary, 2023 edition: The real meanings behind the most popular industry buzzwords - Modern Retail - Dictionary

Retail is an industry laden with jargon. Luckily, Modern Retail is here to explain what it all means.

In the fifth edition of our yearly look back at the most popular (and meaningless) words in the industry, we tried our best to explain why executives are saying what they’re saying.

From Shein and Temu being the reason for every brand’s woes to generative AI taking up space in every press release, Modern Retail has you covered. Below, we decipher the buzzwords of the past year. Let’s hope we can retire a few of these in the months to come.

Affiliate marketing: We bug publishers to post about our products.

AI: We’re using a chatbot now.

Authenticity: Our ad copy doesn’t use capital letters.

Barbie collab: We launched a pink-colored product this summer.

Brand collaborations: We’re slapping another brand’s logo on a product.

Community: The comments on Instagram.

Community-led: Instagram surveys.

Composable commerce: Only five CTOs actually understand why this is different from headless, but we’ve told our marketing team to talk about it a lot.

Creator-led: We gave an influencer some equity.

Decarbonize: We now use ocean freight.

First-party data: We have a quiz on our website.

Full-funnel: We think we can get people to purchase via a QR code on a TV ad.

Funflation: People got tired of buying stuff.

Gen Alpha: Gen Z but somehow scarier.

Generative AI: Our press releases were written by ChatGPT.

Innovation: Literally any idea anyone has had ever.

Investing in content: We’re posting more TikTok videos.

iOS 14: We’re still blaming it for all our troubles.

Loyalty program: Our way of getting more of your data.

Meet the customers where they are: Our Pavlovian response to when anyone asks why we’re no longer purely DTC.

Mobile-first: We send customers a minimum of five texts a day with no clear way of opting out.

Multi-channel: Fine, we sell on Amazon now.

Optimized for mobile: Don’t even try to load our webpage on a desktop. 

Personalization: Our emails call you by your first name.

Premiumization: We’re trying to rebrand inflation as a luxury item.

Profitability: Don’t ask us about our finances last month.

Rebrand: Not enough young people shop with us.

Reels: A place that also houses our TikTok content.

Renaissance: The way for a creative director to not have to think up new ideas.

Rizz: Our marketing team says we have to use this word in all of our TikToks.

Shein: Our explanation to investors for why sales weren’t great this year.

Sustainability: There’s an official-looking badge at the bottom of our website.

Temu: See above entry for Shein.

Test and learn: We didn’t fail! We were just having some fun!

Third-party cookies: Marketers’ petroleum – they shouldn’t be using them but will until they’re forced not to.

Thought leader: Our founder likes to post on LinkedIn.

User-generated content: We’re letting other people do the work for us.

Web3: Something we don’t talk about anymore.

X: If you see us advertising here, something has gone awry. 

Zero waste: Our packaging can be composted (maybe).

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YSL and Pushin P: A dictionary guide to the Young Thug trial - The Independent - Dictionary

The highly anticipated Young Thug trial is underway with both sides throwing around terms that aren’t particularly common — or have different meanings, depending on who’s talking.

The rapper, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, is in court in Fulton County, Georgia, fighting gang and racketeering charges in connection with what prosecutors say is a violent street gang he co-founded called Young Slime Life (YSL). He and 27 defendants other are facing RICO charges and have each been individually charged with other violations. Mr Williams has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The first week of the trial was off to a rocky start, plagued by a motion for mistrial, frequent objections, numerous sidebars, and chaos after jurors’ faces were accidentally captured on camera.

But perhaps the most viral moments from the trial so far have consisted of the unusual terminology and references being used.

Here’s a guide to the most important - and perplexing - words and phrases so far:

YSL takes on a few meanings in this trial.

According to its website, YSL stands for Young Stoner Life, a record label that includes artists Young Thug, Gunna, Yak Gotti, Unfoonk. They are all defendants in this trial.

The prosecution is arguing that “YSL” also stands for “Young Slime Life,” a “criminal street gang.”

During his opening remarks, Mr Steel discussed the alleged origins of “YSL.” He said the abbreviation stemmed from the “YSL” logo on Yves Saint Laurent pants.

