The Visible Art of Translation

Ana Guerberof Arenas from the INCREC project interviewed Alon Lavie for this month's episode. Alon is a computer scientist and an expert on machine translation and he has been at the leading edge of AI research in language technology for more than 20 years.He is currently a Distinguished Career Professor at the Language Technologies Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, in the USA, where he co-directs CMU’s professional Master’s program in AI and Innovation (MSAII), and a Strategic Advisor for Phrase, a language technology platform company that develops computer aided translation tools (CAT).His research interests are centered on Automated Translation Quality Estimation and Evaluation, he was the lead researcher behind the METEOR and COMET metrics, and he has also worked on the development of Machine Translation adaptation techniques.

Annelies de hertogh (1977) has a Master’s Degree in Translation and translates Russian, English and German literature into Dutch. Els de Roon Hertoge (1973) has a Master’s Degree in Slavonic Studies and translates Russian and English literature. They met in 2013 during a translation project where Annelies was the translator and Els the editor. They worked so well together that they decided to continue collaborating as a duo for Russian and English literature.They have translated works by the Polish-Russian absurdist writer Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky, the Soviet-Russian humorist Sergey Dovlatov, the German-British experimentalist Isabel Waidner and the American surrealist ‘Dorothea Tanning, among others. From 2020 to 2024 they worked on their biggest translation project to date: the monumental war novel Stalingrad by Vasili Grossman, the prequel of the equally monumental novel Life and fate. For this translation they were awarded the Filter Translation Prize in 2025.They are currently finishing the translation of a third collection of stories by their favorite Russian author Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky and have begun working on the translation of Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.For more information, you can visit Els and Annelies’ website: www.hertog-hertog.nl

Xiaolu Wang from the INCREC project interviewed María Meroño Fernández, a specialist in translation, accessibility, and proofreading. María works primarily translating between English and Spanish, as well as from French to Spanish. She holds a degree in Translation and Interpreting from the University of Murcia and a Master's degree in Humanistic and Creative Translation from the University of Valencia. María is particularly passionate about the more creative and humanistic areas of translation, including tourism, music, and gastronomy, among others. She has translated a wide array of audiovisual genres, from documentaries (Stieg Larsson: The Man Who Played with Fire) to reality shows (The Bad Foot Clinic), all the way to movies (the dark comedy Bad Apples) and TV shows (Law and Order, Will & Grace). She is currently working on her first book translation, a historic novel set in the Tudor period with a heavy emphasis on religion, longlisted for the 2025 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.

Nastja Shaboltas from the INCREC project interview Hwasue S. Warber. She is the first professional translator to bring Norwegian literature directly into Korean, without the detour via intermediary languages. Since 2001, she has translated around 130 works, mainly from Norwegian, but also from Swedish and Danish. Her translations span contemporary fiction, children’s literature, classics, and nonfiction, and she is widely recognized as a driving force in shaping the reception and success of Norwegian literature in South Korea. Her translation of Jon Fosse’s Melancholia I–II was a finalist for the 64th Korean Herald Publishing Culture Award (2023). In 2019, she was honored by the President of South Korea as a “Cultural Ambassador”. She studied English literature inKorea and music in Austria, now she lives in Norway.

In this Xmas Special, the team behind the INCREC project talks about the project in more detail. What did we learn the past year and how did the project evolve? We all wish you happy holidays and a wonderful 2026!

Kyo Gerrits from the INCREC project interviews Fannah Palmer. She is a literary translator and editor. She has studied English at the University of Amsterdam and Writing, Editing and Mediating at the University of Groningen. She translates fiction and non-fiction, prose and poetry, and from English into Dutch and from Dutch into English. Her translations include Audre Lorde’s Zami, Yael van der Wouden’s The Safekeep (together with Roos van der Wardt), Honorrée Fanonne’s The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois and poetry by Babs Gons and June Jordan. 

Xiaolu Wang from the INCREC project interviewed Adán Cassan. Adán Cassan, a professional audiovisual translator with nearly a decade of experience in subtitling and dubbing. With 24 years as a language professional, Adán specializes in translating from English, Portuguese, and Italian into Spanish and Catalan. His portfolio includes major Netflix productions like Wednesday, Ripley, and Maestro, as well as Disney Plus productions like Family Guy and 911 Lone Star. Beyond audiovisual translation, Adán brings a unique interdisciplinary background spanning natural language processing, computational lexicography, and even ludolinguistics—the world of crosswords and word games. As a member of several professional associations like the Spanish Organization of Audiovisual Translators and Adapters (ATRAE), Portuguese Association of Audiovisual Translators (ATAV) and SUBTLE, Adán represents the evolving landscape of modern translation work.

