“Trans in Translation” with Alberto Poza
Queer Lit - A podcast by Lena Mattheis - Tuesdays

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Have you read the iconic Taiwanese novel The Membranes by Chi Ta-Wei? If so, in which language? Alberto has crafted the fabulous Spanish translation of this beautifully genderweird text and joins me to speak about the opportunities and challenges the highly gendered structures of Spanish offer for this. If you have ever wondered which pronoun or gendered inflection to use for a cyborg and what language might best describe a trans machine, this is the episode for you.Learn more about Alberto’s work on Instagram @aiweip or on Twitter (@Albertop_p) and consider giving @queerlitpodcast a follow as well. References:Queer and Trans PhilologiesDiane Watt Chi Ta-Wei’s The MembranesAri Larissa HeinrichsQueer Ecologies and Environmental Writing (module)https://lenamattheis.files.wordpress.com/2023/12/module-handbook-queer-ecologies.pdfKazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the SunJack HalberstamPaul PreciadoAlana Portero’s Bad Habit (La Mala Costumbre, 2023) Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: Have you ever read a queer text in different languages? Do you experience gender differently depending on language? Why do we gender some machines and not others? Alberto comments on how Anglophone readers tend to focus on the trans elements of The Membranes. Why do you think they stand out to Anglophone readers? Alberto comments of generic masculine, generic feminine and genderneutral forms in Spanish. How do you think translations into other languages have dealt with this dilemma and how would you translate this? If you could speak any language fluently, which one would you choose and why?