Some questions that Nancy brought up:
- How do you translate a culture, especially into a contemporary English idiom?
- Do you use rhyme when the original does, and how so?
- How do you translate idiomatic expressions?
- How do you translate images that have a specific cultural association?
- It’s easier to translate sentimental poems written in form than those in free verse—it gives you a “net” to work against.
- English can be monosyllabic (like Vietnamese) if you use Anglo-Saxon words rather than Latinate words.
- Ways to infuse musicality into English free verse translations of Vietnamese “sung” poems: alliteration, assonance, consonance, slant rhyme.