Jauch 1

Devyn Jauch
Matt Wilson
Writing 2
Writing Project 3: Translation Revision
The purpose of an academic article is to communicate ideas to a specific scholarly
audience. Yet, it is still possible to communicate the purpose of the article to a completely
different audience, simply by changing the genre in which the article was written. In this case, I
took a scientific article, Syringe Sociology, by Nicole Vitellone, and translated it into a short
story. By doing this translation, the main topic of the article the reasons why people use and
abuse drugs that are administered via syringe can reach a broader audience. The target audience
of this translation is young adults who are more often exposed to drugs and street life; these
would otherwise be considered youths who are at-risk. In order to reach this new audience
while still properly sharing the message of the article, I had to look closely at the writing
conventions of both short stories and academic articles. To make a successful translation, I had to
ignore the classic conventions of academia, while still incorporating the proper information into
a work of fiction that would appeal to a young, at-risk population.
The target audience for my translation is more specific than at first glance. The topics
discussed within Syringe Sociology, and consequently, the short story, are directed towards a
very mature audience. The people whom I am trying to communicate to are those in very similar
situations as the characters in the story. I am targeting these types of people as a way for the
readers not to become like the characters. They may be people dealing with trauma, similar to
Anna, who became so integrated within a drug family, that she was willing to get clean, then
throw it all away, just to be part of the family again. Or the readers of this story may simply be

Jauch 2
looking for an escape from a life they find dull and boring, like James, who was so focused on
defying his parents, and feeling the rush of the streets, that it eventually cost him his life. The
purpose of the short story translation is to get readers to pay attention to their own situations and
to make them reevaluate the decisions in their lives.
I had to evaluate and reevaluate many decisions while writing this translation. I had to
consider each convention of the academic article and establish how to incorporate it into my
short story, or if it was even needed in the story. Thus, the first step I took was determine the
main points of Vitellones article. Once I identified that the article was discussing the reasons
why people turn to drugs throughout their live and how the syringe as a form of drug injection
becomes a social symbol, I was able to weave these ideas into the characters and plotline of my
story. In order to do this successfully, I followed the advice from Mike Bunn in his article titled
How to Read Like a Writer. Bunn states that when reading it is important to understand how the
piece of writing was put together and to locate the most important writerly choices, within the
text (Bunn, 72). By focusing on these, the choices that the author made when writing the piece,
the reader can then ask themselves whether or not they want to use this technique in their own
writing. I specifically used Bunns suggestions in techniques when it came to the part in my story
about Anna and the heroin cooker. This event was taken out of Vitellones article because I
believed she used it to create an emotional impact on her readers, thus I wanted to do the same.
In the article, as well as in my story, this incident is used to emphasize the impact drugs can have
on an individual and on their overall personality. Therefore, when translating genres, it is
important to read the original piece, looking, not only for the main points, but also to understand
why the author chose to say those specific things, for the purpose of including these decisions
into the new genre.

Jauch 3
A writing convention I had to consider while translating this article was the language and
the tone. In an academic article, the language is expected to be advanced and intelligent with no
grammatical errors. The main character in the short story translation is a young, under educated
heroin addict, thus the story is filled with crude vulgarity and incorrect grammar. The grammar
and scattered syntax portray an overall sense of chaos within the mind of Anna, the addict. It
helps feed into the message of the story that the readers do not want their lives to end up like
Annas. The vulgar word choice also helps further the relationship between the readers and the
story because it is more similar to everyday casual and street vocabulary. The readers understand
Anna better, because she talks and sounds and maybe even thinks like they do. This helps the
readers see themselves as Anna, thus better communicating the message of not only the story, but
of Vitellones article as well.
A strong relationship between character and reader was something I really wanted to
create with my story. As Scott McCloud states in his piece Writing with Pictures, writers want
two things from their audience: to understand what we have to tell themand to care enough to
stick around until were done, (McCloud, 8). I used this advice in the beginning of the story,
when the readers were learning of Annas backstory. I started out her life in a way that many
people, even many at-risk youths, can relate to. She lived in suburbia with a happy family. This
builds a connection between the readers and Anna right away because they understand the life
she had. I make the readers care about Anna when she is referred to as the little daughter. I then
pull on the heartstrings of the readers by stating that the little daughter became the step-fathers
plaything. Many readers would empathize with Anna at that statement, but the target audience
may feel something even greater as this might be an experience they themselves have gone
through. Because the audience is an at-risk population, it is more likely that they have experience

Jauch 4
trauma, which created a desire to escape their lives, similar to what happened to Anna. The
connection between the reader and the character is driven home when Anna speaks directly to the
reader through lines such as Uncomfortable yet? because it signifies that these topics (sexual
abuse, drug use, etc.) are not common occurrences, though many in the target audience may
relate. Finally, the style in which the story was written very run-on stream-of-consciousness
makes the readers feel like they are listening to a personal conversation, rather than reading a
fictional story.
Different genres of writing have their own unique conventions that make them appeal to
their specific audiences. However, somethings the genres audience is not the proper audience to
communicate the message of the piece, thus it may be necessary to change the genre. To do this,
the main ideas of the original genre must stay the same, but they must be creatively incorporated
into the new genre. In my genre translation, I took an academic article and changed it into a short
story about a heroin addict in rehab. I did this to connect the message to a vulnerable young
audience, rather than the articles scholarly audience. Translation do that; they spread the word.
They help to get more people to hear and understand the purpose of the original piece. And every
now and then, it is necessary for a writer to translate information from one genre to the next.

Works Cited

Jauch 5
Bunn, Mike. How to Read Like a Writer. Writing 2. SBprinter. 38-53. 2015
McCloud, Scott. Writing With Pictures. Writing 2. SBprinter. 131-155. 2015
Vitellone, Nicole. Syringe Sociology. British Journal of Sociology.