Join like-minded poetry lovers from across the world to discover new poetry and different cultures, share insights and language skills, working together to open up a poem in its original language and reassemble it in English. We have participants from across the UK and the world including Egypt, Germany, India and Iraq and the USA. The workshops are perfect for creative collaboration, and feeling engaged and connected to the world at large.
Join the PTC’s collaborative translation workshops to be part of a vital and necessary act of creative exchange. The workshops allow you to access the poetry of another culture without needing to speak the language. In fact, no language skills are needed, just curiosity and a love of words.
At our online and in-person sessions, we travel the world together, enjoying the endless nuances and creative discoveries of the art of translation. The process is both creative and analytical, a challenging problem where there is no one solution. So, in order to understand and translate poetry, we explore cultural and social customs, literary traditions and radical innovations and dig deep into each poets’ influences and influence.
This is a great environment to discover a new language or culture or even an opportunity to share your language and your culture with like-minded poetry fans. Many of the people who attend workshops stay in touch with us and each other. Some workshop regulars have gone on to publish poems or have careers in translation.
Translating poetry is an open process, where the journey is often as important as the outcome, and everyone brings something different to the table. It might be knowledge of the source language or culture, an ear for rhythm, nuance and language more generally or you might be able to offer an anecdote, fact or perspective that shines new light on the subject of the poem.
As one workshop participant put it: ‘It’s a bigger thing than poetry, it’s communicating across the globe, and poetry is a wonderful way to do that.’
The Poetry Translation Centre also partners with other organisations to create bespoke workshops. Our collaborative translation sessions are effective team-building exercises, helping to foster a sense of community and togetherness while exploring and celebrating the cultural and linguistic diversity of your workplace. We have worked with Manchester Metropolitan University, The Embassy of Kazakhstan in London, the Israac Somali Community Association in Sheffield and many others.
Our unique workshops give everyone a chance to be creative and draw on skills that might otherwise never find an expression in the workplace. Translating together gives everyone the chance to express a greater breadth of their life experience and get to know their colleges in a new way. The translation process itself emphasises empathy, communication and problem-solving. Plus, the workshops result in a new translation that the group has created together, a tangible legacy with true cultural value.
We can tailor our poetry translation workshops to your team’s needs and work environment, operating either in person or online. Contact Bern Roche Farrelly at bern@poetrytranslation.org to find out more.
The Poetry Translation Centre works with leading poets and translators to share poetry from around the world with people across the UK. If you have read and enjoyed one of our poems please support us by making a donation today.