Carpenter Comments - Lane

 I really resonated with Carpenter's description of translation as akin to coloring—the comment on how it warrants a childish love for language rings true for me; I often find myself carried away by joy when discussing my translations. Thinking about this in relation to Carpenter's translation of the bilingual children's Mozart book is also interesting--maybe it is a childish love for language that allows Carpenter to translate something "childish," and maybe working with children's literature can help us open our eyes to the nature of the process.

I will also say that both of these readings and insights into Carpenter's process have opened my eyes to the complexity of translation in practice. Most of my translations are ones that I've done in the span of a few short months at most; I haven't translated anything so long as to warrant multiple years, but reading Carpenter's experience translating A True Novel elucidated how much thought, time, and collaboration is necessary in translation for publication and translation of longer works.