Interpreting Haiku in Several Languages at Once

"Haiku 'is a universal language of beauty and brevity,' the elements of life itself," said Jane Hirshfield this week at the Los Angeles Central Library, where she was joined by Víctor Terán and David Shook, founder of international poetry publisher Phoneme Media, in a multilingual event to celebrate haiku "as written and recited in four languages: Japanese, English, Spanish and Zapotec." More from the LA Times's Agatha French: 

The interpretation equipment, like a one-way walkie-talkie with a single headphone to hook over your ear, allowed audience members to hear the cadence of the Terán's voice as well as absorb his meaning in real time. Spanish speakers in the audience could experience the same effect but in reverse, tuning into Hirshfield's discussion as translated into their primary language.

Some devices worked better than others. At times, a high whine of static broke out from within the full crowd. My own device lost reception over a certain volume, meaning that I only caught snippets of Terán's portion of the conversation. No matter: "Don't try to understand the poem," he said, "just feel it."

The poets read a combination of Japanese haiku and their own work. In any language, haiku exemplifies an art whose sum is more than its parts. Unlike the panel, the poets' readings were translated sequentially: Terán spoke Hirshfield's poems in Spanish and Zapotec after she read, and Shook shared his translations of Terán's work into English.

Hirshfield co-translated Japanese poetry alongside a Japanese speaker in her 1990 book "The Ink Dark Moon," now available from Penguin Vintage Classics. ("She had the language," Hirshfield said of her co-translator. Of her own contribution, "I know no modest way to say this: I was a poet.") Hirshfield ascribes to Octavio Paz's philosophy of translation — "the same effect by different means" — rather than word-for-word accuracy.

Find out more at the LA Times.