Senez 27 (2004)

Presentation

Translation: Juan Mari Mendizabal

Dear reader, this issue of Senez magazine comes to you together with the joy of a celebration: it was in 1984 that the translators group from the Martutene Translators' School published the first issue of this magazine, which later would be managed by EIZIE. So we are twenty years old. The celebration will be marked by a special issue of Senez — but the issue now in your hands also attempts to explain the most important steps taken during the last few years.

The magazine opens once again, as in the latest issues, with poetry translation. These are works by quite a few translators, undertaken with love, more than devotion, and intended to be the basis for a future website with translated poetry, within the framework of a totally communitarian project. EIZIE member Antton Garikano, one of the supporters of this project, has helped us in gathering, selecting and preparing the poems to be published. We feel grateful to him, but just as grateful to every translator who embellished this poetic bouquet.

We have wanted to recover the memory of the magazine in the interview section, by conferring with the chief editors the magazine has had during these twenty years. EIZIE member Fernando Rey guided the discussion, not as a moderator, but rather the opposite, undertaking the task of defining the gist of the discussion, a task he has fulfilled excellently.

Then comes a review of EIZIE member of honour Pedro Berrondo's rendering of 'Don Quixote', within the framework of the celebrations, organised by the town of Oiartzun, taking place one year after his passing away.

And finally comes the section providing the core of this issue: the papers read at the sessions held in San Sebastian, organised by EIZIE with help from the Official Translation Service of the Public Administration Translators' School (IVAP), from May 5 to 7, 2004, on the subject of proofreading. It was the first time that our association studied in depth the issue of proofreading, and it became clear at the sessions that the topic triggered extraordinary curiosity amongst translators (as well as amongst publishers and many others). That is the reason why we decided to bring these papers to our pages, as a reminder for those who attended the sessions, and as material worth knowing about for those who did not.

So this is how we have completed this issue, corresponding to the 20th anniversary. In the path advanced so far, we could say that Senez magazine has always been the vanguard in Basque translation over these years when both translation as a whole and translators have developed enormously. The heritage from the past must be maintained, and we can hold no better wish for the association and for the magazine than to have the strength to do so.