Interview with Fr Silvio Roggia, SDB

By Our Own Correspondent

RMG, 28 July 2019 -- In our Congregation, spread throughout 132 countries (today), nobody who is assigned to the service of the Rector Major, can avoid daily struggle with translations to many languages. And the Formation sector is no exception. Fr. Silvio is a veteran missionary in English-speaking Western Africa (AFW province of Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Liberia), served as Novice master and Vice-provincial. Now, together with Br. Raymond Callo and Fr. Francisco Santos he is a member of the Formation sector. We are grateful for this highly professional and passionate sharing!

How did you start out or how did you learn to translate Salesian texts?

More than learning how to translate I felt the great need for translated Salesian material for the formation of young confreres in Africa. Among the many publications, three especially have become extremely valuable: [1] Don Bosco by Teresio Bosco [2] Don Bosco and the Salesians by Morand Wirth [3] Don Bosco History and Spirit by Lenti-Giraudo. Books alone do not do much for the life of a young person or candidate or confrere. But when books are part of a process, of learning, reflecting, sharing… then much happens in their lives.

Who or what has been more helpful in your translation ministry?

I had a lot of personal notes that kept being enriched and organised year after year. Besides some specific text or input, with clear ‘boundaries’ to be respected, I think it is useful to keep some ‘open-ended’ folders, in which the subjects one is ‘translating’ can keep growing, be updated, upgraded etc.… Most of the 'Salesiana' we use are not just things taken out of historical archives… they are made to be ‘living matter’.

Which tools are you more often using for translations?

I'm basically using these 3 main tools:

1. Google Translate for documents (not just pieces of text). The more I use it the more accurate it becomes…. When what I have to translate are shorter paragraphs then I use Google for TEXT translation, and I do the correction within the Google platform, ‘educating’ Google in this way to understand better my vocab. Sometimes I have also ‘tricked’ the system a bit in order to speed up Google's learning. E.g. If I have a text very well translated like the Salesian Constitutions… I take five articles at a go in Italian and I ask Google to translate them in English. Then I paste the English official version on top of the version given by Google and submit. Google thanks me and learns the Salesian mind set a bit better … It looks like a waste of time, but in the long run it helps to have a much more effective tool.
2. Speechnotes. Actually. this is not a translation programme but a online dictation program (in so many languages). It helps me for translation when what I have to translate is an audio input or something that needs more interpretation from my side. I listen or I read and I dictate the translation I want. It saves time and the ‘typing’ of the program is much more accurate than my own.
3. DeepL (https://www.deepl.com/en/translator): I use it only when I have to deal with some very elaborated text. I have not registered and I do not need to do so. I just keep DeepL on the side to compare some more complex statement with Google's translation. Let’s say that 80% is the same. Sometimes DeepL gives better insight.

How do you guarantee the consistency of Salesian terminology?

Good question! Not much to answer… The works I translate are normally not so scientific and long, where one needs very careful consistency… I trust my perception of what I’m translating, and it is consistent at the end with my view point. Not a very ‘professional’ criterion… !

What suggestion can you offer to SDB translators just starting out?

To become familiar with some basic Salesian Literature (eg. Don Bosco by Teresio Bosco, Constitutions , Frame of reference..)

Some suggestions for personal and group translators formation?

My dream is NETWORKING, with some ‘SALESIAN CLOUD’ where resources can be shared, and maybe also create a kind of ‘BANK’ for voluntary or paid translation work… where is possible to exchange expertise, works already done, works better done, support… Many elderly members of the Salesian Family would be happy to donate part of their time in this way.

One of the important phases of a good translation is proof reading… and it needs much time and very competent people in the translated language. Such an online platform might be helpful also for this.

Suggestions for concrete team-work at provincial level, regional or world level?

Do not forget that 53% of the young sdbs in the world ‘functions’ in ENGLISH… What does this mean? Many things… For instance: whatever is translated in English can potentially reach more than 50% of the SDB world. Each one can draw other points out of that.

Any expectation or message for the EAO Translators Workshop?

Thanks to anyone who dedicates time and energy to this hidden side of the ‘good sowing’, which is also the one closer to the good soil that produces much fruit … up to a hundredfold!

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