Pushin’ P

Defence attorney Brian Steel pulled up a Powerpoint slide during his opening remarks showing a photo of his client, Mr Williams, flashing a hand sign. The indictment states that Mr Williams is flashing a “‘Bloods’ gang sign.” Mr Steel said the prosecution is arguing that his hand is in the shape of a “B.”

Mr Steel said that his client was holding up the letter “P” before referencing a song by Mr Williams and his codefendant Sergio Kitchens, aka Gunna, called “pushin P.” The lawyer translated the song to mean “pushing positivity.”

According to Mr Steel, “It means, any circumstance you’re in, if you think positively about something, you can make it through. You’re pushing positivity.”

The term has been represented online by the 🅿️ emoji and is understood to mean “keeping it real” or, according to Mr Kitchens on The Breakfast Club, it “could” mean keeping it “player.”

Mr Steel, the attorney for Mr Williams, pointed out that his client had two major musical influences growing up: Lil Wayne and Tupac. Tupac famously defined “THUG LIFE” as standing for “The Hate You Give Little Infants F***s Everyone.”

“That was not what ‘thug’ meant to Jeffery,” Mr Steel said, offering up a different definition: “Truly Humble Under God.”

The prosecution and some law enforcement witnesses have mentioned “SLATT.” The indictment says that it is an abbreviation for “Slime Love All the Time.”

Atlanta Police Department detective Mark Belknap, a witness for the prosecution, told jurors that “SLATT” is an identifier of the gang YSL, and can often be used in tattoos, graffiti or on social media.

Studio Gangster

“Studio Gangster” is a derogatory term, according to Detective Belknap.

Mr Belknap said the term is used when someone “takes on the persona” of being violent when entering the music studio, but may not be in real life. So, calling someone that is a “slur” and a “huge sign of disrespect” to those actually involved in a criminal gang, he explained.

Bloods are a national gang. “YSL claims affiliation with” this gang, the indictment says.

“Bloods gang members typically and often will disrespect the rival Crips by avoiding the use of the letter C,” often replacing it with the letter “B” or an X or by crossing out the letter entirely, Detective Belknap said.

In her opening statement, defence attorney Angela D’Williams, who represents defendant Rodalius Ryan, referenced the anime called Bleach.

“This reminds me of an anime named Bleach,” she said, before describing that the storyline of the “Bounts,” who are “villains of the whole thing,” takes place only in season four and five. After those seasons, they aren’t mentioned, Ms D’Williams said.

“Why don’t you hear about these important characters? Because they’re filler characters,” she continued. “Me and Rodalius, we’re filler characters. We’re not integral to the story.” The attorney was trying to downplay her client’s alleged involvement: “They just drag him out of prison to jail to make this bigger than it has to be.”

Mr Ryan is only charged with one count, the same racketeering charge that every defendant is facing. He is currently serving a life sentence after being convicted for murder.

RICO stands for the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which is a state law in Georgia based on the 1970 federal law, allowing the prosecution of alleged criminal organizations.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis explained at a press conference following the 2022 indictment: “RICO is a tool that allows a prosecutor’s office and law enforcement to tell the whole story. We use it as a tool so they can have all the information they need to make a wise decision.”

Donald Trump and his 18 codefendants were also charged under this Georgia statute.

Mr Williams’ brother Quantavious Grier is known in rap as Unfoonk. He was named a defendant in the case, but entered a plea deal last year. However, Grier violated part of the plea deal, and was sentenced to nine years and six months in prison.

Although his rap name doesn’t seem to have the same underlying meaning as “thug” in Young Thug, Urban Dictionary defines “Unfoonk” as meaning “the man of the hour.”

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Jujutsu Kaisen makes controversial translation error again - Dexerto - Translation

Tulisha srivastava

Jujutsu Kaisen has made yet another controversial translation blunder that ruins the story. Here’s everything you need to know about it.

The Jujutsu Kaisen manga is currently in its final stretch, featuring the battle against the strongest. The story is complex enough as it is. However, continuous translation errors change the meanings of the scenes and powers entirely.

Although translation errors aren’t rare in the anime industry, Jujutsu Kaisen fans are not happy about these mistakes. They often tag the official account of Viz Media on X/Twitter, requesting them to change the translator responsible.

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Viz remains silent about fans’ dissatisfaction, despite errors occurring for several months. The recent chapter arrives after a long hiatus, only for the context to be extremely confusing and change the original intention behind these scenes.

