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Eulalia's translations and collaborations

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Eulalia

Poet Laureate
Staff member
Among the greatest enjoyment I’ve gained from CruxForums over the past 10 years has been working with some fine writers in languages other than English, sometimes simply translating, or polishing up their (or Dr. Google’s) translations, but especially collaborating with several in creating their stories, developing the ideas in their words and images and shaping them into exciting stories in English. Of course, the main credit is due to the authors, but I do feel (declaring an interest!) that the role of translator is often overlooked in the ‘real world’ of publishing, and that I can make some claim to a part in the ‘originality’ of these works. Producing a really good translation is beyond the most advanced Artificial Intelligence, it entails not just substituting words in grammatically correct sentences, it requires an innate feel for the register, connotations and associations, the appropriateness in its context, of every word and phrase, an ear for the sounds and rhythms of the original language and the target –

And every phrase
And sentence that is right (where every word is at home,
Taking its place to support the others,
The word neither diffident nor ostentatious,
An easy commerce of the old and the new,
The common word exact without vulgarity,
The formal word precise but not pedantic,
The complete consort dancing together) ...

T.S.Eliot ‘Four Quartets: Little Gidding’



Pride of place must go to my collaboration with dear Velut Luna (see the ‘Tribute’ Bobinder and I put together for her, https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/threads/velut-luna-a-tribute-to-sibilla-cumana.7653/), and especially her magnificent epic of life in aristocratic heights and most abject depths around the Bay of Naples in the time leading up to the eruption of Vesuvius:

Amica, the slavegirl of Pompeii, by Velut Luna

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/amica-the-slavegirl-of-pompeii-by-velut-luna.402/

The Italian text is here (though I know Luna would want me to point out that she regards it as a ‘draft’, the English version we produced together she always insisted is ‘molto migliore’)

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/amica-edizione-italiana-by-velut-luna.748/


Hardly in its shadow, Luna’s complex, intriguing story that takes us, through unsettling time-shifts, into a hidden corner of medieval Naples where the ghosts of a dark past are still uneasily close at hand:

The Devil in the Convent

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/the-devil-in-the-convent.338/


Sadly unfinished – but leaving us with a wonderfully complex mystery to try to disentangle, is Luna’s ‘giallo’, crime thriller, set in and around a vividly evoked Paris:

Histoire de Luna, by Velut Luna

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/histoire-de-luna-by-velut-luna.537/


And a short story, based on a real incident in Luna’s life:

Stella, by Velut Luna

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/stella-by-velut-luna.472/

A few poems and short pieces not in the Archive, and a very amusing story by Curzio Malaperte that Luna got me to translate, are linked in the 'Tribute', see above.


Another collaboration with Italian friends produced an eerie, evocative novel that, like Luna’s ‘Devil in the Convent’, involves porous shifting between past and present, again taking us into the dark alleyways and narrow back canals unknown to the tourists, in that other Italian city so rich in romance and sources for stories, Venice. l’bogo (‘the mask’ in Veneziana) composed with Gabriella Sivilla this story of the dark side of a dancer’s life in La Serenissima, and worked with me in producing the English version:

Notturno Veneziano, by I'bogo & Gabriella Sivilla

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/notturno-veneziano-by-ibogo-gabriella-sivilla.658/


A not-quite-finished story in Italian by Ascanio, with his wickedly beautiful pictures, is set in Languedoc at the brutal conclusion of the Crusade against Beguine ‘heretics’ :

The Witches, by Ascanio and Eulalia

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/the-witches-by-ascanio-and-eulalia.586/


That's just my translations from Italian - I'll add the ones from French and German soon.
 
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I myself have often noticed that the results that Google delivers do not capture the meaning of what you want to express at all. First I try to switch back and forth between the two languages and then find better formulations in other translation programs. But I'm not sure if it always works that way. In any case, it is nice that you point out such linguistic errors, because although I speak a little English, I would never presume to say that I really perfect speak the English language.
 
Among the greatest enjoyment I’ve gained from CruxForums over the past 10 years has been working with some fine writers in languages other than English, sometimes simply translating, or polishing up their (or Dr. Google’s) translations, but especially collaborating with several in creating their stories, developing the ideas in their words and images and shaping them into exciting stories in English. Of course, the main credit is due to the authors, but I do feel (declaring an interest!) that the role of translator is often overlooked in the ‘real world’ of publishing, and that I can make some claim to a part in the ‘originality’ of these works. Producing a really good translation is beyond the most advanced Artificial Intelligence, it entails not just substituting words in grammatically correct sentences, it requires an innate feel for the register, connotations and associations, the appropriateness in its context, of every word and phrase, an ear for the sounds and rhythms of the original language and the target –

And every phrase
And sentence that is right (where every word is at home,
Taking its place to support the others,
The word neither diffident nor ostentatious,
An easy commerce of the old and the new,
The common word exact without vulgarity,
The formal word precise but not pedantic,
The complete consort dancing together) ...

