Please join us in welcoming Ani Jilavyan, one of our new Translation Interns!
Hailing from Yerevan, Armenia, Ani is a translator working with Armenian and Russian languages. Ani earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and Communications from the American University of Armenia in 2020 and a Graduate Certificate from the Translation Program in 2021. In Spring 2024, she earned a Master of Fine Arts in Literary Translation from the University of Iowa.
While growing up in Armenia, Ani frequently watched theatre productions at the Hakob Paronyan State Musical Comedy Theatre from the orchestra pit her mother and aunt played for.
"I fell in love with everything happening there, and I stopped caring if my mom was going or if she was not. I grew up in that theater,” Ani said. “Until now, when I go to Armenia and they have anything on stage, any performance, I would go. I prefer watching it from the orchestra pit because it's always more fun. You have this both worlds at the same time.”
At Iowa, Ani was on the editorial board of Exchanges, an online journal of literary translation. She did a graduate assistantship with the Center for Language and Culture Learning, where her main focus was Iowa Intersections, a multilingual narrative project.
She also participated in three readings, in which she read from her translations of two different plays by Hakob Paronyan from Western Armenian into English. Ani took courses in Iowa's Department of Theatre Arts to assist her translation. There, her translations were acted by actors and directed by directors, which she found very rewarding. Ani currently plans to apply for the MFA in Dramaturgy at Iowa this fall.
The readings of her translations, the positive reaction of the audience, and the influence of the theater made Ani feel inspired to share more Armenian literature with non-Armenians. Her inspiration got expanded when she attended an Armenian movie screening of "There Was, There Was Not" at FilmScene.
“When I talked with the filmmaker, [Emily Mkrtichian], she was like, ‘Yeah, I want others to see it, too. I don't want to do that only for Armenians.’ That's the spirit I have too. I want to show this to the world, and especially with my translation and background, I can make sure that the texts are being the way they should be, and they can reach to wider audiences and maybe make a change,” Ani said. “Even if one person, just one more person, would know more about Armenia because of a play they saw, I would be so happy.”
Ani first heard about Global Ties Iowa from her former boss at the Center for Language and Culture Learning, Claire Frances, when Claire mentioned an Armenian delegation being hosted by Global Ties Iowa. Ani joined the mailing list to receive updates on incoming delegations and events and was surprised by the different countries represented.
“I was really excited. I felt like this is a great place to be when you have all this [multiculturalism and multilingualism]. That was one of the reasons that I was like, OK, I'll apply to the [Communications and Storytelling Fellowship]. I'm really happy that I did because that's how I learned about the Translation Internship.”
In her free time, Ani enjoys reading books, singing, and dancing. She also loves watching comedy shows. The plays Ani translates are comedic plays; she took a comedy class that culminated in performing her own standup comedy routine at the former Joystick Arcade.
As a Translation Intern, Ani will be researching critical languages needed for our visiting leaders and target languages for community engagement in eastern Iowa. She will also be recruiting language users of identified languages and translating communications materials and media.
“For me, every time I'm getting surprised that I see in a website there is ‘hello’ in many languages and there's also Armenian. We're a small country now and we are very aware of our identity,” Ani said. “If we can make at least one person's life better just by the little act of kindness to make them feel more comfortable in the unfamiliar place, it would be so nice.”
We are excited to have Ani on the team as a new Translation Intern! Welcome to the team!
Comments