An Introduction of Multicultural Book Discussion Podcasts

Hello! My name is Nazila. I have worked as a linguist, multilingual translator, language teacher, and a book lover. What you listen in this podcast is based on my experience that I have gained for more than 25 years. As a translator, I think the translation bridges the cultures, mirrors linguistic and cultural diversity. Throughout the history of the world, since the development of the first writing system,  written either on stones, papyri or paper, translation has played a silent yet crucial role in transferring cultural knowledge. It helps cultures to come into contact and learn about each other. Supposedly, the purpose of translation is to promote understanding; however, often it leads to misunderstanding and miscommunication, and here we want to see how it happens.

As a book lover, I’m used to browsing the bookshelves of libraries. The books in other languages at the Public Library sparked the idea to have a book club in which all communities would be able to discuss their cultures. It may seem an ambitious project, the library welcomed the idea and gave me the opportunity to launch, manage, select, and present the books under the name of Multicultural Book Group Discussion whose aim to prove that diversity doesn’t need to end in misunderstanding, rivalry or hatred, but can instead lead to dialogue, debate, discussion and knowledge about others; and it's the philosophy of #Multiculturalism.

Since October 2015, we have been gathering at the library to discuss multiculturalism. The discussion focuses on books written in one language and translated into others. There are many questions that arise, such as:

How the book has been received in the source & target languages?

Is there any differences between the feed back of the source and target cultures?

What feedback it has gotten in other cultures through the translations?

If the translator could have transferred the message of the author?

Which side of the story has been highlighted in other societies?

Which parts have been censored ?

Whether the reason for the censorship was social, cultural or political?

Although we don’t find answers to all these questions, the book club discussion is an effort to encourage communities to talk about their cultures through the books. The selection is from authors who speak different languages and come from different countries, such as English-speaking, French-speaking, Arabic speaking, Spanish-speaking , Chinese- speaking, Russian - speaking, and etc. To choose the books I try to be fair and all people have the chance to be read. 

Every session of the podcast may contain:

1. A short bio of the author, some of his/ her works and what awards s/he won ;
2. A summary of the book, its themes, its motifs, its context;
3. The theoretical part, literary/ translation, for example the literary genre of the novel, how to read a novel, or what the translation is and what role a translator plays to transfer the message from the source to target language;
4. The translations of the book, in the absence of the audience who tells us about what we need to know from the post-translation side, the book covers of the translations mostly help us to understand which part of the novel has been highlighted for a particular culture.
5. Last but not least, you will listen to the short history of the censorship of the book or its translation. Throughout the history, nations, peoples, translators, and governments have censored writers and their works on political, sexual, religious, and social grounds. Although the literary merit of the majority of the books has been proven time and time again, efforts are still place today to suppress some of them. The podcast examines the struggle of these books faced to be read.

You can find more information about the Multicultural Book Club on social medias. I would love to continue the discussion right here with you! Tell me, which culture‑related questions come to mind when you read translations of some of your favorite novels?

Follow me on  

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Multicultural_B

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MulticulturalBookClub/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/multiculturalbook/

Goodreads: 

To listen you can go to Anchor, Castbox, Podbean, Google Podcast

For more reading go to blog : Multicultural

Add caption

Thank you for your time & support.