T.S.Eliot ‘Four Quartets: Little Gidding’



Pride of place must go to my collaboration with dear Velut Luna (see the ‘Tribute’ Bobinder and I put together for her, now included in this section of the Forums), and especially her magnificent epic of life in aristocratic heights and most abject depths around the Bay of Naples in the time leading up to the eruption of Vesuvius:

Amica, the slavegirl of Pompeii, by Velut Luna

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/amica-the-slavegirl-of-pompeii-by-velut-luna.402/

The Italian text is here (though I know Luna would want me to point out that she regards it as a ‘draft’, the English version we produced together she always insisted is ‘molto migliore’)

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/amica-edizione-italiana-by-velut-luna.748/


Hardly in its shadow, Luna’s complex, intriguing story that takes us, through unsettling time-shifts, into a hidden corner of medieval Naples where the ghosts of a dark past are still uneasily close at hand:

The Devil in the Convent

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/the-devil-in-the-convent.338/


Sadly unfinished – but leaving us with a wonderfully complex mystery to try to disentangle, is Luna’s ‘giallo’, crime thriller, set in and around a vividly evoked Paris:

Histoire de Luna, by Velut Luna

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/histoire-de-luna-by-velut-luna.537/


And a short story, based on a real incident in Luna’s life:

Stella, by Velut Luna

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/stella-by-velut-luna.472/


Another collaboration with Italian friends produced an eerie, evocative novel that, like Luna’s ‘Devil in the Convent’, involves porous shifting between past and present, again taking us into the dark alleyways and narrow back canals unknown to the tourists, in that other Italian city so rich in romance and sources for stories, Venice. l’bogo (‘the mask’ in Veneziana) composed with Gabriella Sivilla this story of the dark side of a dancer’s life in La Serenissima, and worked with me in producing the English version:

Notturno Veneziano, by I'bogo & Gabriella Sivilla

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/notturno-veneziano-by-ibogo-gabriella-sivilla.658/


A not-quite-finished story in Italian by Ascanio, with his wickedly beautiful pictures, is set in Languedoc at the brutal conclusion of the Crusade against Beguine ‘heretics’ :

The Witches, by Ascanio and Eulalia

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/the-witches-by-ascanio-and-eulalia.586/


That's just my translations from Italian - I'll add the ones from French and German soon.
“Never trust the translation or interpretation of something without first trusting its interpreter.”
– Suzy Kassem

And so we are doubly blessed here on CF with such wonderful writings in other tongues and an interpreter like @Eulalia whom we can trust implicitly!
 
Turning to French, I’ve had (and am still having) some enjoyable times working with Bartnel and his delicious, fantasy images, developing and translating the stories they tell; just one is currently in the Archive:

The Chosen One, by Bartnel & Eulalia

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/the-chosen-one-by-bartnel-eulalia.774/


I’ve translated several by Lionrobe/ Gerembeau – these were mostly ones he’d already written, but one was based on ‘me’ and involved me in its development:

The Translator

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/the-translator-by-lionrobe.809/

Others include:

A Witch Trial in Alsace

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/a-witch-trial-in-alsace-by-lionrobe.370/

Moriturae Te Salutant

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/moriturae-te-salutant-by-lionrobe-translated-by-eulalia.596/

Night-Time in China

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/night-time-in-china-by-lionrobe.800/

French text:

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/nuit-de-chine-by-lionrobe.799/


German, I’ll admit, I’m less at home with than Italian or French, but I’ve enjoyed translating a number of stories from that language. Outstanding among them are the two stories by the mysterious Elf-Bride, Elfenbraut, brought to our attention by Sassi – nothing seems to be known about the author, but ‘The Girl with no Name’ is – for me at least – among the finest BDSM/ Crux-play stories we’ve enjoyed on the Forums:


The Girl with no Name

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/the-girl-with-no-name-by-elf-bride.341/

German text:

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/das-maedchen-ohne-namen-von-elfenbraut.788/

‘Mary on the Cross’ the writer’s only other know work, is very fine too:

Mary on the Cross

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/mary-on-the-cross-by-elf-bride.342/


A number of Sassi’s own stories share similar qualities, I’ve enjoyed translated these:

A Dream that Came True

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/a-dream-that-came-true-by-sassi.460/

Skeleton Island

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/skeleton-island-by-sassi.517/

The Chapel

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/the-chapel-by-sassi.260/

The Pilgrim Girl

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/the-pilgrim-girl-by-sassi.667/


Other good reads from the German include:

No Trespassing, by Loxuru

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/no-trespassing-by-loxuru.410/


The Captured Slave-Pair, by Madiosi

https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/resources/the-captured-slave-pair-by-madiosi.385/

The Heirloom, by Madiosi

 
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As well as working with artists in translating their stories, and those who've done lovely illustrations for my writings, I've had good fun working with Melissa and Julie on their lively ideas for dealing with stroppy young ladies:

Crucifixion Of The Christian Virgins


House Rules or The Taming Of The Shrews


Whipping Sunday, by Melissa, Julie & Eulalia


And one more 'joint' story was written by Ronniebegood - it inspired the lively picture I still use for my avatar, by Bobinder (thanks Bob, apologies for not remembering!)

Eulalia - The Thief Of Medesham, by Ronniebegoode
 
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I myself have often noticed that the results that Google delivers do not capture the meaning of what you want to express at all. First I try to switch back and forth between the two languages and then find better formulations in other translation programs. But I'm not sure if it always works that way. In any case, it is nice that you point out such linguistic errors, because although I speak a little English, I would never presume to say that I really perfect speak the English language.
Someone told me to try the "Deep L" translation website, and I think the results are very good -- much better than other services I've tried like Bing and Google.
 
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