Young Roma writers find inspiration in Amanda Gorman's poetry

Young Roma writers find inspiration in Amanda Gorman's poetry

Transcript¹

Young writers who are Roma, Europe's largest ethnic² minority, see their own struggles in Amanda Gorman's poetry, and are translating her new book into Hungarian.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

A new book by poet Amanda Gorman speaks of the quest for justice and equality. Those values sparked a controversy³ in Europe over whether her translator should be diverse. In Hungary, they include translators from Europe's largest and most stigmatized⁴ minority who are working on an edition due out this spring. Joanna Kakissis reports from Budapest.

JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE⁵: Rozalia Galambica first discovered Amanda Gorman on YouTube.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

AMANDA GORMAN: When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade?

KAKISSIS: It was a clip of Gorman at President Biden's inauguration⁶ reciting her now famous poem "The Hill We Climb."

ROZALIA GALAMBICA: Amanda is standing⁷ in the middle with her yellow coat, and everyone else is in black. The way she performs her poem, you are listening to her, and everything makes sense.

KAKISSIS: Galambica, who's 20 years old, says this poem seemed to speak to her own experiences as a Roma in Hungary.

R GALAMBICA: You know, when you experience hate every day of your life - and you just feel every word of the poem.

KAKISSIS: The Roma are one of Europe's largest ethnic minorities and its most marginalized. They were known for years as gypsies, a term Galambica says is loaded with the racism⁸ she faced growing up in Hungary.

R GALAMBICA: You are not enough. You won't be able to have a career because you will have children at 16 or 15. My brother - his teacher told him that it doesn't really matter if he studies because he won't be able to get a good job, and he will be no one in life.

KAKISSIS: The Roma migrated from India to Europe more than a thousand years ago. More than 12 million live in Europe today and are European citizens, yet many live in impoverished⁹ villages, shut out of good schools and the job market.

R GALAMBICA: Someone who doesn't know what it's like to be different in this kind of way, it will be hard for them to understand what Amanda might have thought when she wrote the poem.

KAKISSIS: Galambica is now one of Gorman's Hungarian translators.

(CROSSTALK)

KAKISSIS: She and three other Hungarian Roma are working on a translation of Gorman's bestselling new book, "Call Us What We Carry." The translators got the assignment after their mentor¹⁰, Kriszta Bódis, read about criticism over who should translate Gorman's work.

KRISZTA B?DIS: (Through interpreter) Literary types were debating whether someone's race should be a factor. Some said it's the knowledge, not skin color, that should count. It all started in the Netherlands.

KAKISSIS: Gorman's Dutch translator, a white nonbinary writer, quit last year after critics said the job should have gone to a Black writer. Then the Catalan translator, a white man, was dropped. European translators said they were getting dragged into American identity politics. But in Hungary, Bódis, who runs a nonprofit for Roma education, saw an opportunity.

B?DIS: (Through interpreter) Most of the translators here are middle-aged¹¹ white men. So I told the publisher, we have these wonderful young writers who are Roma.

KAKISSIS: One is 18-year-old Peter Galambica, whose sister we met earlier.

PETER GALAMBICA: I feel like the hill we're trying to climb is to put a stop to Romani people being looked at as criminals and as jokes and like we're clowns.

KAKISSIS: Another translator, Noemi Kala, who is also 18, says her classmates in Budapest don't realize that stereotyping¹² hurts.

NOEMI KALA: They don't know what it means for me, for the Romani's people. They just do it. And when they read poems like this, I really hope that they see what they did. (Non-English language spoken).

KAKISSIS: Noemi reads a translation of "The Hill We Climb" to the others.

KALA: (Non-English language spoken).

KAKISSIS: Bódis also assigns research on the Black American experience.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BROWN BABY")

NINA SIMONE: (Singing) I want you to go with your head held high.

KAKISSIS: This week, the translators listen to Nina Simone's song "Brown Baby."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BROWN BABY")

SIMONE: (Singing) I want you to live by the justice code.

KAKISSIS: Rozalia Galambica Zooms¹³ into the translation session from university in the Netherlands. She says her classmates there think she's Spanish or Greek.

R GALAMBICA: I'm just scared to say that, yeah, I'm a Hungarian Roma - you know? - because I'm not sure about how they would handle it.

KAKISSIS: She finds strength in the last lines of "The Hill We Climb." She reads her translation.

R GALAMBICA: (Non-English language spoken).

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

GORMAN: For there is always light, if only we're brave enough to see it. If only we're brave enough to be it.

R GALAMBICA: Chills (laughter).

KAKISSIS: Why do you get chills?

R GALAMBICA: I think it just describes that everything is possible.

KAKISSIS: Including, she says, this translation of one of her favorite poets, which is set to come out this summer.

For NPR News, I'm Joanna Kakissis in Budapest.

 

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1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

3 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

4 stigmatized   

v.使受耻辱，指责，污辱( stigmatize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was stigmatized as an ex-convict. 他遭人污辱，说他给判过刑。 来自辞典例句
• Such a view has been stigmatized as mechanical jurisprudence. 蔑称这种观点为机械法学。 来自辞典例句

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

9 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 mentor   

n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导

参考例句：

• He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
• He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。

11 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

12 stereotyping   

v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I realize that I'm stereotyping. 我认识到我搞的是老一套。 来自辞典例句
• There is none of the gender stereotyping usually evident in school uniforms. 有没有人的性别刻板印象通常是显而易见的。 来自互联网

13 zooms   

n.嗡嗡声( zoom的名词复数 )；隆隆声；（车辆等）疾驰的声音；变焦

参考例句：

• A sneeze zooms out of your mouth at over 600 m.p.h. 从你口中打出的喷嚏速度可达每小时600里。 来自互联网
• When the camera zooms in, the whole world watches out. 当镜头对准（汶川），全世界都在关注。 来自互联网