The next big hip ruckus among a "certain set" is obviously going to be translation.

The world is one tiny apartment building now, and we have no excuse but to get to know each other if we want "the landlord" to fix "the air conditioning."

To this end, we have created a "translation nexus" around Isla McKetta's award-winning short story "East Meets West" and we invite you to please participate by translating this story into every language that you know or even "kinda know."



Do not be afraid to make mistakes! You can contribute anonymously! Your bad first draft is a placeholder!

We also invite you to please spread the word, and to invite your friends from other countries to participate in this word swarm.

If everybody spends just five minutes translating a little bit of this story into any language that they know (or five minutes offering corrections for other attempts) we will really get some interesting friction going.

One universal world language is a bad idea and shows extreme contempt for the ability of people to learn new things and to appreciate the music of other voices.

Instead, the future we crave will be so diverse that every day will be a disorienting dream-journey through all tongues and rhythms.

Nothing makes you more tender and more receptive than being out of your element. People only start to become bastards when they feel completely at home.

Let's all be homeless...



Let's all listen closely to what the person next to us is saying, and try so hard to understand...

Posted by miracle on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:39:48 -0500 -- permanent link