EXACTLY WHAT I SAID: TRANSLATING WORDS AND WORLDS

 

Awards

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• WINNER: Mary Scorer Award for Best Book by a Manitoba Publisher (2023)

• Jurors’ comment: “Beautifully produced, exquisitely crafted… a testament to listening and understanding.”

• SHORT-LISTED: Atlantic Book Award for Scholarly Writing (2023)

• LONG-LISTED: BMO Winterset Award (2023)

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Publisher’s overview

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"You don’t have to use the exact same words.… But it has to mean exactly what I said.” Thus began the ten-year collaboration between Innu elder and activist Tshaukuesh Elizabeth Penashue and Memorial University professor Elizabeth Yeoman that produced the celebrated Nitinikiau Innusi: I Keep the Land Alive, an English-language edition of Penashue’s journals, originally written in Innu-aimun during her decades of struggle for Innu sovereignty.

 

Exactly What I Said: Translating Words and Worlds reflects on that collaboration and what Yeoman learned from it. It is about naming, mapping, and storytelling; about photographs, collaborative authorship, and voice; about walking together on the land and what can be learned along the way. Combining theory with personal narrative, Yeoman weaves together ideas, memories, and experiences––of home and place, of stories and songs, of looking and listening––to interrogate the challenges and ethics of translation.

Examining what it means to relate whole worlds across the boundaries of language, culture, and history, Exactly What I Said offers an accessible, engaging reflection on respectful and responsible translation and collaboration.​

 

Reviews

 

“Exactly What I Said offers an intelligent, sensitive detailing of the many challenges of translating an Indigenous language and working in innovative ways alongside an Indigenous author…”

-Valerie Henitiuk, Co-translator of Markoosie Patsauq's Hunter with Harpoon

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"With dignity and love evident in her every word, Yeoman explores some of the painful realities associated with tangible memory, physical place, and cultural presence. The author’s depth of connection with the subject and the topics outlined in her book result in a nuanced portrayal of the Innu world and way of life."

Regan Treewater

Alberta Native News

Full Review

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"Exactly What I Said: Translating Words and Worlds représente un apport précieux à la traductologie, particulièrement aux enjeux liés à la traduction des auteurs issus des Premiers Peuples, qu’ils écrivent dans une langue autochtone ou dans une des langues coloniales, et un apport aux connaissances des langues et cultures autochtones. Il s’agit d’un livre riche en réflexions et en dialogues écrit par une femme qui, à l’évidence, a une merveilleuse écoute et une grande humilité."

Mélissa Major in TTR: Traduction, Terminologie, Rédaction

 

"One can only hope that others seeking to translate Indigenous languages undertake the work with the same diligence and thoughtfulness this book offers its subject as well as its readers."

Taylor Breckles in Canadian Literature: A Quarterly of Criticism and Review

Full Review

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"Exactly What I Said is a useful addition to the body of literature on translation studies and its ethics and simultaneously a much more human story of two very different women finding ways to share of themselves across cultural boundaries, and how doing so can be an act of love, understanding and decolonization... Yeoman's approach to translation is one that values care, attention to accuracy and an understanding that 'the ways we use language are intrinsically related to the ways we live on the Earth.' One can only hope that others seeking to translate Indigenous languages undertake the work with the same diligence and thoughtfulness this book offers its subject as well as its readers."

-Michael Lake in Event: Poetry and Prose

Full review

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Video

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Video lecture about writing collaboratively: Nitinikiau Innusi and Exactly What I Said: Tshaukuesh Penashue & Elizabeth Yeoman Talk About Their Books, Newfoundland and Labrador Historical Society