Category: ICD Quotes

A Different Vision of the World

“Intercultural Dialogue Quotes”

Ahlborn, Susan. (2023). Emily Wilson’s epic life. Omnia: All Things Penn Arts and Sciences (pp. 34-39).

Emily Wilson, Professor of Humanities and Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, has received enormous attention for publishing new translations of Homer’s works, The Odyssey and also The Iliad. This description of her efforts and interview with her includes several wonderful quotes about translation.

It is a privilege to spend so much time confronting this kind of insoluble problem, exploring the crannies between two languages…

You get a different vision of the world if you can think in a different language.

Taking Our Interconnected World for Granted

“Intercultural Dialogue Quotes”

A quote from a Reddit post which is getting a lot of attention turns out to have actually been posted 3 years ago. I have not been able to locate the original, assuming there actually was such a newspaper story – if you know of such a thing, please send a note. But it doesn’t really matter: the point is still the same. We now live in a world that is so thoroughly interconnected and interdependent we often do not even consider the origin of things we take for granted. Obviously this received many comments. This one seemed worth repeating.

Translation and ICD: Words Without Borders

Applied ICD

Ito, R. (2 November 2023). Celebrating Literature That ‘Brings the World Close.’ New York Times.

Given how often the Center for Intercultural Dialogue publishes translations, it seems particularly appropriate to point out this article.

Words Without Borders, one of the few magazines in the world dedicated to literature in translation, is turning 20 at a fraught time: Around the world, wars are raging. Writers are being jailed, dissident voices silenced and books banned.

As the magazine’s staff considered its anniversary celebrations — a virtual gala on Nov. 2, following a live one on Oct. 25 — one question was pressing: How do you find words, let alone celebrate them, when bombs are dropping?

The answer, said Karen M. Phillips, the magazine’s executive editor and publisher, was right there, baked into their mission — to gather and celebrate international literature, and in doing so, strengthen the connection between readers and writers around the world. Given the current political climate, the need for such conversations has never been more vital.

“Words Without Borders does this heroic job of bringing the world close to us,” said Courtney Hodell, the director of literary programs at the Whiting Foundation, which presented one of their inaugural Whiting Literary Magazine Prizes to the magazine in 2018. “At times like this, that feels like an essential and fundamental human act.”

Translation is a Place of Resting

“Intercultural Dialogue Quotes”

Cutler-MacKenzie, Kathryn. (2020, December 15). Translation is a place of resting, of being in common. Lucy Writers.

 

In this article, artist and art historian Kathryn Cutler-MacKenzie describes her experience during an Erasmus exchange in Paris, including this wonderful comment about translation:

Thus when we speak of the relevance of translation today, we speak of the importance of shared conversation, shifting perspectives and creating spaces of together. Translation, like collage, is conversation, across geographical and time-bound zones: it is the space between, rather than of, voices. And in translation, just as in collage, we always lose something of the original picture – we must be content in not knowing the full picture. Indeed, speaking, thinking and making between languages has taught me that what we have now is never all that there is; in other words, that we can always surprise ourselves, that change is possible, even in the most confined of settings with the most limited of tools.

Quote of the Day: Communication as a Miracle of Translation

Intercultural Dialogue QuotesOccasionally when I read, a quote related to intercultural dialogue strikes me as particularly noteworthy for being insightful, concise, beautifully written, and/or original. One example is provided below. Given the translations I have been publishing, not to mention the state of the world these days, it seems particularly apropos.

“Every act of communication is a miracle of translation.” (p. vii)

• Liu, K. (2016). The paper menagerie and other stories. London: Saga Press.

If you have quotes you would like to see posted, submit them for consideration to intercult.dialogue@[at]gmail.com

Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, Director
Center for Intercultural Dialogue

Quote of the Day: Culture, Sustainability, Intercultural Dialogue

Intercultural Dialogue QuotesOccasionally when I read, a quote related to intercultural dialogue strikes me as particularly noteworthy for being insightful, concise, beautifully written, and/or original. One example is provided below. If you have quotes you would like to see posted, submit them for consideration to intercult.dialogue@[at]gmail.com

“Participation in cultural activities fosters young people to be more imaginative and innovative: the processes of creation and cultural participation provide knowledge and techniques to imagine and expand horizons, integrate diverse elements, and create something new. Cultural experiences can be important platforms for the development of capacities that expand self-knowledge, self-expression, self-determination, and life satisfaction and well-being.”
…
“Educational systems at all levels should include the acquisition of cultural skills and knowledge pertaining to intercultural dialogue; the recognition and valuing of diversity, creativity, tangible and intangible heritage; and the development of skills using digital tools for cultural transmission, innovative expression, and bridging of cultures.” (p. 30)

• Duxbury, N., Hosagrahar, J., & Pascual, J. (2016). Why must culture be at the heart of sustainable urban development? Barcelona, Spain: United Cities and Local Governments.

Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, Director
Center for Intercultural Dialogue