Tag Archives: translation

How Translations ‘Fail’

Posted on October 27, 2025 by JMN

(Update, Oct. 26, 2025. Some time after writing what’s below I’ve encountered Mitch Teemley’s citation of Psalm 37:23. What’s a good word for how the Quran and the Bible interact? I’ve no expertise in either, but I see signs of … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology, Commentary | Tagged Arabic-English, Arabic-French, Arabic-Spanish, language, reading, translation | 5 Comments

‘Sheathed in Fetters’ or ‘Bound in Chains’?

Posted on September 26, 2025 by JMN

Afterthought foregrounded: This will go down as a wildly utopian, presumptuous, naive, impractical proposition. Imagine a world in which the devout were schooled from an early age to read the foundational scriptures of their respective creeds in the original languages … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged Arabic-English, Arabic-French, Arabic-Spanish, language, translation | 4 Comments

Azurea20: ‘Permit Me a Space Wherein to Hang My Voice’

Posted on September 22, 2025 by JMN

“I personally learned my own craft of writing poetry through translating poetry… I think one way to deepen the appreciation of poetry is to approach it through translation.” (Arthur Sze, new U.S. poet laureate) “Señora de las Cosas Errantes” by … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology | Tagged language, poetry, Spanish-English, translation | Leave a comment

Hill Country, Texas Camper’s Song

Posted on August 7, 2025 by JMN

Down I lay me now to sleep and prayFor come who might to whats-it in the sky.Not dead before I wake may I be found.To sleep and pray now down I do me lay.The ocean’s mighty large and wet, they … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology | Tagged Arabic-English, doggerel, language, translation | 2 Comments

The Future Walks on Baby Feet

Posted on May 16, 2025 by JMN

Here’s my English reading of “Contar Cuentos” (Telling Stories), a poem written in Spanish by Azurea20 published at LA BANCARROTA DEL CIRCO on April 27, 2025. TELLING STORIESMy memory invents you,strips you nakedtells itself stories,closes your eyes,obliterates your mouth,discovers verbs … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology | Tagged language, poetry, Spanish-English, translation | 4 Comments

Reading ‘Reading Ulysses in Montana’ in Texas

Posted on May 15, 2025 by JMN

Delving Yardbarker is the nom de guerre of the creator of “Reading Ulysses in Montana.” As with Luvgood Carp, it gives me pleasure each time I say “Delving Yardbarker.” Sonorous, compressed, quirky, inventive, mischievous, literate, subversive, diverting, intriguing, outrageous, prolific, … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology, Quotations | Tagged blogging, English-Spanish, language, poetry, reading, style, translation, writing | 2 Comments

‘Cuerpo,’ from La Bancarrota del Circo

Posted on April 9, 2025 by JMN

I asked azurea20 if I could post an English reading of her poem “Cuerpo” on EthicalDative, and she said yes. Below is the original Spanish text of her lyric published on her website, La Bancarrota del Circo, followed by my … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology | Tagged language, poetry, reading, Spanish-English, translation | Leave a comment

What’s in YOUR Belly?

Posted on March 30, 2025 by JMN

The Arabic phrase under examination is this (with my transliteration): وَأَصْلِحُوا۟ ذَاتَ بَيْنِكُمْ ۖwa-‘aṣliḥū ḏāt(a) bain(i)-kum In the languages I can navigate, here are various translations. All but “Cortés” are from here: Englishsettle your affairs (Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology, Commentary | Tagged Arabic, English, French, language, reading, Spanish, translation | 9 Comments

How Disparate Writings Intertwine

Posted on January 27, 2025 by JMN

“Over the past eight years, I have been tested and challenged more than any president in our 250-year history.” (Donald Trump, from Second Inaugural Address) Mr. Trump dictates revelation for his irrupting dispensation. There are impromptu connections one makes in … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged Arabic-English, language, poetry, rhetoric, spirituality, translation | Leave a comment

‘When All Three Pounds of Me Came Earthside…’

Posted on January 11, 2025 by JMN

The tiny speaker in Megan Denton’s “A Girl and Her Fireplace” (Poetry, December 2024) is off to a shaky start. Born on a new moon, one minute after my sisterand one pound less, my ribcage was full of roosting songbirds … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology | Tagged Arabic-English, language, poetry, reading, translation | 2 Comments