Abstract

Translation is a form of “working through”, in which translators negotiate cultural memory rather than merely transferring words. Like Sámi duodji, they act as “weavers of words,” intertwining linguistic, historical, and emotional threads to preserve and transform the source text. Through this embodied engagement translation appears as a tactile, ethical, and interpretive act. The German translation of Elin Anna Labba’s novel Far inte till havet (2024) by Hanna Granz, titled Das Echo der Sommer (2025), exemplifies how linguistic choices and form mediate the transmission of Sámi cultural memory across languages.