About me
I'm a twenty-four-year-old Irish graduate. In October 2015 I moved to Lisbon to look for work and to explore my love for the city. My background is in Modern Languages (Spanish and French), but I have a range of interests and skills that complement my academic grounding in Spanish and French literatures and cultures.
I am always at work on my writing, from articles and essays to fiction and poetry. I have had pieces published in the New Statesman and Totally Dublin, and a short story of mine was nominated for Short Story of the Year at the 2015 Student Media Awards. An excerpt from my undergraduate thesis was also selected as the Global Winner in the Non-English Literature category at the 2016 Undergraduate Awards.
After over a year and a half in Portugal, I feel ready for a new challenge. I am looking to further explore my literary, journalistic and linguistic interests in a professional setting, and am thus seeking opportunities in writing, editing, publishing and translation. I have international and domestic work experience, as well as a substantial writing portfolio.
Projects
- Jorge Luis Borges and Translation: A Comparative Study of Translated Borges Stories in English. Global Winner, Non-English Literature Category, 2016 Undergraduate Awards'Cited as the ultimate champion for high-potential undergraduates, The Undergraduate Awards is the world’s largest academic awards programme. It is uniquely pan-discipline, identifying leading creative thinkers through their undergraduate coursework.' My submission, which was named Global Winner in the Non-English Literature category, was taken from my final-year dissertation on Jorge Luis Borges and translation. The following is the abstract that was printed in the Undergraduate Awards journal for 2016. The dissertation compares existing English translations of two Borges stories in the context of contemporary translation theory, in addition to Borges's own translation methods. The entry is comprised of my introduction and my first chapter, in which I give a brief outline of translation theory and the different methods of translating literary texts. Borges's translation career, and how his theories matched his efforts at translating texts into Spanish, are also described. The chapter also covers how he incorporated translated text into his fiction. It is argued here that fidelity to the author and to the meaning of a text are key for accurate, appropriate literary translation. It is also argued that, while Borges's translation methods were original and distinctive, they do not make for good target-language equivalence—something that is proved by Borges abandoning such methods when translating his own texts into English. i. An overview of translation theory Translation theory is balanced between preferring more liberal versions that focus on readability, and more literal translations, which emphasise the language of the author. These days, debate over the global status of English comes up here: should a translation read like fluent English, negating the original language? Or should it read like a translation, putting faith in the author? The preference is usually to translate into natural, readable syntax. You may lose something from the source material, but word-for-word translations don’t sound good in whatever tongue you’re translating into. While the issue of faithfulness to the source language (the language of the original text) versus readability in the target language (the language being translated into) has always arisen in translation theory, since the mid-twentieth century there has been a tendency in English-language translations to make a text appear ʻfluent': that is, to make it seem as if it was written in English. Critics such as Lawrence Venuti argue that this entrenches the status of English as a dominant world language, while discrediting the role and efforts of translators, rendering them ʻinvisibleʼ. There appears to be little agreement about translation practice. Should a translator embrace the global trend towards a homogenised Anglophone culture, and ensure that the translation reads like fluent English? Or are more literal translations the only true representations of writerʼs thoughts, even if the rendition is accurate but inappropriate? Where this conflict leaves the translator is uncertain; personal preference certainly influences how a translation is received. Peter Newmark quotes William Weaver, the translator of Italian literature: ʻWhen a reviewer neglects to mention the translator at all, the translator should take the omission as a compliment to his anonymity, a real achievementʼ. However, Newmark refutes this claim, believing that this attitude promotes the lack of recognition for translators and the tendency of those in the literary world to take them for granted. ii. Borges and translation theory Borges was from Argentina, born in 1899 and died in 1986. He was known for his singular, genre-defying short stories. Borges’s fiction is often knowingly erudite, and borders on fantasy in its abundance of themes, ideas and settings. However, though known primarily as an author, Borges also translated fiction from several languages into Spanish. His very first published piece, a translation of Oscar Wilde’s ‘Happy Prince’, was published in a Buenos Aires newspaper when he was just 11—and, ironically, credited to his father, Jorge Guillermo. Despite this early upset, translation was a craft that was forever important to Borges. In several languages, including French, German and Russian, the verb to translate signifies ʻto carry acrossʼ, which is precisely what Borges did with various translations, as texts he translated made their way into some of his best-loved fiction. Elements of his translation of Edgar Allan Poeʼs ʻThe Purloined Letterʼ ended up in Borgesʼs detective story ʻLa muerte y la brújulaʼ (‘Death and the Compass’), which he wrote while he was preparing an anthology of translated detective fiction with his longtime friend and collaborator, Adolfo Bioy Casares. It is also arguable that the influence of his translations of Woolfʼs Orlando and Giovanni Papiniʼs story ʻLʼultima visita del gentiluomo malatoʼ (‘The Ill Gentleman’s Last Visit’) can be seen in ʻEl Inmortalʼ (‘The Immortal’) and ʻLas ruinas circularesʼ (‘The Circular Ruins’) respectively. Indeed, ʻreal translations play a vital role in the gestation of Borgesʼs works that imagined ones do not: many of Borgesʼs translations, and those of others, are links between the works he translated and the originalsʼ. iii. Borges the translator But what of Borges’s own translations? In a lecture as late as 1953, he described