I translate books, comics, and board games for a living. It’s my dream job, so I may be a little biased when I say it’s the best job in the world. It’s undeniable, however, that translating is an extremely important job.
On a wider scale, since ancient times, it plays a major role in connecting (and, ultimately, changing) civilizations and finding middle grounds—it’s no wonder it’s said that “translations builds bridges”. From an individual perspective, though, it’s just as important: being able to access content originally produced in several languages wildly expands one’s horizon, especially when we talk about culture and entertainment. I personally get emotional when I think how different a person I would be if—as a Brazilian girl who couldn’t speak any other language other than Portuguese until I was a young adult—I hadn’t had access to any translated books, comics, movies, series, games, and more. I probably wouldn’t be writing this foreword, as I probably wouldn’t write the fiction I write: as much as we have tons of wonderful cultural content in Brazil, a good part of my fantasy and science fiction references is somehow imported.
Now, it’s foolish to believe this is a one-way road. I do believe that, say, Brazilian literature could enrich the repertoire of non-Portuguese speakers—just to mention one art and one nationality. I do believe we have interesting stories to tell, important themes to highlight, lots of talent to show. And that’s why I was delighted with Eita!’s initiative since I first heard about it. As Rachel Cordasco said in her foreword for Eita!’s issue 000, for too long there was too little SF in translation from Brazil in the anglophone market—and it was about time to change it.
Assuming you’re a non-Portuguese speaker, I daresay you wouldn’t be reading the stories in which you’re about to dive in if it wasn’t for Eita!. You wouldn’t weep with Amanda Nunes’s “Please Open This Letter While I'm At Work”. You wouldn’t laugh at the witty plot twist in “How to Deal with Inconvenient Guests”, by Marina Melo (translated by Natalle Moura). You wouldn’t ask WTF is that? (in a good way, of course) while reading Michel Peres’s “Nilsinho Pause”, translated by Vanessa Guedes. You wouldn’t marvel at how it’s possible to fit so much worldbuilding in so few words while reading “No salary justifies certain tribulations”, by Santiago Santos (translated by André Colabelli). And I assume you would never hear about “The Pan-planetary Congress”, by Lima Barreto, translated by Iana A.—well, I didn’t know Lima Barreto used to write science fiction, even though I’m from Brazil and he’s one of the most important and talented writers of ours.
That said, I can affirm Eita! is one hell of a bridge—or a collection of bridges, one for each issue at least. I’m very glad to be here, cutting the ribbon of this one. Come! Don’t hesitate to cross it and know a little bit of what Brazil SFF has to offer. If this is your first contact with the magazine, go cross the previous bridges too—you won’t regret it. Maybe you’ll even grab a brick and build a new bridge somewhere.
Jana Bianchi
June, 2021
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