Jujutsu Kaisen makes a major translation error in Chapter 247

Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 247 features the fight between Sukuna and Higuruma as the former’s inner monologue reads: “When I activated amplification against Satoru Gojo, I was extremely careful that Malevolent Shrine’s adaption up to that point was interrupted and not nullified.”

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However, the text in the raw chapter clearly means “Mahoraga’s adaptation.” Malevolent Shrine is Sukuna’s Domain Expansion. Furthermore, Mahoraga’s ability to adapt to any technique is what made the villain interested in Megumi. After that, he plotted to take over Megumi’s body just so he could use Mahoraga against Gojo.

Another notable error in the manga that was recently rectified is Gojo’s iconic quote before the battle of the strongest (Chapter 221). Gojo originally said, “Nah, I’d win,” while the original version simply said, “No.” It was later edited into the official version.

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However, not all the errors are fixed. One user shed light on the issue while tagging Viz Media: “You have people turn up for fan translations partly because of his translations. That’s missed money. You guys can make more money by changing translators.”

Another fan’s comment reads: “It’s not about the choice of words and the tone anymore; this is just straight-up misinformation, and it’s happened more than once now. Gojo is able to use Cursed Spirit Manipulation, Malevolent Shrine adapting. Basic knowledge about JJK would tell you this is absolute nonsense.”

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Some fans also refuse to buy the volumes because of these Jujutsu Kaisen translation blunders. One fan shared: “I’m not collecting physical JJK volumes bc I don’t want to have the bad translations on my shelves. If the translation that’s printed was better, I’d reconsider.”

How to watch Crunchyroll from outside your location in 2023

Crunchyroll is the world’s best hub for streaming anime, whether it’s One Piece, Attack on Titan, or Jujutsu Kaisen — and thanks to ExpressVPN, you can access the platform’s full library even if you’re outside of the US.

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If you’re abroad, here’s what you need to do to access Crunchyroll’s full selection — and it really is this simple:

  1. Sign up for ExpressVPN, which has ultra-fast servers and offers a secure, private connection wherever you are in the world.
  2. Connect to a location anywhere in the US; Express VPN allows you to choose from 24 different spots, from New Jersey to Santa Monica.
  3.  Visit Crunchyroll online and start streaming all of your favorite animes — and perhaps some you’ve never watched.

Accessing Crunchyroll’s US roster makes a difference; for example, Hong Kong users only have access to less than 100 titles, while the US has nearly 1,000 movies and TV shows.

You can also stream anime on Crunchyroll for free with an ad-supported plan, or you can pay for a subscription — there’s even a 14-day free trial if you can’t quite make up your mind.

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See our other JJK coverage below, and you can check out our other anime coverage here.

Please note that if you click on a product link on this page we may earn a small affiliate commission.

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America's dictionaries add words reflecting modern life - U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Russia - U.S. Embassy Moscow - Dictionary

By ShareAmerica

Experts judge a healthy language by its marks of ingenuity. Does it create new words, borrow from other languages, or assign new meaning to existing terms? On those counts, American English “is very (very!) healthy,” researchers at the Merriam-Webster Dictionary say.

In 2023, Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com, which is based on Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, added hundreds of words and phrases. Many new terms reflect the effects of rapid technological change on modern life. Others are inspired by pop culture or world events.

Cutting-edge technology spawned the term generative AI, a new entrant added by Merriam-Webster. It’s short for “artificial intelligence that is capable of generating new content (such as images or text) in response to a submitted prompt (such as a query) by learning from a large reference database of examples.”

Partly in response to the pandemic, science and medicine introduced superdodger, which now appears in Dictionary.com. The word means “anyone who, for unverified reasons, remains uninfected or asymptomatic even after repeated exposure to a contagious virus.”

Along somewhat similar lines, Dictionary.com added antifragile, a new adjective defined as “becoming more robust when exposed to stressors, uncertainty or risk.” (Example: “We’ve made the structure sturdy and antifragile, so bad weather makes it stronger.”)

Some new words put a playful spin on familiar terms. Sports fans will recognize the recently added northpaw, for “an athlete, usually a [baseball] pitcher or a boxer, who is right-handed,” as an inversion of the well-known “southpaw,” meaning left-hander.

