12 October 2022
Last week, Sixth Form pupils studying French took part in a translation workshop with Dr Jennifer Higgins. Jennifer is a professional translator of fiction and literary non-fiction. Her work includes The Photographer of Auschwitz, translated from Italian, and Faces on the Tip of my Tongue by Emmanuelle Pagano, translated from French. Pagano’s book Trysting was longlisted for the International Booker prize.
The pupils worked in groups to translate a range of short texts from French into English, starting with the cartoon Astérix and moving on to excerpts from Camus’ L’Étranger and Pagano’s L’Absence d’oiseaux d’eau. The pupils certainly enjoyed using their language skills and creativity, and there was lively discussion around the challenges of translation. We are grateful to Dr Higgins for putting on such an informative and engaging workshop.
