How we work
Anuvelas®’s seven members are translators who studied translation in college or earned a postgraduate degree in literary translation. We have participated in workshops, exchanges, symposiums, and other similar events.
Therefore, from the beginning, we learned to translate by blending different versions, reaching consensus, and working from others’ ideas as well as ours. All in all, we collaborate to weave every contribution with the aim of producing a translation as coherent and homogeneous as the original. This commitment to excellence is reflected in our working method.
What is our working method?
First and foremost, our working method is a collective process.
When we have a proposal for a group translation, the first thing we do is analyze the project’s feasibility, taking into account the deadline, the extension, our availability, and our interest in the book.
Then we choose a coordinator. This is a major figure because he or she takes on various functions, such as acting as the group’s spokesperson before the publishers, establishing a working calendar, and supervising the entire translation process. In addition, he or she translates part of the book, although not as many pages as the other participants because he or she is also in charge of reading and proof-reading the entire work and unifying criteria that may not have been established beforehand.
During the translation process, we do not divide the book among the participants in the project to individually translate a few chapters each; rather, we intertwine each translator’s work a few pages at a time so we can all follow the plot, tone, choice of words, and so on. We all participate in the problem-solving process, even if the issue does not originate from our personal translation pages.
How do we manage that?
Firstly, thanks to our office, a common space enables us to have impromptu “crisis meetings” to address the problems that appear throughout the translation process.
And, secondly, thanks to new technologies, the creation of on-line glossaries and forums (available to all project participants and immediately updated) enables us to be more comprehensive in unifying stylistic criteria and all types of terminological issues.
This is how we manage to produce quality, coherent, and unitary work in a short amount of time.