Dimitra Dotsi

Hello. First of all, we are very happy to have you with us today.

Me too. Thank you very much for the invitation.

We’d like you to tell us a few things about yourself, about your general relationship with translation and more specifically from which language/-s you translate and what is your personal relationship with them.

Well, I translate exclusively from Italian. My relationship with translation started at a rather old age, i.e. in my 30s. My first contact with translation was at 18-19, when I studied at the Department of Italian Language and Literature at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. I had my first contact with literary translation there, but in the form of a course, it never occurred to me that I would become a translator. I had been involved in teaching and at some point I wanted to pursue a PhD and I thought that the stepping stone to a PhD would be an MA degree. So I took the exam for the Translation-Translatology MA program in Athens, and that’s where I fell in love with translation. That’s where everything changed and I decided that this was the profession I wanted to pursue. Basically at 30, until then it hadn’t even crossed my mind.

When you translate a literary piece of work, how do you feel? What do you enjoy about the process of translation?

First of all, since I also work as a reader, the literary piece of work comes into my hands a second time. The first time I have seen it as a reader, because I have to evaluate it for my publishers. Reading it as a reader, I always think about its translation as well. So when it comes into my hands the second time, I’m basically ready to start it right away. I have gone through the joy of reading, so to speak, and then I try – which of course happens almost immediately – to identify with the characters, to connect with the place, the environment. As long as the translation lasts, I feel that I am a bit like an actor, I get into the skin of each role. Like playing a role in a play, so to speak, that’s how I feel at that moment.

Was it a lifelong dream to get into translation?

Not at all!

No?

No, no. I discovered it, as I said, quite late, when I was 30. It wasn’t a lifelong dream. I had other lifelong dreams, which I gave up for the sake of translation, precisely because it was true love.

So it never occurred to you, before you started, that you might be involved in translation?

No. The only thing I had that was something purely my own, was that from a certain age onwards, around 15-16, I wanted, for some unknown reason, to know who the translator of every book I read was. But it never crossed my mind that I might one day become a translator. No, never.

Besides translating, have you ever thought about getting into writing as well?

No. Not at all. I don’t think I have the imagination to do that. I like to rely on the words of writers, who know how to do it well. No, I would never do that.

You’ve translated great writers. Is there a translator that you admire?

One reason I got into translation was exactly what you’ve just asked me. During my MA studies, I met Antaios Chresostomides, whom I had always appreciated. And it was a bit of a karmic encounter, even though I don’t believe in such things. The first book of Italian literature I read when I was 16, was Italo Calvino’s Difficult Loves, and from that moment on I started paying attention to translators. And I saw that he had translated it. So when I later started my MA, on the first day of class, he told us that the first book he had translated was this one. It was kind of pivotal for me, and thanks to him, the road to translation was actually opened for me. So, yes, I’ve always admired him.

What do you think the difficulties of translation are for you?

Every literary piece of work has its own difficulty, whether it is considered easy by some or not, for I’m also very involved in translating children’s and teenage books, and everyone says to me, “Piece of cake, you’ll be over and done with it in no time”. I think every book has its own difficulty. Now, what I find most difficult, and that’s where I focus, is rendering the emotion behind each word. I can’t say there’s a grammatical phenomenon, so to speak, that makes it difficult for me. Ιt’s purely the feeling that I get as a reader, which I have to render, so that the reader has the exact same feeling I had.

Based on what criteria do you choose the literary pieces of work you translate? Do you have the luxury of choosing yourself?

Yes, precisely because I also work as a reader, I basically adapt to what each publisher asks for. In other words, I know which book I read suits whom. And I also have the luxury of suggesting. So I adapt to the needs of each publishing house.

What is your attitude towards criticism of your translation work?

In the beginning, when I first started, it was something I was terrified of and I would google on a daily basis to see who had written what about the book, if they had made any comments about me. Now, I read the reviews, but I don’t have that anxiety, because I feel more sure of myself after so many years of experience. But I always read them, all of them.

I suppose in order to avoid a negative review, you also consider editing necessary.

Yes.

What is your relationship with the editors? Do you have a specific personal editor or are they assigned by the publishing house?

Well, I’d very much like to have a personal editor, but I don’t, because I don’t collaborate with a single publisher only. Since a translator cooperates with various publishers, they have to work with their respective editors. Sometimes we are lucky and some editors collaborate with many publishers. I consider my relationship with the editors to be the best it could be, because I learn from them and I evolve. And I always ask for it, I mean there is no way I will deliver a translation and not ask for cooperation with an editor. Unfortunately, not all editors cooperate. There are two categories of editors, those who take the translation and do what they want, in their opinion, without asking the translator, and there is the other category, which cooperates directly with the translator. I think I am one of the lucky translators and most of my editors cooperate with me. Most editors of this category will ask you about everything, even if it’s only a comma.

Have you ever encountered a particular cultural element that was difficult to render so that you turned to your editor?

I always address the editor after I’ve completed the translation, I never leave a gap, the translation is ready. If I have a question and I just want a confirmation, I’ll send them an e-mail or a message, and say this is something I’d like to go over with them. That’s all. They’ll have to contact me to give me a yes or a no.

Are you optimistic about the future of translation in Greece?

Yes. I am very optimistic and I think things have changed in the last few years. The translator has now come out of this invisibility, having found a place next to the author. I think that the quality of translations has played a very important role in this. Since academic Translation Studies started, especially at postgraduate level, our quality level has become very high. That also enables us to move forward in a better way. And I think that the reviews are also positive towards us precisely for this reason, because our level has improved.

Are you satisfied with your financial rewards from translation?

Yes I am, but I’m not satisfied with what I pay to the state! Yes, I am satisfied with my earnings, I think that… Ok, we don’t get the money we used to…

Do you live on that?

Yes, exclusively. But I work from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. with some breaks in between. And I’ve found a “trick”, let’s just call it so in quotes. When I finish any literary work, I always take a break with a teen or a children’s book, to unwind and clear my head a little bit, and then I go on. But I live off translation exclusively.

Lastly, is there any advice you would give to a young person who wants to be involved in translation professionally?

I would tell them to definitely study. Either to acquire a BA degree and then do, if possible, an MA in translation or to go to a Translation School, because these two or three years of studies – my MA was two years plus one semester for my thesis – are very important. One cannot continue without that, in my opinion. In these two or two and a half years they will learn what they would have learned in five, six, seven years by translating on their own and without help, because you are confronted with different textual genres and you gain experience. I think that a student who wants to become a translator and who has graduated from these Departments, is ready to enter the market.

Thank you very much.

I thank you, too.