A twist on the existing term “newlywed” reflects society’s evolving relationships. A nearlywed has a life partner but “no planned wedding date, sometimes with no intention of marrying,” Dictionary.com says.

In a nod to pop culture, Dictionary.com added nepo baby for a famous person “who has at least one parent, or another close family member, who is a celebrity.” Derived from “nepotism,” which refers to favoritism through family connections, a nepo baby’s fame or success were enabled at least in part through that of a family member.

Slang injects a dash of energy and fun into the 2023 additions to American English. Merriam-Webster added zhuzh, which means to make “a small improvement, adjustment or addition that completes the overall look, taste, etc., of something.” The verb is often used with “up,” as in, “You need to zhuzh up your outfit.”

Merriam-Webster also added the slang word rizz (“romantic appeal or charm”), which derives from “charisma.”

Taken together, these and other new words provide insight into our complex, modern world. “There is a lot happening out there,” Nick Norlen, senior editor at Dictionary.com, said in an essay this year. “Our lexicographers observe it all, documenting language change wherever it’s happening and defining the terms that help us to understand our times.”

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Wendy Call and Shook on the Power of Titles, Decolonization, and Translating Poems in Iterations - Literary Hub - Translation

Lit Hub is excited to feature another entry in a new series from Poets.org: “enjambments,” a monthly interview series with new and established poets. This month, they spoke to Wendy Call and Shook. Wendy Call is an editor, writer, and translator. She is the author of the award-winning work of nonfiction No Word for Welcome: The Mexican Village Faces the Global Economy (University of Nebraska Press, 2011) and the translator of two collections of poetry by the Mexican-Zapotec poet Irma Pineda. Call serves on the faculty of the Rainier Writing Workshop’s MFA program at Pacific Lutheran University.

Shook (David Shook) is a poet, translator, editor, and the founder of Phoneme Media, an imprint of Deep Vellum Publishing. They are the author of the poetry collection Our Obsidian Tongues (Eyewear Publishing, 2013). Shook has edited and published translations from more than thirty-five languages. They currently direct Kashkul Books, based in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, as well as the translation-focused imprint avión, based at Gato Negro Ediciones in Mexico City.

*

Poets.org: Translator Natasha Lehrer once said, “Translation is not a word-for-word transposition. It’s another iteration of the book.” With How to Be a Good Savage being a collaboration, what are your thoughts on this concept?

Wendy Call: Every translation is most definitely a new iteration of the book. How to Be a Good Savage includes selections from all six of Mikeas’s books, so it’s a book that hasn’t existed before. It was a three-way collaboration—between Mikeas, Shook, and me. Shook had translated many poems from Mikeas Sánchez’s first few books; I began translating her more recent work in 2018.

For this book, we each had our “own” poem translations and we traded many with each other for feedback. Because neither of us reads or speaks Zoque, we relied on Mikeas’s patient guidance to access the Zoque versions of her poems, line by line.

It was a pandemic project: we submitted our proposal to Milkweed on Earth Day 2020, and the final manuscript on New Year’s Day 2023. Once Shook and I had all the poem translations drafted, we were able to meet with Mikeas in Oaxaca, Mexico, for two days in October 2021. Together, the three of us decided on which poems to include and how to express many of the Zoque concepts. Mikeas doesn’t speak or read English, so we retranslated lines from our translations back into Spanish for her.

Over the following year, Shook and I revised our translations, in regular consultation with Mikeas. Six weeks before we delivered the manuscript to Milkweed, I was able to visit Mikeas in her village, Ajway, for the first time. I could see and smell the wewe flower that appears in several poems, walk around the hacienda (turned high school) where Zoque people were once forced into labor, hear Ajway’s soundscape, and meet family members who figure in her poems. That visit was essential to the final revision of our translations.

Shook: I like the idea of translation as iteration. In this instance, Mikeas herself produced the first two iterations, the Zoque and Spanish versions of each poem, which, as we explain in our introduction, typically began in one language or the other, depending on when they were written, but exert bidirectional influence in a way that perhaps only the work of a poet self-translating can. Co-iterations, perhaps.

Our work as her translators is an iterative process, of course. I lost count of how many dozens of drafts I have of most of the poems I initially translated, some dating back well over a decade.

