Metaglossia: The Translation World

I am in AAPTIS 491 with Professor Wijdane Alsayigh. This class, taught in Arabic, focuses on translation techniques in relation to contemporary Arabic poetry. Consequently, we have the exciting opportunity to read and discuss Arabic poetry with an expert in the field. In addition to reading poetry we analyze articles written in Arabic that discuss different styles of translating. These types include simultaneous translation and written translation. This past Monday we were finally able to “use” these different styles of translation that we have been discussing. Through some interesting activities we were given the opportunity to test our abilities in simultaneous and textual translation. It was a great opportunity to understand how difficult both types are and the problems that are inherent in each. While we can read about these challenges in texts, it was much easier to understand them through this type of experiential learning. A fantastic, though difficult, experience! It served as an useful precursor to the next part of our class because we will begin to encounter similar challenges within the next couple of weeks while we work on our final translation project.