Transcript
Commercial Announcer (0:00)
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Daniel Hahn (0:30)
K Pop Demon Hunters Saja Boy's breakfast meal and Hunt Tricks Meal have just dropped at McDonald's. They're calling this a battle for the fans. What do you say to that Rumi?
Maithili Rao (0:39)
It's not a battle.
Daniel Hahn (0:40)
So glad the Saja boys could take
Commercial Announcer (0:42)
breakfast and give our meal the rest of the day.
Commercial Announcer (0:44)
It is an honor to share.
Daniel Hahn (0:46)
No, it's our honor. It is our larger honor. No really stop. You can really feel the respect in this battle. Pick a meal to pick a side the and participate in McDonald's while supplies last.
Mia Sorrenti (1:00)
Welcome to Intelligence Squared where great minds meet. I'm producer Mia Sorrenti. What does it mean to translate some of the most recognizable and revered works in the English language? And when the wordplay, poetry and syntax of Shakespeare are all changed, is it still truly Shakespeare? On today's episode, Daniel Hahn, award winning translator and author, joins our host Maithili Rao to discuss his new book, if this Be Magic, the Unlikely Art of Shakespeare and Translation and how Shakespeare's works are continually reshaped across languages, cultures and traditions. Let's join our host, Maithili Rao, now with more.
Maithili Rao (1:40)
Welcome to Intelligence Square.
Daniel Hahn (1:41)
Daniel thank you very much. Good to be here.
Maithili Rao (1:43)
Daniel. I want to start by saying just what a lively and unusual book if this be magic your new book is. You speak to translators of Shakespeare's plays working in Bangla, Hungarian, Brazilian, Portuguese, Turkish, German, Swahili, Mahari, French, Japanese, Chinese, Chinese, Danish. I think I've missed probably a few. And play by play, line by line, you really bring to life the many unusual challenges and opportunities of translation in these languages you write. Each language encodes information differently. So this is a book that takes on big questions about the nature of language. What constitutes the heart of a work of literature, a work of Shakespeare? It's also a book that makes space for lots of fun, geeky linguistic tangents Translation is definitely a misunderstood art. And early in the book, you cite a friend who says to you, Shakespeare can't be translated. Isn't that the whole point? So to start with, why was your friend wrong? And why is it important to translate Shakespeare in the first place?