And then our work as her translators is an iterative process, of course. I lost count of how many dozens of drafts I have of most of the poems I initially translated, some dating back well over a decade. Working with Wendy was a unique and enlightening process for me, and it made me a better translator. We each translated poems on our own, then exchanged those versions and responded with notes and questions for the other, and often for Mikeas too.

Poets.org: Much of Mikeas Sánchez’s work, especially the poems from her 2012 collection We’re All Maroons / Todos somos cimarrones (the eponymous poem is included in this collection), can be described as resistance to attempts at erasure—the erasure of Zoque language and culture, the erasure of women’s voices in patriarchal systems, the erasure of Mexico’s history of enslaving Africans, and the erasure of undocumented African immigrants in Europe—in order to preserve our collective humanity. In this vein, what is the title of this book prompting the reader to do, and what does “savage” mean to you?

WC: The Spanish word that we have translated as “savage”—salvaje—means both “savage” and “wild,” or since it’s a noun in this case, “wild being.” The Zoque word tzamapänh’ajä is a compound word: tzama is “mountain”” pänh is “man,” and ajä is “being,” to create “human being of the mountains.” (You can listen to Mikeas read the book’s title poem in Zoque and Spanish, and my English translation here.)

Mikeas says of her title choice, ‘In Zoque we use irony a lot, mocking ourselves as a protection strategy, through language, and through spells that are said to take away the power of others’ negative ideas about us. For more than five hundred years we had to adapt language and use it creatively to our advantage: resistance through words.”

Here in the United States, we have the genocidal history of the “bad Indian” trope. A parallel trope exists in Mexico. For me, the use of the word “savage” is a demand that English-speaking people—particularly those who identify as white—reconsider their assumptions about Indigenous / Native / First Nations people and listen carefully to their voices. As many of the poems in How to Be a Good Savage make clear, it is colonial /white/dominant culture that is truly savage.

Mikeas’s work pushes back beautifully against so many erasures. New Spain and Mexico enslaved both African-descended and Indigenous peoples. As we mention in our translators’ note, Sánchez’s own ancestors were forced into labor on a hacienda in Ajway.

In an inspiring reversal, one of the hacienda buildings is now the high school that her daughter, Matsa, attends. Mikeas had to leave her community to attend high school because one did not yet exist in Ajway. Matsa is receiving an education far more easily than her mother did because of the activism of women like Mikeas.

S: I don’t think I could put things more beautifully than Wendy has. I believe that the book’s title is a call to resist and renounce dehumanization—in general, certainly, but expressly the dehumanization of the Zoque and their Indigenous peers across the Americas and around the world; to subvert the pejorative historical uses and implications of the term “savage,” which has been used in Spanish as much as in English since the arrival of European colonizers to the Americas, with their allegedly civilized practices whose savagery cannot be denied.

I think it’s a call to take pride in both speaking and writing in “the gods’ language,” as Mikeas describes the Zoque spoken by her grandfather, “a poet / who healed with words,” in Wendy’s translation of the collection’s titular poem.

Poets.org: In the translator’s note, you concur with Sánchez’s statement: “I think this poetry is also a type of spell. It is a way to invoke our ancestors and be born again with them.” This comment also relates to Sánchez’s belief that her poetry comes “from the Zoque community as a whole.” What are your thoughts about the role of poetry in fostering and preserving community?

WC: Before I began working as a writer, editor, and educator, I devoted a decade to working full-time as a grassroots organizer. Most of the poetry—indeed, most of the art—that interests me springs from, connects to, and builds community.

I came to know Mikeas’s poetry through community. In 2011, with Irma Pineda, another Indigenous Mexican poet whose work I translated to English, I organized a retreat for Indigenous women writers. The gathering was sponsored by the Macondo Foundation, which supports socially engaged writers. Each of the twelve women who attended, including Mikeas, was (and is) deeply engaged in her community.

From speaking with Mikeas, I know that we share the hope that this volume will inspire pride in Zoques, both in their home villages and in the diaspora, no matter how fluently they speak or understand the Zoque language.

