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thelinguist.uberflip.com FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017 The Linguist 27 OPINION & COMMENT importance of the quality of the text produced over the identity of the translator. When discussing the latter, they were alive to the complexities involved, keen to add nuance to our understanding of how we come to use languages, and supportive of the translator embracing all the national and linguistic aspects of their experience. After all, as one of the participants of the LBF panel pointed out, issues such as mixed parentage and international upbringing (not to mention migration to a target-language country) blur the native/non-native distinction. A large number of my respondents did not define themselves as bilingual translators – just as translators. That does not, however, invalidate their various identities, linguistic histories and individual preferences – which all translators have. During the LBF seminar we discussed translation as creative writing, focusing more on the similarities than the differences between these two artificially separated groups: 'native' and 'non-native'. All translators, Maureen Freely noted, are writers, and all benefit from enhancing the tools they use to write, for example experimenting with voice, register and style. As translators we try to travel back and forth between languages, understanding what language is and exploring the things that lie beneath. Furthermore, all translators need to find their niche, the texts they find most rewarding to work on – whether it is smooth Oxbridge diction or the deliberately fractured patois of a first- generation immigrant – but also be flexible enough to accommodate other styles. Retiring the dichotomy of 'native' versus 'non-native' would help to do away with the impostor syndrome and the lack of confidence many bilingual translators struggle with. This can even lead those with foreign-sounding surnames to use their English married names, or pseudonyms, so they are not rejected out of hand by editors and clients. Interestingly, some bilingual translators I interviewed considered this 'impostor syndrome' to be an asset, as it made them second-guess and deeply analyse their linguistic choices. Collaboration vs chaperoning Co-translation is widely proposed as a way of integrating bilingual translators: they provide the first draft of the target text, and then a 'native' speaker of the target language produces a final version. While some of my respondents work like this – one says she "can't imagine working in any other way" – this is only one form of co-translation. My view is that, while all translators can find co-translation stimulating, more sociable, and more rewarding, considering the quick verification of their proposed solutions, the suggestion that a bilingual translator should necessarily want a chaperone when engaging with a language is not helpful and, again, assumes a hierarchy of language competence that has not been verified. The bilingual translator may have acquired her target language later in life, but if she approached the process seriously, she would have spent years decoding the rules that govern the language, learning from various teachers and possibly doing some teaching herself, diving headfirst into the literature and culture. The difference is that the process of expanding the user's linguistic repertoire happens consciously, not via the osmosis granted to the 'native' speaker. This is not to say that either way of acquiring a language is better – and there are endless other ways between those ends of the linguistic spectrum. It is to argue that, if they are all rooted in a deep, passionate interest in the language, in continued professional development, in keeping the translator's voice rich and flexible, then they are equally valid and neither should disqualify the translator from engaging with the language in active and creative yet rigorous ways. Notes 1 See http://bit.ly/1XxfxDH . 2 See http://bit.ly/2iVbtSu. 3 See http://bit.ly/2fVJF0d. Urls checked 13/1/17 IMPOSTOR SYNDROME Translators tend to work alone, but could co-translation be useful for 'non-native' speakers? Marta Dziurosz is a literary translator and interpreter from and into Polish. She was Free Word Centre's Translator in Residence 2015-16. www.martadziurosz.com TL © SHUTTERSTOCK