A House of Their Own - The Translator’s House in Balatonfüred
A House of Their Own - The Translator’s House in Balatonfüred

Summary/Abstract: In this age of globalisation, a Translators’ House is a sign of the times. What is a Translators’ House? It’s a place where the translator of a poem, play, essay, story or novel written in the local language can go, for some weeks, to work on, finish, and/or polish his/her translation into another language, usually his/her own mother tongue. Not surprisingly, small languages are the most likely to establish Translators’ Houses: the one in Amsterdam, dedicated to the translation of Dutch literature into the world languages, is a case in point. The Hungarian Translators’ House is located in Balatonfüred, the oldest resort town along Lake Balaton. Mineral water with medicinal properties was found in Füred in the early 18th century, and people were soon coming to drink the waters, and bathe in them. But it was only about a century later, in what would come to be called Hungary’s Age of Reform, that the town became a fullfledged resort, boasting also a summer theatre for holidaymakers’ amusement. In 1831, the old wooden structure was replaced by a permanent building; in keeping with the ongoing linguistic revival, it was one of the first theatres in the country where plays and operettas were put on in Hungarian, not German.[...]

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