Two students who studied literary translation last fall have had an article about a professional translator published in the winter issue of the New England Translators Association’s Newsletter. The newsletter is a quarterly publication, which publishes news items and articles of interest to professional translators.

May 5, 2009

Two students who studied literary translation last fall have had an article about a professional translator published in the winter issue of the New England Translators Association's Newsletter. The newsletter is a quarterly publication, which publishes news items and articles of interest to professional translators.

Tyler Weir '10 and Fabiola Benedetti wrote the article after accompanying Visiting Associate Professor of German Reinhard Mayer to a NETA monthly meeting at which Haidar Muffaq Al-Sara spoke about his career as a translator in Iraq. The article recounts Al-Sara's lecture, which described how he became a translator and interpreter in Iraq and his experiences working for the U.S. Forces in Iraq.

Like many other translators, Al-Sara said that, because of his job as a translator, he was considered a traitor in his own country and that his life was endangered because of his work. In some situations, translators were even urged to wear masks so that they would not be recognized. As a result, the US government brought him along with hundreds of other US Army interpreters, to the U.S.

"Bringing students from the class along to this monthly meeting of the NETA was a form of ‘experiential learning' that put them in touch with professional translators," said Professor Mayer. Tyler and Fabiola also gave a report to the class and led a discussion about this event."

In their article, Weir and Benedetti wrote: "By the end of the conference," NETA members had already welcomed the man from the other side of the Atlantic into their family of translators." The winter issue of the newsletter also contains a report on an initiative undertaken by the organization to advocate for legislative help for Iraqi translators and interpreters who have been brought to the U.S. on special immigrant visas granted them by Congress because of the palpable danger in which they worked and lived in Iraq.

Weir, who is a German major and has completed pre-med requirements to pursue admission to dental school, spent the spring semester in Germany. He says the experience of talking with Al-Sara has influenced his studies in Germany.

"A lot of what Haidar had to say was quite philosophical and I have found that language has come alive in my life," he said. "I cannot get enough. Every chance I get, I try to observe other languages I am unable to speak and see how people are still able to communicate."

Fabiola Benedetti who is from Argentina, has worked this year at Wheaton as the Spanish Assistant and is in the process of applying to Graduate Schools in the US to get a PhD in Translation Studies.