This Wednesday, students from Universidad de Montevideo’s Translation degree took part in a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) exchange with students from the Spanish Language degree at University College London (UCL) in the UK.

The class engaged with two literary excerpts: one from Argentine author Eduardo Sacheri’s Los dueños del mundo and the other from Miriam by Truman Capote. In conversation with professors and students from UCL, students from the Literary Translation module debated how to best preserve the original text’s meaning in translating it into a new language.

The shared virtual class offered a unique opportunity for intercultural exchange, where native Spanish and English speakers provided insight into the cultural subtext of both passages. Students drew on their personal understandings of Southern Cone and Anglophone cultures to reach these conclusions, offering valuable insights into both the texts and cultures themselves.