Coming to know Mikeas and her work since that three-day gathering has been an enormous gift in my life. When we met, Mikeas was the single mother of a toddler. She woke up at 4:30 every morning to write poetry before her daughter awakened. This month, Mikeas, Matsa (now a teen), and I are going on an eight-city book tour in Mexico, with Irma Pineda, whose second book of poetry that I’ve translated into English, Nostalgia Doesn’t Flow Away Like Riverwater, is coming out in the same week as How to Be a Good Savage.

S: I’ve talked a lot about this with the Isthmus Zapotec poet Víctor Terán, not only in regard to preserving community but also preserving language and culture. Víctor speaks very eloquently about how important it has been for the young people of his community to see Isthmus Zapotec culture recognized and appreciated abroad, beyond the confines of a Spanish-dominant Mexican culture that tends to denigrate these vast and rich ancient languages as mere dialectos, a term that suggests their inferiority to the Spanish language both for self-expression and creating art.

From speaking with Mikeas, I know that we share the hope that this volume will inspire pride in Zoques, both in their home villages and in the diaspora, no matter how fluently they speak or understand the Zoque language.

I am looking forward to engaging with the many communities I know we will encounter as this book makes its way further into the world, taking on a life of its own. How to Be a Good Savage is very much a book that gestated in the community, more so than many of the other translations I’ve worked on as a translator or editor, and I do think that that community-mindedness is a part of its Zoque character and of Mikeas’s lifework, both in poetry and beyond.

Poets.org: Were there any linguistic challenges that appeared during the translation process—words or lines from the Zoque that showcased a depth of meaning too difficult to convey in either English or Spanish, or with no equivalents in either language?

WC: Linguistic challenges are a fundamental part of the translation process; they are what makes translation so much fun. Shook and I created a large spreadsheet to keep track of the names of places, deities, and figures from Zoque history and cosmology, as well as other words and concepts that didn’t transfer easily into English (or Spanish), with our ideas for how to express them in the English poems. The “Notes on the Poems” at the end of How to Be a Good Savage is a narrative expression of that spreadsheet. There is no word for “silence” in Zoque and there is no word for sankä in either Spanish or English.

Sometimes, it takes a paragraph to translate a word—something that can’t be done in a poem. As we wrote in those notes: Sanhkä, the Zoque word that Sánchez translates as resplandor in the Spanish version of the poem, and that we render in English as “radiance,” is a complex, multidimensional word. In addition to “radiance” it means “enlightened time” and also “understanding,” but is distinct from knowledge. Sanhkä refers to both the cycle of life and how knowledge is assimilated into a person’s life—but it does not refer to the knowledge itself.

S: The challenges are, I think, the attraction when it comes to translating poetry. I hope that part of what the unique trilingual format of How to Be a Good Savage provides the reader is a sense of the rich spaces between these languages, which have their own distinct, complex sociocultural and historical relationships, too.

I don’t know if there is a “depth of meaning” that is impossible to convey, but if you track the various line lengths across languages, you will definitely encounter instances in which equal conciseness seems impossible! While we firmly believe that the English-language iterations of Mikeas’s poems can stand entirely on their own, Wendy and I provided more information for those interested in learning more about Zoque cosmology and culture because there are so few resources available in English.

Poets.org: What are you reading now?

WC: I just finished an excellent anthology that I began reading with my grad students in the University of Iowa’s literary translation program this fall: Violent Phenomena: 21 Essays on Translation, edited by Kavita Bhanot and Jeremy Tiang. I am on an anthology kick right now, reading both Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry, edited by Elizabeth Bradfield, CMarie Fuhrman, and Derek Sheffield (which every resident and fan of the Pacific Northwest should read) and Personal Best: Makers on Their Poems That Matter Most, edited by Erin Belieu and Carl Phillips.

I just started Katy Hessel’s The Story of Art Without Men, which was recommended to me by a stranger at the Getty Villa near Los Angeles, when I visited in June. I’m also reading the wonderful poetry and short prose that have been submitted for the 2025 edition of Best Literary Translations.

S: I’m reading both Sarah Blakley-Cartwright’s Alice Sadie Celine and Douglas Kearney’s Optic Subwoof. I’m also really enjoying Heather Cleary’s translation of Luis Felipe Fabre’s Recital of the Dark Verses, a sort of madcap adventure about transferring the very fleshly remains of Saint John of the Cross to his final resting place.

I hope that part of what the unique trilingual format of How to Be a Good Savage provides the reader is a sense of the rich spaces between these languages, which have their own distinct, complex sociocultural and historical relationships, too.

