By Kerrick Chavarria, December 12, 2023 —
“I’m going to have to wait about 10 years before AI takes our jobs,” one of my colleagues said playfully. He made his witty comment half-jokingly among the students preparing for the Japanese language exam.
Interestingly enough, this was my dilemma. I don’t have a snowball’s chance of getting out alive. I’m a Spanish major – nothing special. I’m learning a language just to do something good. Granted, I may not know what that is something He is. I just know the usual rhythm surrounding this topic. “Oh…Spanish.” There’s also “What would you do in Spanish.” I can’t forget my personal favorite: “Maybe you should start teaching.” Don’t get me wrong, these are true statements and there is no inherent evil in them. I happen to find this to be a standard four-chord pop song – it’s catchy and sweet. Sometimes it’s nice to comfort your taste buds with something simple. However, it consistently ranks at the top of Billboard’s charts of the world’s existential dilemmas.
Why does this matter? Well, while utilitarianism is valued over quality, we neglect the work that language disciplines are involved in. We often see the work of a language major as “easy,” but in reality, the work behind it is much more complex than you think.
It requires the mind of an artist. Someone who knows how to formulate his sentences carefully and precisely. It’s more than just learning a language for fun: it’s about understanding diverse Spanish cultures and crossing borders through a form of artistic expression through translation.
In this chaos, I find myself returning to the same topic without stopping. However, I found myself in a new dilemma. Into the darkness of the absurd comes the question of my story: A child rooted in music, theater, and performance—a life I feel I cannot keep. What will happen to him? I, like many people, come to the wrong conclusion that simply because you don’t have the time, you have to wait until life calms down so you can do this thing we love.
This, my friends, is a logical fallacy. Let us be like Socrates and see how wrong we are in the search for the good life. The fact of the matter is that the art we engage in is the foundation and environment for our career choices.
Being influenced by Cat Stevens growing up, my passion has always been to find a place that fits my voice in the floor choir format. I wanted people to know that I love singing and I wanted them to know my identity and my style. I wanted them to know my story. It started with me riding in the car, and I imagined I was playing the guitar and singing with all my heart. People are listening My music. This is the backbone of my degree – storytelling.
So I set out to do that in my degree.
One of my first blessings was doing translation work for The Mustard Seed. The real test of my abilities was to see whether or not I had done everything I could to bring Mexican government documents into English. Of course, it requires style and personality. It took my experience in theater to step into my story. I had different scripts and interpretations. All that was missing was to define my role and reinforce this little project: a child who needed affection, care and careful attention.
At this point, inactive reader, you begin to wonder if I’m descending into a world of madness or if I’m thinking of this whole process like an English major (just a friendly jab). However, in the words of Miguel de Cervantes in… Don Quixote“What can my sterile and uncultured mind generate but the history of a dry, withered child, eccentric and full of extravagant fantasies that no one has ever imagined before?” I assure you that the translations sound ridiculous, but I assure you doubly that they contain the essence of life.
The second blessing came from a sage who spoke of secrets beyond my scope. I have been blessed with wisdom from the ancients. His character was that of a humble music professor who taught progressive rock elements. It came in my junior year when I was a political science major. I did not know his presence or his place in this complete darkness, but I found myself in his presence, close, yet far away. That spring will prepare me for a life of change. Alone and isolated, I didn’t know what this meant.
Then the light hit me last summer. I found myself in a class full of students eager to uncover the secret of presence. It appeared again but with more weight. A name deeper than the rubble of my political cave. He brought the secrets of nature, philosophy, humanity and the destruction of technology. That sage was Dr. Ralph Mayer.
So, if I end up burning in the sheer nothingness of AI, at least let me burn with joy that technology will never be able to capture the human essence of emotion, authenticity, and personal identity. Merely imitating a group of artists does not constitute humanity, but merely destruction. Trying to sound like an original string section will never replace the pure sound of a group of musicians. Escalation may be repeated, but it will never be singular. Can it be said with translation? Merely piecing together translations word for word will never be able to capture the originality of Cervantes, García Márquez, or Rubén Darío, the poet he loved so dearly.
So why Spanish? For this reason: “I know that if I remain faithful to this glorious endeavor, my heart will be peaceful and at rest when I am at rest.” The world would certainly be better for this. So, with my last ounce of courage, I will reach for that unreachable star.
This article is part of the Voices section and does not necessarily reflect opinions The glove Editorial Board.
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