Catalan students from around ten Italian universities have worked in recent months on the Italian translation of Mar i cel. Students from the University of Montreal (Quebec) have also taken part.
This initiative is promoted by the Institut Ramon Llull, which each year proposes an activity related to Catalan culture to the members of the Llull Network – the network of international universities that offer Catalan studies – to be worked on collectively.
Each year’s theme is first explored in class. A collective presentation is then held during a public event streamed live from the Institut’s headquarters in Barcelona. This year’s event took place on Tuesday, 6 May.
Thus, the IRL’s headquarters in Barcelona hosted a dialogue with Dagoll Dagom: Anna Rosa Cisquella, Albert Guinovart, and Xavier Bru de Sala. The protagonists of the play, Alèxia Pascual (Blanca) and Jordi Garreta (Saïd), also participated, along with the Director of the Language and Universities Area, Josep-Anton Fernàndez, and the Director of the IRL, Pere Almeda. Italian universities joined the event from their classrooms.
The highlight of the event was the screening of the video recording of the Pirates’ Hymn in Italian, featuring the stars of the Dagoll Dagom musical. You can watch the full video here.
In addition to the translation of the text, a dramatic writing competition was held in which participants were asked to create alternative scenes for the musical Mar i cel in Catalan. Of all the submissions, three were selected as finalists. The winning piece, chosen by the Dagoll Dagom company, was Fugida cap a la llibertat (Flight to Freedom) by Salvatore Circosta (University of Sassari).
The translation of the Pirates’ Hymn into Italian was carried out by students at La Sapienza University in Rome. Other Italian universities also participated in the translation and subtitling of the entire text, coordinated by Emanuela Forgetta (from Suor Orsola Benincasa University in Naples). The participating universities include those of Siena, Orientale and Suor Orsola Benincasa in Naples, Turin, Sassari, Bologna, Venice, Milan, and Rome.
The Language and Universities Area promotes the teaching of Catalan at universities and higher education centres through a stable network – the Llull Network – comprising some 130 universities around the world with more than 7,000 enrolled students. Activities like this help to promote knowledge of the Catalan language and culture abroad, while also highlighting the role of translators – an especially relevant contribution to the international exposure of our writers.
