Personal Interview with Catherine Hartigan-Go, Audio Clip 5
Dublin Core
Title
Personal Interview with Catherine Hartigan-Go, Audio Clip 5
Description
The interviewer asks the interviewee to comment on the difference between reading the novel in English and Filipino, given that the interviewee is fluent in both languages. The interviewee explains that, while she is fluent in Filipino — the language in which they learned the novel in school — English was still her stronger language, and thus, she was able to better pick up more of the nuances and messages of the story rereading it in English the second time around.
Creator
Catherine Hartigan-Go
Kaylee Hartigan-Go
Source
Personal conversation between Catherine Hartigan-Go and Kaylee Hartigan-Go
Publisher
Kaylee Hartigan-Go
Date
November 20, 2020
Rights
Kaylee Hartigan-Go
Catherine Hartigan-Go
Format
Audio file (mp3)
Language
English
Coverage
Manila, Philippines
Oral History Item Type Metadata
Original Format
Audio file (mp3)
Duration
2 minutes 40 seconds
Transcription
Kaylee:
I know you’re fluent in Tagalog and in English. For me, I think part of the reason it maybe wasn't so compelling in Tagalog was because I'm not fluent in it. So, you know, it was even harder for me to maybe slog through. And that's why, aside from being older and understanding literature better now, I also understand it better because it's in English. So I'm just wondering if you had — if you had any thoughts or comments about that translation, even though you understand a lot more Filipino, of the Filipino language, than I do.
Catherine:
[0:40] I would tend to think even though I do understand Filipino, I think that I think in English. English is sort of my first language. So when I read it in English, I also did understand nuances — but maybe it’s the translation that I read. I understood the nuances a lot more than in the Filipino version. That's not to say that if I read it now, in Filipino, that I wouldn't get the same nuances. It's just when I was in high school, I didn't get the nuances because I was also younger. I think I actually went back to reread it maybe five years down the line, after I first read it in school. So, I had gone through college, as an English major learning how to critically analyze literature, and then gone back to read it in English. So I had already that way of thinking —
Kaylee:
[1:54] That was specific to English?
Catherine:
[1:55] Yes, and a certain maturity also, because I was a bit older by then. And of course, it's your second time around, so you do have already an idea how things are going to go in the book. So when you're rereading it, having read it before — even if it's in a different language — you know the structure of the story already. You're just reading it to understand the details and to understand the…
Kaylee:
[2:33] Flow?
Catherine:
[2:34] Yeah, to understand I guess maybe the reason the author decided to write it in that way.
I know you’re fluent in Tagalog and in English. For me, I think part of the reason it maybe wasn't so compelling in Tagalog was because I'm not fluent in it. So, you know, it was even harder for me to maybe slog through. And that's why, aside from being older and understanding literature better now, I also understand it better because it's in English. So I'm just wondering if you had — if you had any thoughts or comments about that translation, even though you understand a lot more Filipino, of the Filipino language, than I do.
Catherine:
[0:40] I would tend to think even though I do understand Filipino, I think that I think in English. English is sort of my first language. So when I read it in English, I also did understand nuances — but maybe it’s the translation that I read. I understood the nuances a lot more than in the Filipino version. That's not to say that if I read it now, in Filipino, that I wouldn't get the same nuances. It's just when I was in high school, I didn't get the nuances because I was also younger. I think I actually went back to reread it maybe five years down the line, after I first read it in school. So, I had gone through college, as an English major learning how to critically analyze literature, and then gone back to read it in English. So I had already that way of thinking —
Kaylee:
[1:54] That was specific to English?
Catherine:
[1:55] Yes, and a certain maturity also, because I was a bit older by then. And of course, it's your second time around, so you do have already an idea how things are going to go in the book. So when you're rereading it, having read it before — even if it's in a different language — you know the structure of the story already. You're just reading it to understand the details and to understand the…
Kaylee:
[2:33] Flow?
Catherine:
[2:34] Yeah, to understand I guess maybe the reason the author decided to write it in that way.
Interviewer
Kaylee Hartigan-Go
Interviewee
Catherine Hartigan-Go
Location
Manila, Philippines
Files
Citation
Catherine Hartigan-Go and Kaylee Hartigan-Go, “Personal Interview with Catherine Hartigan-Go, Audio Clip 5,” Spatial Humanities, accessed December 31, 2024, https://spatial-humanities.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/34362.