For the last couple months, I’ve kept returning to Yasmine Seale’s translation of the Sudanese poet and activist Rania Mamoun’s collection Something Evergreen Called Life.

I also just reread Wendy’s other translation to be published this month, Nostalgia Doesn’t Flow Away Like Riverwater, which I edited for the Phoneme imprint of Deep Vellum. It’s a remarkable companion book to this collection, and I highly recommend it.

Poets.org: What are your favorite poems on Poets.org?

WC: Oh, I love so many of them. But I will cast my vote for one that I adore and have enjoyed teaching to students in many different writing and literature classes, in both the United States and Colombia: Allison Hedge Coke’s “America, I Sing Back.”

S: Off the top of my head, I think immediately of Rachel Levitsky’s poem “Audience’ and of Attila József’s “The Seventh (A hetedik),” translated from the Hungarian by John Bátki. I deeply admire Fady Joudah’s translations of Mahmoud Darwish’s poems, and lately I have also returned to Darwish’s poem “I Belong There,” translated by Munir Akash and Carolyn Forché with Sinan Antoon and Amira El-Zein. It ends:

To break the rules, I have learned all the words needed for a trial by blood.
I have learned and dismantled all the words in order to draw from them a
single word: Home.

______________________________

“enjambments,” a monthly interview series produced by the Academy of American Poets, will highlight an emerging or established poet who has recently published a poetry collection. Each interview, along with poems from the poet’s new book, and a reading by the poet, will be published on Poets.org and shared in the Academy’s weekly newsletter.



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Sunday, January 7, 2024

[INTERVIEW] Quality translation backs Korean literature's rise on global stage - koreatimes - Translation

Kwak Hyo-hwan, president of Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea), speaks during a recent interview with The Korea Times at the institute in Gangnam District, Seoul. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Kwak Hyo-hwan, president of Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea), speaks during a recent interview with The Korea Times at the institute in Gangnam District, Seoul. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

LTI Korea chief calls for consistent gov't support for translation
By Lee Gyu-lee

In recent years, Korean pop culture has come under the global spotlight through K-pop, film and television. Riding along the tide, Korean literature has only recently begun grabbing the attention of global audiences with nominations and accolades in international literary awards.

The Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea), a government-affiliated organization focused on literary translation, has been behind the phenomenon, promoting Korean literature overseas without rest.

Kwak Hyo-hwan, president of LTI Korea, has shown a firm belief that, despite challenges, Korean literature has a lot more potential for success on the global stage, especially along with the expanding and improving translation sector.

"The reason Korean literature lagged behind is not because it's inferior. Fundamentally, when one culture is passed on to another culture, the most intact and definite way that it can be transferred is literary texts … But to be transferred, translation is an inevitable process that is most useful and important, but also the translation process takes the most time," Kwak said during a recent interview with The Korea Times at the institute in southern Seoul's Gangnam District.

"Literature encapsulates the essence of an era or population. It best shows how life or the spirit of that time was … The time we've spent so far has been dedicated to overcoming the challenges (of bridging the cultural gaps). But these firmly rooted texts will not fade away. And in that regard, systematic, consistent and coherent assistance to translation and publication is crucial."

2023 was a landmark year for Korean literature on the global stage, with about 13 translated works being nominated for various global book awards. Notably, seven of these translations received support from LTI Korea, highlighting its vital contributions to these successes.

Author Han Kang made history last November with her novel "I Do Not Bid Farewell" (2021), becoming the first Korean winner of France's prestigious literary award Prix Medicis for Foreign Literature. Film director and novelist Cheon Myeong-kwan was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize with his book "Whale."

Kwak noted that these successes became possible with the improved quality of translation that delivers the essence of the original texts more clearly.

"I believe the biggest significance of Korean literature is that its writers engage closely with social realities without compromising artistic integrity ... It's been a long tradition in Korean literature to continuously put effort towards responding to the questions that the era or society has thrown, leading to discourse," he said.

"The amount of Korean literature introduced abroad has grown significantly … (and) its quality has improved a lot. Translations used to be done by Koreans majoring in foreign languages or missionaries, which led to considerable debate about whether they properly delivered the texts … Then, the highly skilled native speakers with a profound understanding of the original texts started to emerge, leading Korean literature to receive major literary awards."

