“The Shadow Heroes workshop has helped the students gain a fresh perspective on how the language we use reflects who we are and enabled them to think critically about the assumptions we might have about people from different backgrounds. The activities were imaginative and energised the class.”– Teacher, Farnborough Sixth Form College
“Translation is much more interesting and complex than what I thought - you have to take into account the author's background but also analyse your own biases in interpretation.”– Student, Lycée International Winston Churchill
“Pupils learnt to think laterally and outside the box, not just to take things at face value but to really question and think deeply – to question each other and to push their thought processes, both individually and as a team, to hone their translations and to envisage multiple possible outcomes and to be patient and appreciate that there is not always just one absolute answer – multiple translations are valuable and fascinating.”– Teacher, Geneva English School
“I now know translation is not about finding the same word in other language, but that the translator has a real responsibility with how they carry meaning from one language to another.”– Student, Haberdashers Aske’s for Girls
“The workshop have changed the way I see translation: it is a very creative process that requires great knowledge of oneself, society and literary and historical context.”– Teacher, Headington School
“The workshop series was very inspiring. It has showed me that texts are very much alive, in the sense that the meaning is evolving all the time.”– Student, City Academy, Hackney
“These workshops are important because they give another dimension to what a text is, the circumstances of the writing and the reading, cultural, social, historical backgrounds involved. It shows to the kids that translation is not only about vocabulary and grammar, but thinking and feeling too.”– Teacher, Lycée International Winston Churchill
“The workshops taught me how to think outside the box and being flexible with the way I use and understand language.”– Student, Cheney School
“Gitanjali’s presentation style - fantastic energy, clear passion that came across, which made the workshops very inspiring, engaging and exciting. The materials used were also fantastic – very relevant and interesting for the pupils.”– Teacher, Geneva English School
“I now know that translation isn’t just translating from one language to another. It’s about interpreting intentions, actions, movements, facial expressions, tone of voice and register.”– Student, UCS
“From the start they had to deal with texts, ideas and techniques that stretched them.”– Teacher, Radley College
“I really enjoyed the workshop It’s all Portuguese to us!, as I could make logical connections through my knowledge of other languages and be able to translate some text written in a language I had never looked at before. That was really empowering.”– Student, City of London School for Girls
“The workshop was really interesting and I would love to explore different languages like Arabic in the future”.– Student, Queen’s College
“The workshops sounded exciting and inspirational and turned out to be just that!”– Teacher, Headington School
“The workshops have altered the way I approach language and opened new perspectives. I now approach translation as not only language but also as a story or message.”– Student, UCS
