A translation is the process of converting the meaning of words in one language to another. Andrew Zawacki, however, expressed the theme of translation as not being “word for word” because a word’s meaning in one language can never be fully understood in another as its meaning gets lost in translation. In English, everything is watered down. Zawacki diluted certain words when translating from French to English but that did not change the meaning of the poem. If the reader is confused, it is for the right reason. For example, translating a rhyming poem in French cannot be translated into a rhyming poem in English. As Zawacki put it, some words just sound better in French solely because it is in French. However, English has more options vocabulary wise but when referring to pronouns such as “you,” it is not gender specific and remains ambiguous as to whether the “you” is male or female. This may seem to be a limitation for a translator but for Zawacki, translations allows him to say what he cannot say. He essentially translates a text by capturing the meaning of it through different sounds and accents that keeps the lyrical style of the French poems. While words are not universal, the feelings they reciprocate are and Zawacki does a good job in getting the essence of the poem by allowing the audience to understand the meaning of it through the emotions he had when reading it. The first poem he read, Doldrums, was an angry poem which he was able to translate by putting his own emotions into it. Such ways of translating  gives meaning to poems rather than “word for word” translations. 

– Sheik Floradewan