Translingual expression can help preserve cultural identity and craft a unique storytelling voice.
Here are three tips for translingual storytelling and three translingual author recomendations
1. Untranslated words
The Russian-American author Olga Grushin writes “Vashe zdorvie” as the characters in The Dream Life of Sukhanov (2005) raise and clink their glasses, allowing readers to understand the meaning of this Russian expression without translating it.
For more on Vashe zdorvie, check out: (Page 105) of Julie Hansen’s Translating the Translingual Text 🔗
For “cheers!” alternatives in Russian, check out: “No, Russians don’t say “Na zdorovye!” as a toast!”🔗
2. Cultural influences
The British-Indian author Salman Rushdie introduces a multitude of characters and subplots in the storyline of Midnight’s Children (1981)🔗 that sprawls across India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Rushdie expresses his desire to write in an English—not “owned by the English” and describes his crowd of characters as a reflection of the crowded cities their stories take place in. Rushdie forces his readers to reach through the sea of names and places to unravel the search of the central narrative.
3. Language Varieties
“Umunnachi summons you, as though Umunnachi were a person rather than a town” thinks Olanna in Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half a Yellow Sun (2006). Olanna reflects on the differences between the Nigerian Pidgin English language and the British variety of English that the Nigerian upper-class character Olanna speaks throughout the novel.
Adichie also incorporates the Igbo language🔗 throughout Half a Yellow Sun, giving readers insight into some of the linguistic influences of these poetic nuances felt in Nigerian Pidgin English.
Translingual literature is full of authors who push language boundaries and inhabiting spaces between languages.
How do you express yourself translingually?
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© 2024 Elisabeth Perez
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