Asst. Prof. Alvin Ringgo C. Reyes, former chair of the Secondary Education Department, College of Education, took the grand prize in the inaugural Timpalak Mario Miclat sa Pagsasalin on September 30, 2022, International Translation Day.
Reyes bested 22 other finalists, who came from the academe and the literary industry, in the contest organized by the Filipinas Institute of Translation, Inc.
The senior member of the UST Sentro sa Salin at Araling Salin and former chair of the Departamento ng Filipino received Php100,000 to finish his Filipino translation of the Japanese classic novel Kokoro by Natsume Sōseki.
Reyes related the significance of translating Asian literature into Filipino, especially in a borderless world hastened by internationalization and globalization.
“Kailangang maunawaan din natin ang realidad ng mga kapuwa natin sa mas malaking pamayanang ating kinabibilangan,” he explained.
Reyes’s translation was guided by Venuti’s theory on foreignization at domestication, a topic discussed in the Pagsasalin subject which he helped create in the department.
“Naging hamon sa akin kung paano pananatilihin ang natatanging kahulugang kultural ng mga termino sa kalagayan ng Japan noong 1910 na siyang reference ng nobela,” he said.
The contest was held in partnership with Katipunan sa Kultura at Kasaysayan (KKK2022), UP Departamento ng Filipino at Panitikan ng Pilipinas (UPDFPP), UP Kolehiyo ng Arte at Literatura (UPKAL), Likhaan: UP Creative Writing Center, Maningning Miclat Arts Foundation, Inc. (MMAFI), and UP Sentro ng Wikang Filipino Diliman (SWF-UPD).