Kyo Gerrits from the INCREC project interviews Tjadine Stheeman, who is a literary translator. She has studied translation and literary studies at the University of Amsterdam. She translates from English into Dutch and she has translated many authors and stories, from Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad, to Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, from Ottessa Moshfegh and David Sedaris to Jonathan Safran Foer and Zadie Smith. She has also taught translation at the Academy for Literary Translation and she was an editor of the translation magazine “Pluk”. She now also presides over the board of the Vertalersvakschool (the Translator Craft School).

Nastja Shaboltas⁠ from the INCREC project interviewed Meritxell Salvany Balada. Meritxell holds a degree in English from the University of Barcelona, where she also studied Swedish Language. Between 1983 and 1986, she obtained her diplomas in French and Italian. Thanks to the Swedish Institute, she studied Swedish at different Folkhögskolor (1989–95), and Nordic literatures at the University of Stockholm (1996–1997). She has translated around eighty novels and children’s books, mostly from Norwegian and Swedish, but also from Danish and Icelandic, into Catalan. In recent years, she has translated, amongst others, works by Ingmar Bergman, Maj Sjöwall, Elin Cullhed and Dag Hammarskjöld from Swedish, by Jon Fosse, Erlend Loe, Maria Parr, Ingunn Thon, Linn Ullmann, and Sigrid Undset from Norwegian, by Dorthe Nors and Mette Vedsø from Danish, and by Arndís Þórarinsdóttir from Icelandic. She very much enjoys making it possible that Scandinavian authors from present and past may be read in the Catalan language.

Xiaolu Wang from the INCREC project interviewed Lía Moya. Lía Moya, a seasoned audiovisual translator whose career spans over two decades in the Spanish film industry. With a background in journalism, Lía discovered her calling in audiovisual translation through her work at film festivals, initially as a programmer before moving into translation. She developed her skills at Filmoteca Española, where she synchronized electronic subtitles, and has been working as a full-time freelance subtitler since 1997. Lía has collaborated with every major distributor in Spain, translating everything from major blockbusters to all sorts of interesting indies, while also working closely with film festivals. In recent years, she has expanded her expertise to include dubbing translation. Her exceptional work has earned industry recognition, including a nomination from the Spanish Association for Audiovisual Translation and Adaptation (ATRAE) for her subtitles of "Nebraska" in 2014, and winning their award for "Spotlight" in 2016.

Kyo Gerrits from the INCREC project interviews Maria Postema. Maria is a translator, author and drummer. She has studied English and TV-cultures at the University of Utrecht where she still lives and works. She translates from English into Dutch, mainly youth and YA literature. She is most well-known for her translation of popular YA series such as The Hunger Games, Divergent and Twilight series and she also translates Jason Reynold’s books into Dutch. She also adapted Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ for Dutch adolescents and wrote two youth novels, together with Maarten Bruns. Her translations have won multiple awards, including the Filter translation prize for youth translation. 

Nastja Shaboltas from the INCREC project interviewed Peter Bergsma. Peter Bergsma (1952) studied at the Institute for Translation Studies in Amsterdam and has been a literary and journalistic translator from English and French since 1977. He translated some 90 books by, among others, Maurice Blanchot, J.M. Coetzee (20 titles), Graham Greene, Lydia Davis, Ernest Hemingway, Kazuo Ishiguro, Denis Johnson, Nastassja Martin, Vladimir Nabokov, Thomas Pynchon, John Steinbeck, George Steiner, Mark Twain and Thornton Wilder. From 1997 until his retirement in June 2018, he was the managing director of the Amsterdam Translators’ House, a part of the Dutch Foundation for Literature.

Xiaolu Wang from the INCREC project interviewed Josep Llurba Naval. Josep is a professional translator with extensive experience in translating and adapting feature films and TV series from English into Spanish and Catalan. As a subtitler, Josep has worked on films screened at cinema theaters, the Catalan Film House (Filmoteca de la Generalitat de Catalunya), and film festivals. His academic contributions include teaching in the official Master's Degree in Audiovisual Translation at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and conducting courses in translation and adaptation for dubbing at SGAE (Sociedad General de Autores y Editores) and APTIC (Associació Professional de Traductors i Intèrprets de Catalunya). Josep is a founder member and organizer of CITA, the International Conference on Audiovisual Translation, which he helped establish in Barcelona in 2007 and 2008. He is also a member of ATRAE (Asociación de Traducción y Adaptación Audiovisual de España) and serves on the board of DAMA (Derechos de autor de Medios Audiovisuales). 

