site.bta Giorgia Spadoni: Translator Must Know Not Only Grammar but Also Mentality of Target Language's Speakers

In addition to the vocabulary and grammar, a translator must also be well acquainted with the mentality of the people whose language he or she is working with, translator Giorgia Spadoni said in an interview for BTA's Gergana Nikolova. The translator from Bulgarian to Italian is scheduled to participate Thursday in an online discussion on the translation and perception of Bulgarian literature in Italy.

"There are some moments when you can understand the words and they are very clear, the context maybe too, but they just don't connect. It's a very dry matter to look only at the words and their meaning, so it's very important to know how language works," said Spadoni, who won the Polski Kot Award 2024 for the translation of Deyan Enev's collection Everyone on the Bow of the Boat into Italian.

The translator noted that Bulgarian and Italian are very similar languages, giving the example of the rich verb system. "Perhaps, some of the most difficult things to translate are those related to culture, all those terms that refer to very specific things in Bulgarian culture," Spadoni said, adding that it includes food, rituals, proverbs, historical and geographical references.

In such moments, a balance must be struck between keeping the text as it is and having it explained in a footnote or in the text itself, Spadoni said. "I like to preserve as much as possible so that the culture can be felt, but often it's not just up to the translator, it's also up to the publishing practices, the audience, the format," she explained. Spadoni said she is translating a part from Emine Sadkou's Caravan of Crows for a Swiss online magazine, where the format probably wouldn't allow the use of so many footnotes.

"That's part of the job, to find a way to solve these 'problems'. And it should be known that there is not just one solution. Perhaps there are as many solutions, as there are translators. The most important thing is that when a translator chooses a solution, he or she should be able to reason it out. The explanation cannot just be, ‘because it sounds better to me’," Spadoni noted.

Communication with authors is the best part of the job  

“It is extremely valuable for me to be able to communicate with the authors during the translations”, Spadoni said. In her words, this is the best thing about being a translator, being able to go "behind the scenes" and talk to the author to get the best possible text in the target language. "I love it and feel it's my duty to ask questions when something is not clear," she added.

Spadoni said that so far, all the Bulgarian authors she has worked with have been very willing to discuss different topics and give answers. "There was only one text where I didn't have that opportunity, when I was working for a website on an excerpt from Georgi Markov, whom I love very much, but I really saw the difference and it is very noticeable when such communication is not possible," she added.

In her opinion, the "voice" of translators should not be "heard" but merged with that of authors. "Even if there are some weaker points in the text, the translator should not interfere but leave it as it is," the translator said.

The translator as a literary agent

When choosing books to translate, Spadoni said she trusts her personal taste. However, there are more factors to take into account. "You also have to look at trends in Italy, what is being read at the moment, who are the authors being read, can you find any authors with similar themes, whether the book touches on strong current themes to which the author can contribute, and whether there is an author who can give another perspective on Bulgaria, some other point of view," the translator explained.

In Spadoni’s words, she has always suggested to publishers in Italy which books by Bulgarian authors should be published in her homeland. The exception is the She Who Remains novel by Rene Karabash, for which the effort was joint between her and a literary agency from Bulgaria. The driving force for this choice of publisher was, besides the quality of the book itself and the story, the fact that a film adaptation of the novel is in progress, Spadoni said. She added that there is a major Italian festival for Eastern European cinema in Trieste, and the publishing house has a "very close relationship with this festival".

A “small language” translator very often serves as a literary agent, Spadoni pointed out. "Maybe with Bulgarian it happens more often because you don't have a tradition of literary agencies, but I'm glad that there's finally one that can be relied on," she said. She noted that until now, the publication of Bulgarian literature abroad has almost always happened through translators.

"It's always an investment on our part to search, to read, to suggest an author, not knowing if it will be accepted. I love that part of my job, but it's unpaid," the Italian said.

Asked what are the challenges for a translator working with a "small" language, Spadoni said that from a formal point of view, it is the fact that this translation is more expensive. "There are fewer translators and therefore the cost is higher compared to French or English," she said. "The most important thing, when it comes to this kind of translation, is to have support. In this case, from Bulgaria, from Bulgarian institutions. Publishers should know that they can rely on programmes, funding. This does not mean that everything must always be funded, but there must be some concrete support in the translation process itself and in the promotion of the book," Spadoni added.

“Everyone on the Bow of the Boat”

The translator said that Deyan Enev’s Everyone on the Bow of the Boat is the first book she has translated from Bulgarian into Italian. According to her, she first read it in 2019-2020 in Italy. "The stories in the book reminded me a lot of Bulgaria, the way I had seen it until that moment," she noted. Spadoni added that when she was already finishing her Master's degree at St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia, she happened to translate a story and then saw the same characters and plots during a walk around the Bulgarian capital. 

She pointed out that narrative is not a "hit" genre in Italy, but the publishing house Bottega Errante Edizioni agreed with her opinion that the book provides a good opportunity to get to know the Bulgarian community.

Spadoni is currently working on the translation of Ekstasis by Radoslav Bimbalov. The book simultaneously talks about current issues in Bulgaria, the translator said. She said there is likely to be a lot of interest in the new book by the author, which is due out in September. "I hope to have the opportunity to work on Joanna Elmi's Made of Guilt as well. And I hope that something will also be set in motion in the direction of Todor P. Todorov’s Hagabula novel," Spadoni added.

Italy does not know enough about the Balkan countries

"In my opinion, Italian public feels that there is a big gap in their knowledge of the Balkan countries. From my point of view, the problem comes from the fact that until a few years ago and maybe even now, the Italian public only perceived the Balkans as the former Yugoslavia," the translator said. According to her, Italian readers' interest in Bulgaria is increasing. One of the reasons is the international Booker Prize, which writer Georgi Gospodinov and translator Angela Rodel won last year with Time Shelter. 

"Many people I know have been to Sofia, because when looking for cheap flights for holidays, Sofia always came up, at least before COVID-19. People come to the city and they all tell me that they really like Sofia, Bulgaria, that they had a good impression. And when they ask to find Bulgarian books or watch Bulgarian films, they can't find them, or they find very few things," she said.

Giorgia Spadoni is a translator, editor and teacher from Jesi, Italy. She has a degree in Linguistic Mediation with French, Russian and Bulgarian language and a Мaster’s degree in International Relations from Bologna University. She specializes in translation between Italian and Bulgarian at St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia and works at the Italian Cultural Institute in Sofia.
She has won the first prize in literary translation Leonardo Pampuri, awarded by the Bulgaria-Italia Аssociation and Bologna University (2018). She has translated the Italian issues of the weekly Literaturen vestnik dedicated to Gianni Rodari (2020) and Dante Alighieri (2021). She contributes to various Italian websites: Est/ranei, East Journal, Meridiano 13, focused on current events, history and culture from Eastern Europe, writing mainly articles about Bulgaria, book and film reviews and translating excerpts by Bulgarian authors such as Georgi Gospodinov, Kapka Kassabova, Georgi Markov, and Nikolaj Atanasov.