1. What does the "Dragi" award initiative represent for you?
The establishment of the "Dragi" award itself is a well-deserved recognition of the contribution of the respected colleague and friend Dragi Mihajlovski to the theory and practice of translation, especially literary translation. Whenever I saw him, I used to greet him with 'nomen est omen', because his name really marked him as especially DEAR (DRAG - wordplay with Dragi's name), equally loved by students and colleagues long before he became a professor. Namely, he was that magnet who with his gentleness, with his unobtrusive and deep knowledge, drew everyone to the library of the Department of English Language and Literature, while he worked for many years as a librarian who knew how to direct, attract, discuss books. It's been more than two decades since I wrote a review for his parallel translation of the fairy tale collection "The Magic Cauldron". I was fascinated by translation solutions adapted to children's language, a skill that is much more difficult than it seems. I will add that my grandchildren also enjoyed and laughed happily growing up with, among other things, "the Magic Cauldron". Later, as a professor, or – according to his choice – Teacher with a capital "T", Dragi created a plethora of quality translators and lovers of literature. To conclude, if the question refers to the initiative from three years ago to have the literary translation prize bear His name, I am extremely delighted for all the above reasons. If, on the other hand, perhaps, you meant the initiative (nomination?) for my translation to enter the competition for this year's award, I can only add that I am infinitely honored.
2. How important are rewards in your work?
My translation work has always, since my student days, been, first of all, a great pleasure. Delving into linguistic, cultural, historical, civilizational, psychological and other codes is a fulfilling challenge on many levels. In doing so, one never thinks of awards or recognition. However, when the translated book is found in bookstores and libraries, when it reaches the readers, for me the greatest reward is the comments that the book was read with ease, that the thought flowed smoothly, that new words were learned or old, forgotten expressions were discovered. However, when recognition comes in the form of a formal award, the satisfaction is not negligible.
3. What challenges does the literary translation bring?
The challenges that literary translation brings are multiple, but I don't mean that in a negative sense. Let me give some examples from personal experience, starting with the lexical pitfalls. Even during the first translation of "Vanity Fair" by William Thackeray, I was faced with words that everyone knows, seemingly simple, but placed in a historical context can mean something completely different. That is why it is extremely important for the translator to study the period, historical and linguistic specifics, especially when translating a work from another era. For example, in the mentioned novel (19th century) there is a letter in which the address says FREE. Since the conventional translation of the word made no sense, I consulted translations from several languages. To my surprise, the word was simply omitted. I became ambitious (not to say capricious) and that summer, searching through the library holdings of the University of Manchester, I came across clarifications concerning the language and terms in Thackeray's works. In the specific case, the author of the letter was a member of the Parliament and as such had the right to have his parcels exempted from postage. Accordingly, in place of the stamp I translated: EXEMPTED FROM POSTAGE (Ослободено од поштарина). A particular challenge in terms of knowing the social circumstances of the period was the translation of Dos Passos, who in his "Forty-second Parallel" (a novel set in time at the beginning of the twentieth century), has entire pages without punctuation, sections marked as "the eye of the camera ", mixing images from the street, the character's thoughts, bits of news, page headlines, and the like. To make sense of those "mental tapes", events and social contexts need to be well studied, as well as the psychological impact they might have on individuals. Here the translator must turn into a researcher, if he wants to give the reader a readable and meaningful product.
Names and toponyms are sometimes a challenge for the translator, especially when the author conveys certain characteristics of the characters or places through them. With all your creativity, you can provide appropriate alternatives to the target language, in this case Macedonian, and the proofreader's intervention is to transliterate the original names and thereby lose the author's purpose. That is why the cooperation between the translator and the proofreader is very important, but it is also possible to give greater latitude in the regulations that limit both translators and proofreaders in the creative process.
Finally, I cannot fail to highlight the translational challenge, and at the same time the ultimate pleasure, that Salman Rushdie's latest novel, "Victory City", gave me. Countless cultural specifics, linguistic bravura, delicate topics in which every word must be measured precisely, so that there is no misunderstanding or conflict situations. The greatness of the author is reflected, among other things, in the way he uses the language, and the translator, as a relay between the author and the new audience, must not impoverish the work with his translation. For, as Rushdie concludes, all that remains are the words; works will be known only by the way they were written down, and in the end "words are the only winners".
4. Is any preparation required before starting the translation? Do you have your own ritual?
Probably from the previous answer, in which I may have elaborated too extensively on the challenges of literary translation, I have already given an answer to this question as well. I wouldn't say that I have a ritual, unless that's what we call the preparation that includes getting to know the author's work, the subject matter and all the available information about the period that is the subject of the work.
5. Does the translation help in enriching the language and the expression?
It undoubtedly helps, I would say, from several aspects. On the one hand, we find the words that, perhaps, have sunk into oblivion or gotten lost in everyday dry communication. On the other hand, sometimes the original requires the creation of words that were not found in the vocabulary of the target language, but fully correspond to the rules of word formation and unambiguously reflect the required meaning. When it comes to phenomena inherent in the culture and language of the author for which there is no suitable word in our country, at first glance it seems that it is best to keep the original word. It is often done that way, so the number of foreign borrowings and (or) internationalisms grows. However, it is precisely the masters of translation such as Dragi Mihajlovski and, I cannot but mention him in this context, Ognen Čemerski, who show how one's own language is enriched by creating new lexemes that fit perfectly naturally into the language system. In that sense, it is very important that young people are encouraged to read quality translations and quality literature in general, because in this way they will enrich their own language and power of expression.
6. Is translation more challenging when translating a famous or favorite author?
I thought a lot about this question. I don't really have a definitive answer. At first glance, I would say – yes; but when I think about it, if the author or work is not known, probably the process of pre-preparation, checking data, re-reading, will be just as in-depth as for an author who is your favorite or popular. I consider that I have been lucky to translate works that have not been translated into Macedonian before, so my research process was my own, individual, without influence from previous translation solutions. With that, both the challenges and the satisfaction were greater.
However, in conclusion I will say that the challenge lies in the very act of translation.
