Tag Archives: Michael Cronin

Neither Here And There: The Misery and Splendor of (Reverse) Translation*

In Bulgarian, which I translate from, translating into a language that’s not your native tongue is colloquially known as obraten prevod, which literally means “reverse translation.” As an adjective, obraten carries the negative connotation of something abnormal or backward, something that goes against the grain, or something that simply isn’t right.