Work With Me

I attended a seminar on transcreation conducted by Mr Pruiksma and was impressed with his ear for linguistic nuances and taste for making translations more experiential. Hence when he offered translation mentorship, I immediately signed up for it. The mentorship has been deeply satisfying and I have learnt so much from Thomas. He has a knack for truly hearing one and we quickly and effortlessly got into the same frequency. I found it very easy to share with him my thoughts and ideas, without the necessity for convoluted explanations, which I honestly found quite novel. Thomas is very generous, with his time, ideas, effort and understanding, all of which he offers with the utmost friendliness and endearing sincerity. At the same time, he was near perfect as a mentor- He never overwhelmed me with his own intentions or opinions. Rather, he carefully steered me towards my own goals while helping to fill in the gaps in my knowledge or skills and whenever possible, offering me pertinent and refreshing alternative perspectives. He helped me rebuild my confidence after many prior negative experiences and reignited my love for language, poetry and textual creativity. I look forward with excitement to future collaborations with Thomas.

I had a wonderful and inspiring set of sessions with Thomas. I had been blocked creatively on a writing project for more than a year, and many resources I found online emphasised a rigid, formulaic approach which I felt was not right for my novel.

Working with Thomas helped me unblock myself, I grew excited again about the project. He is a very attentive and clear-sighted mentor who helps you analyze the core of the creative blocks and move forward. The pre-work I’d do based on session discussion points greatly helped me relate multiple aspects of my creative work and explore various tangents. These really helped me get the juices flowing again. I was able to not only move the novel forward at a rapid pace and write a great deal more, but more importantly I began to fall in love with the writing process again, and write in a way that does not compromise the integrity and heart of the story. Thomas has this knack of getting to the soul of an issue, and it was truly beautiful having a mentor like him.

I was unsure before signup if we would be able to navigate any time zone differences, but post connecting with Thomas the hours decided were very friendly and easy to attend. It’s also great to have a mentor with experience in drama and performing arts, partly because those aspects are important in the specific project I’m working on and also because these other dimensions play a key role in my writing in general.

I think one of the most underrated and precious gifts as a writer or creative is being able to have had the right mentors and the right guidance, especially at the budding stage where everything is fragile. I am blessed to have gotten that. They say that the great teachers inspire and Thomas has done that.

Never ever have I felt this comfortable undergoing a mentorship online. Thomas’s approach as very refreshing, rewarding and inspiring, all at the same time. First, he listens to me so intently at every juncture on what I was actually trying to say along with what I said. That reading-between-the-lines skills of Thomas is very comforting. Though translation is very new to me, at no point he made me feel insecure. His depth of knowledge in translation comforted me at many times that I was in the right hands. I applaud the patience he practices and respect he gives to other writers’ works. Along with giving suggestions, he also explains the gravity of the words used and discusses the word choice(s) a translator makes. Thomas’s timely and critical feedback on my works motivated to push myself further. Sessions with Thomas also boosted my confidence in writing that I shocked myself when I started experimenting different approaches when it comes to translating works. Undergoing a mentorship with Thomas was truly an enriching journey.

Through my mentorship, I have come to realise that translating poetry is a nuanced art. It demands a deep understanding of both the source and target languages, an appreciation of the cultural and emotional contexts within which the original poem was crafted and empathy within myself as the translator. My mentor, Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma, provided invaluable guidance on navigating the intricacies of poetry translation, imparting ways to balance fidelity to the original text with the need to create a resonant and impactful poem in the target language. Over six inspiring sessions, our discussions shaped my translation practice profoundly. He guided me to discover a pragmatic framework for exploration of the poem, drawing from his own experiences translating the Kural.

Throughout our sessions, Thomas provided feedback on my translations, gently pointing out other possibilities for phrasing and word choice. His comments were not prescriptive, rather they were exploratory, inviting me to consider various options and to trust my instincts. Thanks to the exercises and discussions I explored with Thomas, I gained insights and confidence to play and seek out how I can further experiment with my translations to infuse it with the poet’s lyricism and more.

When I was in secondary school, we had to paint Van Gogh’s room once during art class. I remember my art teacher said this to the class: “You need to draw a floor so that the things in the room don’t look like they are floating around.” This was how I felt about my understanding of the creative writing craft . All my gleanings from Creative Writing workshops and lectures felt as if they are orbiting in my head that I may recall on whim during the writing/editing process, lacking the structure and framework I craved. However, unlike my Creative Writing lessons, I feel that I have come away from my mentorship with Thomas equipped with what I need to translate poems, the ability to trust my inner knowing when entering a poem, when being in conversation with it, to sit with the poem, versions of it and much more. My mentorship with Thomas was an enriching experience that profoundly shaped my approach to poetry translation. I learned to see translation as a dynamic and creative process, one that requires both fidelity to the original and the freedom to explore new expressive possibilities. Through practical exercises and feedback, I learned to navigate the challenges of translation and to produce work that honours the spirit and artistry of the original poems. These lessons are invaluable. I deeply appreciate Thomas’s emphasis on the technical skills and deep empathy required to translate poems. This journey has not only improved my translation skills but also deepened my appreciation for the art of poetry itself. I am grateful to have learnt from Thomas.