Transcript of the speech given by Manu Volaco at the Au-delà du traducteur averti book launch on October 19, 2023, in Montréal, and October 24, 2023, in Sherbrooke
Good evening, bonsoir,
In the spirit of my usual communication style with François, where we each speak the language we’re more comfortable in, I’ll be addressing you in English today. I hope you don’t mind and, if you need a recommendation for a translator into French, I just happen to know a guy.
The first time I met François Lavallée, he was interviewing me for a job as a team lead for the English team at Edgar. I must say, I felt intimidated… for all of two and a half minutes. That interview soon turned into a conversation, which soon turned into a full-on nerd-out that continues to this day. That first interaction set the tone of our entire relationship, and it was a quick first dive into the world of translation as seen through François’s eyes: a world full of fascination, of childlike surprise, of a sense of awe that I had never seen before. Or since, if I’m being honest.
I have been lucky to witness François’s passion up close. We’ve developed a close working relationship, which has blossomed into a beautiful friendship. It has been a privilege and an honor to be able to ask him all of my questions, and to attend and run so many training sessions with him. I have also been privileged to be one of François’s pet Anglophones, and to be able to help him with some of his questions. François doesn’t have all the answers, even though there are so many of those in his books. What he does have is a great sense of humility, an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, and so. many. questions. And that is what keeps him wanting to learn, to be a better translator, to be a better person, so that now, this evening, we are all here to welcome the third book in the Traducteur Averti series.
Each of these books is a love letter. They’re a love letter to the French language, to translation as an art and a science, to the quest for the piece that might just crack the puzzle of a sentence that feels impossible. They’re a love letter to those AHA! moments that keep translation beautiful and exciting and fun. You know, you go into translation because you are in love with languages, in love with language. You feel like you’re a fine writer and you have a way with words. You’re romantic about translation. And then you find yourself, now a professional translator, working on… an annual report. And you think, this is not what I signed up for. But if you can channel your inner François, if you can get past the annual-report-ness of it all, if you can zero in on the fun, the game, the puzzle that translation can be, then you can enjoy the hunt, the chase, the electrifying jolt of each of those AHA moments. These books are a compilation of some of the epiphanies François has had over his career. They’re a glimpse into his brain, into his heart, into his relationship with language and with translation itself. They’re a glimpse into his experience, grit and sensitivity as a translator, and I feel so incredibly lucky to have access to all of that in book form as well. Thank you, François, for sharing the love. We all appreciate it.
On peut voir ici l’allocution prononcée par François Lavallée à Sherbrooke après cette présentation.
Le blogue 
Ce n’est pas parce que nous faisons de la traduction dite pragmatique, qui nous amène parfois à aborder des sujets techniques ou arides, que la lecture de ces documents, une fois ceux-ci traduits, ne doit pas être agréable… Le plaisir de ciseler de belles phrases (ou du moins d’essayer) ou de travailler la fluidité d’un texte a aussi sa place dans ce type de documents.
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