himself as a translator first and as a writer second. Nonetheless, Borgesʼs opinions on translation were far from traditional. Where some translators follow the language of the original text closely, he proposed a much freer role for the translator, and rejected the idea that any translation is intrinsically inferior to source material. Furthermore, there is a sharp contrast between Borgesʼs practice of translating his own texts—which he did, with American translator Norman Thomas di Giovanni—and those of other writers (of whose texts he frequently altered the register, syntax and style, in order to vindicate himself, the translator). Borges’s reworked translations with di Giovanni read well, but are very faithful to their originals. That Borges could be so carefree with other people’s fiction but cautious with his own leads us to note what English poet John Dryden said on translating Latin writer Ovid: that if while translating he doesn’t pay attention to the original verse, his translation is no longer Ovid. There appears to be no easy answer to the central tension of fluidity versus fidelity in translation. The translator can thus be left frustrated by the shortcomings of their craft, or fascinated and energised by its possibilities. Good translators should strike a balance between readability and respecting the original text and its author. Borges, however, thought that new versions of, and variations on, old classics were central to literature’s ongoing appeal. He was hardly a model translator, but the Argentine’s belief that no translation can be considered ‘definitive’ is interesting in itself—if only to detract from the pessimistic idea that translation is, by nature, doomed to fail. Bibliography Borges, Jorge Luis, Obras completas (Complete Works), 3 vols, (Buenos Aires: Emecé, 1964) Bellos, David, Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything (St Ives: Penguin, 2012) Bloom, Harold, The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages, New York: Harcourt & Brace, 1994 Christ, Ronald, The Narrow Act: Borgesʼ Art of Allusion (New York: Lumen Books, 1995) Cosgrove, Ciaran, ʻLanguage and Translationʼ, The Poetry Ireland Review (No. 18/19, Spring 1987) Kristal, Efraín, Invisible Work: Borges and Translation (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2002) Leone, Leah Elizabeth, ʼDisplacing the mask: Jorge Luis Borges and the translation of narrativeʼ, PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) thesis, University of Iowa, (2011) http://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/1011, [accessed 27 November 2014] Newmark, Peter, More Paragraphs on Translation (Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1998) Paz, Octavio, Un poema de John Donne: traducción literaria y literalidad (A Poem by John Donne: Literary Translation and Literalness (Barcelona: Tusquets, 1990) Venuti, Lawrence, The Translatorʼs Invisibility: A history of translation (London: Routledge, 1995)
Work history
Writer
Freelance
Self-promotion sometimes doesn't always come naturally to writers. But what else is LinkedIn for?
Writing in university newspapers developed into a more serious interest some two years ago, when I began to explore my literary interests, in addition to journalistic ones. I believe in methodical practice when it comes to writing, and am always at work on something outside of work hours.
I have had some recognition for my efforts thus far. A story of mine was shortlisted for Short Story of the Year at the 2015 Irish Student Media Awards. A pitch I made to the New Statesman at 22 was picked up and published by them, and since then I've regularly had book reviews published in Totally Dublin magazine.
I've had more PTDs than acceptances of late. But, while I recognise that rejection is a necessary part of the process, if anything it gives me more ambition to improve and to eventually get more work published.
Translator/Content Editor
- Lisbon, PortugalFull Time
New AdVentures is a global media publishing group based in Lisbon, Portugal, focusing on fast circulation of news. In October 2016 I joined a new team there, dealing with supplying viral videos and entertainment news content to various clients (e.g. MSN).
My duties focused on translating short articles, photo galleries and videos from Portuguese to English. I quickly attained a position of responsibility on the team, as my translations were used as the source language for freelance translators employed by the company.
This position called for effective communication, attention to detail and making sure work was done quickly and on time. As the team expanded, I was also involved in recruiting new translators.
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Skills
- Writing
- Editing
- Copyediting
- Sub-editing
- 3 Languages
- Translation
Education
Bachelor of Arts in French and Spanish
- Dublin, Ireland
I graduated in May 2015 after a four-year course in Modern Languages, including a year spent studying in Spain. I chose to major in Spanish, writing a dissertation on translations of Jorge Luis Borges's stories into English. An edited segment of the introduction and first chapter were selected as the Global Winner in the Non-English Literature category at the 2016 Undergraduate Awards.
I spent my Erasmus year studying at the University of Salamanca, Spain's oldest and most prestigious third-level institution. I followed a variety of classes on Spanish and French culture, history and literature.
I was actively involved in writing during my time in college, contributing pieces to several campus newspapers and magazines. I was also a member of Dublin University Boxing Club, where I took part in inter-varsity fights. I served as a committee member in my final year.
Awards
Global Winner, Non-English Literature Category
'Cited as the ultimate champion for high-potential undergraduates, The Undergraduate Awards is the world’s largest academic awards programme. It is uniquely pan-discipline, identifying leading creative thinkers through their undergraduate coursework.'
An excerpt from my final-year dissertation was selected as the Global Winner for the Non-English Literature category, placing me top of all students who entered in this field. I was invited to the global summit in Dublin in November 2016; as a Global Winner my flights, accommodation and attendance were paid for by the organisation. It was an honour to represent my university and to meet undergraduates from all over the world and from a variety of academic disciplines.Distinction in Spoken Spanish
Awarded by the department of Hispanic Studies for my performance in my final-year oral exam.+ Show more