The role of a Polish interpreter can often be in a very serious setting, such as helping someone deal with an important legal, health, or administrative matter. But there can be lighter sides to the role as well.
In particular, those keen to help Poles living in the UK adjust to life here and become familiar with various cultural aspects may find translating literature, plays and music enables Polish people to gain an understanding of British life while they are still getting to grips with the task of learning English.
This actually cuts both ways, for the cultural links between Britain and Poland are deeper than some would imagine. This was highlighted by the Shakespeare Poland Festival held in Stratford-on-Avon in late June.
It focused on the first anniversary of the unveiling of a statue of Renaissance Polish Poet Jan Kochanowski, a contemporary of Shakespeare, in the garden of Anne Hathaway’s cottage.
The event included a reading in English of Kochanowski’s 1578 drama, the first of its kind written in Polish, “The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys”.
Just as English audiences may appreciate such chances to encounter Polish theatre and literature, so Poles may want to learn more on the English side about Shakespeare and other great writers and poets. Translators may help in both directions to help build on the cultural links created by events like this.
The links between Shakespeare and Poland go back further than some may realise; his works were performed there as early as the 1600s. While many of these were performed for English expat communities in cities like Gdansk, there were also Polish translations, although these were usually translated from German or French texts of Shakespeare.
It has also been suggested that Polish productions of plays like Hamlet were appropriated for political purposes in the 1790s, when the second partition of Poland took place.
Some Poles may not know a lot about these links when they come to live in the UK. But cultural organisations may find the work of translators can help to change this and help create a greater understanding and appreciation of British culture.