In spring of 2022, I took the course LC 445 Service-Learning Experience at St. Cloud State, which was part of a partnership with the German program at MNSU Mankato. In this course, students developed and polished their German translation skills. We translated a variety of sources into English, including advertisements, recipes, children's books, and more. However, much of the class was spent working on a service-learning project. The goal of this project was to translate documents for Dr. Kimberly Contag, a professor emeritus of Spanish. Her family had a unique history, with her father's family being forcibly relocated to Germany during World War II, despite being Ecuadorian citizens. Throughout the semester, my classmates and I translated numerous documents, including things such as letters from relatives of Dr. Contag and a poem written by her father.

 

Although the project was fascinating, it was also extremely difficult. There were several historical and cultural references vital to the meaning of the content that I didn’t understand, and most of the documents were written in old German cursive, which the class had to spend several weeks learning how to read. Full understanding of the documents required various historical, cultural, political, and linguistic knowledge of Germany, Ecuador, and the United States. Fortunately, Dr. Contag spoke with us and gave us background information from her family's history, which helped us immensely in piecing together some of the more ambiguous parts. One example of this was her father's name. Although he wrote letters in German and signed them as Karl, he primarily spoke Spanish, and he preferred to be called Carlos. Through Dr. Contag, I gained a better understanding of the sociopolitical circumstances surrounding foreign born ethnic Germans in this era. At times, confronting this history was uncomfortable. We had to translate a letter detailing the school attended by Dr. Contag’s relatives, which was run by Nazi supporters, as well as letters describing the family's hardships and sense of unbelonging in Germany. Delving into Nazi-era media is never an easy task, but it was a necessary one. I had to set my own discomfort aside to interpret a side of history that is relatively unknown. Through this process, I learned to ask myself critical questions regarding culture. I had to analyze word choice, tone, and context to determine how Dr. Contag’s family felt about their own circumstances and the political conditions at the time. I didn’t learn a large amount about Ecuadorian culture itself during this project, as the focus was on German Ecuadorians as a unique group. However, I was able to learn more of the United States’ influence on Latin American politics, and how this enabled the deportation of ethnic Germans. Although I previously had a surface level understanding of intersectional identities, this project helped cement ideas of how identities evolve through factors such as culture, language, politics, and colonialism. These ideas have stayed with me throughout my other courses and have given me a context to look to and reference when I get confused about cultural complexities.

 

There was also a great amount of teamwork involved in the project. Typically, we first created our own individual translations and then came together to craft a translation on which we all agreed. However, there were many times when we didn’t agree with each other. This project helped me to realize just how complex and multifaceted the art of translation is. There are a variety of factors to consider when translating, such as language play, cultural context, connotation, and target audience. Translation was not a simple process. It was a series of processes, including editing and peer review. By the end of the semester, the translations were put together and given to Dr. Contag.

 

In fall of 2022, one of my classmates, Tesla Gontjes, and I gave a presentation about the service-learning project at the Panlingua Conference at MNSU. Panlingua is a conference where students can give academic presentations in the language they are studying. My partner and I gave our presentation in German. We outlined our translation process, the difficulties of translating, and the importance of translating among many others. As someone who wishes to continue with their German language skills after graduating, this was a valuable experience. Going forward, I plan on being much more careful and thoughtful when others ask me to translate for them.

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Click the MediaSpace link below to watch my Panlingua presentation

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https://mediaspace.minnstate.edu/media/PanLingua+Presi/1_e3v42j0s