Joan Ferrarons i Llagostera
translator and scholar
Joan Ferrarons i Llagostera is a literary translator, lecturer, and researcher in the field of translation studies.
Bio
I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Translation and Interpreting from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), a Master’s degree in Cognitive Science and Language from the University of Barcelona, and a PhD in Translation and Intercultural Studies from the UAB.
Over the years, I have worked at Barcelona City Council and the European Parliament, as well as for the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and the Teatro Real in Madrid. Literary translation, however, has always been at the heart of my practice, with a focus on fiction and the philosophy. In 2012, the Government of Catalonia officially certified me as a sworn translator for German and Catalan.
My formation has taken me across Europe and beyond. I spent extended periods in Leipzig, where I studied philology and cultural studies, and in Berlin, where I first encountered Yiddish language and literature — a field I went on to pursue in London and Paris. I have also lived for significant stretches in Athens, Luxembourg, and Valparaíso.
I currently work as a university lecturer and researcher in translation and intercultural studies at the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting at the UAB, where I teach courses in general and specialised German translation. I am also a member of PEN Catalonia and sit on its Committee on Linguistic Rights.
Translation
I have been working as a literary translator for over fifteen years, specialising in fiction and philosophy. Among the authors I have translated are Hermann Hesse, Patrick Süskind, Siegfried Lenz, Bertha von Suttner, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Norman Davies, W. G. Sebald, Lutz Seiler, and Kim de l’Horizon. In the field of philosophy, I have translated works by Friedrich Nietzsche, Theodor W. Adorno, Byung-Chul Han, Günther Anders, and Frédéric Gros.
Franz Kafka holds a special place in my translation work. From his writings I have translated into Catalan Letter to His Father, the short story collection Parables and Paradoxes, The Trial(https://clubeditor.cat/llibres/el-proces/), and The Castle — the last of which received the 5th Montserrat Franquesa Translation Prize in 2020. In 2024, my translation of Leyb Rokhman’s Mit blinde trit iber der erd der erd was published, marking the first novel ever translated directly from Yiddish into Catalan.
Most of the books I have translated can be found in the CCUC catalogue. Reviews of my translations are gathered in the Traces database (in Catalan).
Teaching
In 2019, I joined the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting at the Autonomous University of Barcelona as an adjunct lecturer. Six years later, having received the venia legendi from the Catalan Agency for the Quality of the University System (AQU), I was appointed assistant professor at the same faculty.
Over the years I have taught a range of courses in the Translation and Interpreting degree programme, including general and specialised translation from German to Catalan and from German to Spanish, an introduction to specialised translation, German language and translation, and Modern Greek for translators and interpreters. From the 2023/24 academic year onwards, I have also supervised undergraduate dissertations.
Research
In 2022, I completed a PhD with honours in Translation and Intercultural Studies at the UAB. My thesis examined the representation of Ashkenazi cultural identity in translations of modern Yiddish literature, with a particular focus on the rendering of proper names. In 2024, my research was awarded the Jesús Tuson Prize by the Vives University Network, which recognises outstanding work on linguistic diversity. That same year, building on my doctoral research, I published La traducció dels noms propis: una aproximació teòrica i pràctica as part of the prestigious Biblioteca de Traducció i Interpretació series.
My current research interests span contemporary German literature and modern Yiddish literature, linguistic variation in literary translation, the interaction between minoritisation and translation, the translation of proper names, and queer translation — including the translation of non-sexist, inclusive, and non-binary language.
I belong to the Research Group on Contemporary Catalan Translation (GETCC), am a member of the Catalan Society of Language and Literature (SCLL), and sit on the editorial board of the journal Visat. Since 2021, I have edited the Barcelona literària and Barcelona en la literatura universal book series, published by Barcelona City Council Press.
Most of my academic publications are available in the UAB’s online repository (DDD). You can also find my researcher profile on ORCID and Google Scholar.
Contact
Please feel free to email me at joan.ferrarons@gmail.com. You can also find me on Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook, and X.