Nastja Shaboltas from the INCREC project interviewed Karolina Drozdowska. Karolina is a literary translator from Norwegian to Polish and a literary scholar. They have published over one hundred and twenty translations, including books by Jens Bjørneboe, Lars Mytting, Nina Lykke and Marie Aubert. They are a member of Polish Literary Translators' Association and won NORLA's Translator's Award in 2021. In 2014, they defended their doctoral dissertation on Jens Bjørneboe's epic theatre and now work as an Associate Professor in the Nordic Literature Section at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. Their academic interests include, among others, newest Norwegian prose as well as the theory and practice of translation. They love teaching and their students.

Liset Rouweler from the INCREC project interviews Erna Auf der Haar. Erna is a freelance audiovisual translator based in the Netherlands. She discovered her passion for subtitling during her studies and started her career in the early 2000’s. Since then, she has translated many different movies, tv shows and documentaries in different genres, among which my favorite Dexter. Erna also received the Reid ondertitelprijs for her contribution to the movie Goldie, in 2020.

Kyo Gerrits from the INCREC project interviews Sarah Timmer Harvey. Sarah is a translator and writer currently based in Woodstock, New York. She holds an MFA from Columbia University in New York and a BA from Southern Cross University. Sarah’s translation of Jente Posthuma’s novel What I’d Rather Not Think About was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2024. In that same year, she published a translation of Thistle, a novel by Nadia de Vries. She’s also translated Reconstruction, stories written by the Dutch-Surinamese writer Karin Amatmoekrim. In the coming year, Sarah's translation of Jente Posthuma's critically acclaimed debut, People with No Charisma, will be published. She’s also translated a lot of Dutch-language poetry and fictions in different reviews, magazines and elsewhere. Born in Australia, Sarah lived and worked in the Netherlands for 14 years before moving to New York City in 2013.

In this Xmas Special, the team behind the INCREC project talks about the project in more detail. You'll get the change to learn more about who we are, what we are doing and what challenges are faced within a research project of this size. We all wish you happy holidays and a wonderful 2025!

Kyo Gerrits from the INCREC project interviews Michele Hutchison. She is a literary translator from Dutch and French to English. She has translated many different authors and genres, literary novels, graphic novels, children’s novel, picture books and non-fiction to name a few. She is perhaps most well-known for her translation of Lucas Rijneveld’s ‘The Discomfort of Evening’ which won the International Man Booker Prize in 2020, she also won the Vondel Prize for her translation of ‘Stage Four’ by Sander Kollaard. She has also written a book herself, which has been translated into more than a dozen languages. She also helps early-career translators and gives translation workshop.

Xiaolu Wang from the INCREC project interviews Anjana Martínez-Tejerina. Anjana holds a PhD in Audiovisual Translation from the University of Alicante and has been working as a freelance translator since 2007. She specializes in subtitling and dubbing. Over the years, Anjana has collaborated with major clients such as International Sound Studio, Sublimage and Babel Subtitling. She has translated hundreds of fiction and non-fiction films, as well as more than 100 episodes of TV series and reality shows. Anjana has also taught audiovisual translation as an associate lecturer at Pompeu Fabra University, Autonomous University of Barcelona, and the Open University of Catalonia, and she is currently an associate professor at the University of Vic.

Nastja Shaboltas from the INCREC project interviews ⁠Natasha Press. Natasha is a translator and interpreter from Swedish and English into Russian, a poet and a performer. She translates fiction,both poetry and prose, and non-fiction. Among her translations are the novels by Stig Dagerman, an influential figure in the Swedish literature of the 20th century. She is also a part of the seminar of literary translators from Swedish based in Saint Petersburg.

Xiaolu Wang from the INCREC project interviews Shak Yousaf. He is an audio describer, audio description manager and lecturer based in London. With 10 years of experience as the Audio Description Manager at Iyuno, Shak brings a wealth of expertise to the field. Additionally, he teaches audio description at UCL in the autumn and at the University of Leeds in the spring. The courses he has created and designed are grounded in his extensive knowledge and experience.

