Translating Onomatopoeia: Creative Translation Workshop with Polly Barton
What are the possibilities and limits of translating onomatopoeia and language with onomatopoeic qualities? This workshop, led by award-winning writer and translator Polly Barton, will consider the questions and challenges that arise when onomatopoeia is moved across languages and cultures. From translations of Japanese mimetic language to creative and multilingual reimaginings of onomatopoeia in English, participants will explore the phonic properties and potentialities of language and translation.

No prior knowledge of Japanese, or any other language, is required. This workshop is in partnership with the Queen’s College Translation Exchange.

Polly Barton is a Japanese translator and writer. Her translations include Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda, Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa, There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura, and Mild Vertigo by Mieko Kanai. Her translation of Asako Yuzuki’s Butter was named Waterstones Book of the Year 2024. She is the author of Fifty Sounds and Porn: An Oral History.
Date: 14 June 2025, 11:00
Venue: St Anne's College, Woodstock Road OX2 6HS
Venue Details: Seminar Room 8
Speaker: Polly Barton
Organising department: Faculty of English Language and Literature
Organiser: OCCT
Organiser contact email address: comparative.criticism@st-annes.ox.ac.uk
Host: OCCT
Booking required?: Not required
Booking url: https://shorturl.at/bzVgJ
Cost: Free
Audience: Public
Editor: Mary Newman