From a collective translation workshop to the Italian publication of Tutto quello che non dimenticherai mai del tuo Erasmus (“Everything you'll never forget about your Erasmus”): the role of direct experience in the practice and acquisition of translation

Abstract

This paper discusses the different steps and challenges of a collective editorial translation project, carried out during the last-year of the University Degree in Linguistic and Intercultural Mediation (University of Bologna), within the academic course of Translation from Spanish into Italian. The main aim of the project was the development of the translation competence, conceived as a dynamic and holistic process. Moreover, at the end of the translation project, the Italian edition of the Spanish graphic novel (Cosas que nunca olvidarás de tu Erasmus, Lunwerg, 2015 by Raquel Piñeiro and Amaia Arrazola), jointly translated by the students during the workshop, was published under the title of Tutto quello che non dimenticherai mai del tuo Erasmu (HOP! Edizioni, 2020). Along the present article, first we will see the methodological approach and the organization of the workshop in its different steps; then we will observe the main challenges related to the translation of comics and, in particular, to this kind of polyphonic writing and versatile style. At the translation level, the main problems will be analysed in relation to the final task, i.e. its publication for the Italian market, the target audience and the complexity of its iconotext, characterized by the presence of many visual culture-specific items. Finally, we will focus on the experiential background and creativity of the workshop participants, not only in solving linguistic, textual, extralinguistic and pragmatic issues throughout the transfer process, but also in promoting the book through interviews, blogs and remote events on social networks.