Dany Laferrier wrote a memoir concerning the Haiti Earthquake, titled “Tout Bouge Autour de Moi” which was later translated by David Homel, into the English language under the title “The World is Moving Around Me; a memoir of the Haiti Earthquake”.

In taking and translating a text from one language to another, there is always a chance that a part of the meaning could be lost during the process. Whether that concerns the function of phrases utilized to express concepts for which the language of translation has no equal wording, or whether the authors original narrative is altered with the style of writing utilized by a translator, the newly constructed piece of work will simply become an alternate representation of the original concepts captured by the author in his own words.

In David Homel’s article  “Tin-Fluting It:On translating Dany Laferrier”, Homel mentions “that the worst nightmare for a writer would be to be forced to write in a language that is not the one from his…childhood…Laferriere is in exactly that situation.”(50) as his “native language is Creaole”(Ibid). Therefore the process of both translation and writing becomes more complex. It would seem that although a childhood language, or first learned language is an important part of communication, a secondary language which is often practiced should not pose too many problems, if there are in fact any at all.

I found an article from words without borders that suggests a major component in translation is a solid foundation of trust and understanding between both the author and the translator himself. In the interview questions found within this article there are two specifically geared towards translation.

1) I understand Gogol is very difficult to translate because of the subtleties of his style. Do you think you are difficult to translate? You’ve worked with David Homel on several books. Are there issues that have come up in taking your work into English?

2)Do you know your translator personally? Do you work with him face to face?

In answering these two questions, Laferriere provides some insights into the complexity of the translation process which is often viewed as quite challenging and complex. For L’aferriere, the elements of stress seem to be eliminated, as he instead exhibits a great deal of faith in his translator, understanding that the process is eligible to its own creative liberties.