The winners of Literature Translation Institute of Korea's 2023 Korea Translation Award pose during a press conference in Seoul, Dec. 6, 2023. They are, from left, Jean-Claude de Crescenzo, Kim Hye-gyeong, Oh Young-a and Lia Iovenitti. Courtesy of LTI Korea

The winners of Literature Translation Institute of Korea's 2023 Korea Translation Award pose during a press conference in Seoul, Dec. 6, 2023. They are, from left, Jean-Claude de Crescenzo, Kim Hye-gyeong, Oh Young-a and Lia Iovenitti. Courtesy of LTI Korea

LTI Korea's efforts covers a wide range of tasks related to supporting translation of local literature for international publications. In late 2022, it launched an online platform, KLWAVE (Korean Literature Wave), to act as a hub for local and overseas publishers and global readers.

The platform provides comprehensive details on Korean literary works and author and translator profiles, as well as a library of classic literature free of copyright restrictions available for translation and updates on the translation progress of recent works.

KLWAVE is one of the four key goals Kwak has vowed to achieve during his term. The others include converting its translation academy into a graduate school and nurturing a new generation of writers, translators and scholars in Korean literature around the world, with the intent of enriching diasporic culture and fostering a sense of community.

The institute is in the process of getting certification for a formal graduate school, waiting for final approval.

"This is a system for cultivating translators in the long term. Our task is not just about simple translation but is about systematically building Korean literature or Korean studies education. And if we can turn our translation academy into a graduate school and grant master's degrees, it will open up more opportunities for the students," Kwak said.

"I believe this is an excellent system to efficiently foster individual professionals in the field of hallyu (Korean wave). So it not only cultivates translators but also helps prepare for the future of Korean culture as a whole."

KLWAVE, an online platform run by the Literature Translation Institute of Korea, was launched in November 2022 to help global publication of Korean literature. Courtesy of LTI Korea

KLWAVE, an online platform run by the Literature Translation Institute of Korea, was launched in November 2022 to help global publication of Korean literature. Courtesy of LTI Korea

Despite the institute's efforts, it has faced a cut in its annual budget for 2024.

"Korean literature is on a rising tide. And when the water comes in, we should be paddling the boat, but the government is cutting the flow, which I find quite regrettable and unfortunate. It's inevitable that the amount of the support will decrease because the budget was cut and the applicants are skyrocketing," he said.

"And if we don't respond to the increasing calls for assistance, we are concerned that it might jeopardize Korean literature's path in the global market … The plan is to focus more strategically on the languages that have more demand, find emerging publishers interested in Korean literature and actively support them."

Kwak is an established poet and also served as managing director at the Daesan Foundation, a Kyobo Life affiliate dedicated to literary support projects. His deep understanding and practical knowledge of the trajectory of Korean literature accumulated over three decades have been instrumental in shaping the direction of LTI Korea.

Reflecting on his career, the president expressed appreciation for the institute's staff for the accomplishments it has made throughout his term.

"Back in 2004 and 2005, I remember trying to publish a book in Germany and chasing after the publishers to have a meeting … This year, we had an exchange program with foreign publishing companies, where they had to visit Korea for a week. And the publishers (who avoided us back then) came. That's how Korean literature changed over 20 years," he said.

"Being in this field since 1992, It's not just a matter of personal preference but I have a deep understanding of the trajectory of Korean literature, where it stands now, and where it should be heading, like a technocrat with practical knowledge. I have diligently worked in this capacity, and I believe our staff's trust in me has played a crucial role in bringing us to where we are today."

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Lost in translation: Interpretation gaffes more dangerous than hilarious for N.J. | Editorial - NJ.com - Translation

About 1 million New Jerseyans speak English “less than very well,” according to a 2020 U.S. Census Bureau survey, and when faced with a crisis like a pandemic, or the victim of a crime, we don’t want state authorities just defaulting to pulling up a sloppy translation off their phones.

The results can be worse than cringe-worthy. A domestic violence victim may struggle to get a restraining order because the responding officers wrongly reported that her abuser was “holding” her neck, instead of strangling her. Or she might mistakenly identify her child’s “caretaker” as her abuser, because of a bad translation that connotes financial support.

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