"Translating Cuba" -- How It Happens

Yoani Sanchez - Award-winning Cuban blogger

"Translating Cuba" -- How It Happens
Posted: 08/07/2012 2:44 pm

All the women in my family tree are named María. Me too, but in second
place, in a dissonant mix of modernity and tradition. I carry this
extravagant "Y" in contradiction with the most common woman's name. So
the Marías have been everywhere throughout my life: one brought me into
the world, another -- gray-haired and with a smoker's cough -- took me
to school the first day, and I even played dolls with a sister who also
has that name. years later, in Zurich, one of them opened the doors of
her bookstore to me so that I could work surrounded by literature and
love. And now a new María has come to my aid, whom I have never been
able to meet personally.

She began to translate my texts into English more than four years ago.
At first with very little knowledge of Spanish, María José tried to
bring my daily brushstrokes into her mother tongue. Her first questions
after reading my posts were very nice -- "What is a malanga?" "How much
is a convertible peso worth?" "What is a cola'?" -- because this
transportation engineer has no fear of asking questions, nor does she
think it ridiculous to ask about anything she doesn't know. And that was
what I loved about her from the start, her humility. When one interacts
with the academic world where everyone shows off their knowledge while
hiding their shortcomings, to find sincere people -- not the least smug
-- comes to seem like a balm.

With so much browsing, and even more working, this woman who has now
passed her fifties created a supportive network of translators around
the alternative Cuban blogosphere. She started helping me with my blog,
and then extended her energies over many other virtual spaces that
address the problems of this Island. Godmother from afar to these
restless godchildren, MJ tells how her life has changed since embarking
on such an adventure. And she doesn't tire. She looks for translators
for versions in French, Hungarian, Polish or Japanese; subtitles
interviews; helps promote books; goes to American universities to
narrate her experience, and still has time to work at her profession,
and look after her parents and daughter. How lucky I am. A patient and
generous María has come, once again, into my life, a María who although
not part of my family tree, is part of my family.

Translating Cuba is a compilation blog with Yoani and other Cuban
bloggers in English.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yoani-sanchez/cuba-bloggers_b_1752578.html