Kyo Gerrits from the INCREC-project interviews Roos van de Wardt. She is a literary translator, lecturer and mentor for translation studies, and she also works at the ‘Cultural Pharmacy’ where they offer consultations and write out tailored book-prescriptions. She has studied English language and literature and Translation Studies at the University of Utrecht, where she received a Top Talent Grant. She translates mainly from English to Dutch and has translated a host of different works, authors and genres, from Deborah Levy’s autobiographies, to novels by Jenny Offill and Nick Hornby and even also some illustrated works, for instance one on baby animals. She has also worked on the Crossing Border Festival, teaches translation, and she is a mentor for starting literary translators.

Ana Guerberof-Arenas⁠ from the INCREC project interviews Amalie Foss⁠. She is a copywriter, AV translator and co-founder of the Medietekst Danmark. She works as a news subtitler at TV2, which is Denmarks second national public service broadcaster. Amalie is also the president of the Audiovisal Translators Europe and the chair of the AV Group of Translators within the Danish Union of Journalists. She mainly translates from English, Swedish and Norwegian into Danish.

Ana Guerberof-Arenas from the INCREC project interviews Guillermo Parra López. He is a translator, subtitler, reviewer, lecturer in translation and audiovisual translation and researcher based between Menorca and Quebec. He translates from English, German and French into Spanish and Catalan. Guillermo has translated films and series for large streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon, as well as for festivals such as the Americana Film Festival. Together with Blanca Arias Badía and Damián Santilli, he runs the Spanish podcast En sincronía. Furthermore, he has been nominated to 6 ATRAE awards for subtitling (ATRAE is the Spanish Association for Audiovisual Translation).

Ana Guerberof-Arenas from the INCREC project interviews Xènia Dykonova. Xènia is a poet, translator, literary critic, writing teacher and publisher based in Barcelona. She was born in Saint Petersburg in 1985, but then moved with her family to Catalonia where she studied Literature and Comparative Literature in Barcelona University. She has published her poems in several literary magazines in San Petersburg and Moscow, but she has also published two poem collections in Catalan. As a translator, she has translated into Catalan and Spanish novels, essays, poems, articles from Anton Chekhov, Anna Politkovskaya, Boris Pasternak, Mikhail Bulgakov, Daniil Kharms, Alexander Kushner and many others. For her work, she has received the prizes Premi Vidal Alcover (2016) and the PEN prize in Translation (2018). She has co-translated with José Mateo Martínez several literary works, and they have also funded Vacamú, a publishing house based in Barcelona.

Ana Guerberof-Arenas from the INCREC project interviews Addie Brand. Addie Brand studied English at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands, and then she did a Master in Translation at Utrecht University. She worked briefly as a translator for Booking.com, but then she quickly switched to subtitling at the Dutch subtitling company VSI, where she was trained to subtitle from English into Dutch, mainly reality and comedy shows for three years. She has been working for inVision Subtitling for thirteen years. Furthermore, she is a project manager, but she also does proofreading of corporate videos, videos for museums and television shows, from English into Dutch (and vice versa), but also same language subtitling.

Ana Guerberof-Arenas from the INCREC project interviews Damián Santilli. Damián is a translator, subtitler, reviewer, lecturer in translation and audiovisual translation, speaker, organizer based in Buenos Aires. He has translated over 1,000 episodes of TV series for different American networks like TNT, MTV, Fox, and many others. In addition, he has subtitled movies for local TV networks and international and national film festivals. He is the creator and director of the MA in Translation Technology, Localization and Audiovisual Translation in the University of Buenos Aires and also professor of the BA in Sworn Translation at the same university. He created the conference HispaTAV that deals with audiovisual translation in the Spanish language, and he also runs the Spanish podcast En sincronía with Blanca Arias Badía and Guillermo Parra.

Ana Guerberof-Arenas from the INCREC project interviews Robbert-Jan Henkes. He is a translator, editor, writer and performer. He has translated The Beatles and Bob Dylan, Wagner arias, poetry by Kharms, stories by Woody Allen, Anatoli Mariëngof, Navokov, Dovlatov, De Quincey, Ardrej Tarkovsky, theathre by Shakespeare, among many other works of literature. He co-translated with Erik Bindervoet Finnegans Wake by James Joyce and they edited the Oxford Classics version of the same book. He translates from English, Russian and German into Dutch.