Skip to Main Content Skip to Chat Bot
NYU Logo
  • Explore
    • Two NYU SPS students walk together in Central Park in the fall.
      Explore

      Your place is here

    • A person exploring online undergraduate degrees at NYU SPS takes notes on a sheet of paper in front of a laptop
      Explore our Degrees & Programs

      Advance your goals and thrive in the real world

      • AI & Technology
      • Finance & Enterpreneurship
      • Global/Public Affairs
      • Hospitality
      • Humanities & Social Sciences
      • Leadership & Management
      • Marketing & PR
      • Publishing, Writing & Media
      • Real Estate
      • Sports
    • Explore by Program Type

      We have pathways to fit your needs

      • Master’s Degrees
      • Undergrad Degrees
      • Online Degrees
      • Continuing Education
    • SPS Stories

      Meet our community of leaders and trailblazers

      • Student Spotlights
      • Faculty Spotlights
      • Alumni Spotlights
      • Industry Connections
  • Experience
    • A pair of NYU SPS students walk through Washington Square Park on a bright sunndy day.
      Experience

      Preparing you for the future of work

    • Engaged learning in action—students at NYU SPS deep in thought, gaining knowledge that shapes their future.
      How You'll Learn

      Experiential, hands-on education

      • Academic Advising and Services
      • Study Globally
      • Consulting Practicums
      • Real World
      • Tech and Innovation
    • Three NYU SPS students gather at a table in the foreground and several others gather at tables in the background during a networking event.
      Expand Your Network

      A global community invested in your success

    • Three female NYU SPS students meet and greet each other at a career networkign event.
      Activate Your Career

      Programs and services for a professional edge

    • Three NYU SPS students are slightly blurry as they run across a busy NYC crosswalk and two of them are wearing NYU t-shirts
      Life at SPS

      Connect, belong, and thrive

      • Student Community & Engagement
      • Arts, Culture, and Entertainment
      • Health and Wellness
  • Join Us
    • Undergraduate Admissions

      Explore undergraduate programs at NYU SPS designed for transfer, adult, and part-time students. Find admissions info, deadlines, and how to apply.

      • Apply Now
      • Undergraduate Tuition & Financial Aid
    • Students work together indoors
      Graduate Admissions

      Discover flexible, career-focused graduate programs at NYU SPS. Learn about admissions, deadlines, and how to apply.

      • Apply Now
      • Graduate Tuition and Financial Aid
    • A man leans against a window with a tablet in his hands while looking into the distance
      Continuing Education

      Flexible non-credit certificates and courses to meet your needs

      • Academy of Lifelong Learning
    • High School Academy

      Early opportunities to experience everything NYU

      • Career Edge
      • Weekend Workshops
      • NYU Pre-college
  • About Us
    • An NYC streetscape taken from the sidewalk, centered on a white and purple NYU flag in front of a building full of gleaming windows.
      Dean and Leadership

      Meet our Dean and leadership team

    • A woman in a collared shirt peeks through books on a high bookshelf.
      Academic Divisions & Departments

      Take your place at the center of your field,Take your place at the center of your field,Take your place at the center of your field.

      • Center for Global Affairs
      • Center for Publishing, Writing, and Media
      • Division of Applied Undergraduate Studies
      • Division of Programs in Business
      • Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality
      • Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport
      • Schack Institute of Real Estate
    • Events

      Join us in-person or online

    • Mission & History

      Discover the NYU SPS story

    • News & Ideas

      Explore our industry-focused insights

    • Meet Our Faculty

      Connect with our real world experts

    • A man wearing a striped shirt and yellow tie gestures towards a projected presentation while speaking to an audience
      Policies & Procedures

      Browse faculty guidelines, school policies, and more

  • Info For
    • Information for Students
      • New Students
      • Adult Learners
      • International Students
      • Online Students
      • Transfer Students
      • Veterans and Active Military
    • Information for Additional Groups
      • Alumni
      • Employers
      • Faculty
      • Custom Educational Programs
  • Connect
    • Admission Events

      Join Us

    • A tight shot of the iconic arch in Washington Square Park,  revealing exquite detail.
      Give to NYU SPS

      Support the next generation of leaders

    • Students mill about or sit in red chairs in an NYU SPS building where a banner reads #WeAreSPS
      Contact Us

      We want to hear from you

    • Two continuing education program students at NYU SPS listen to a lecture and one raises her hand
      Request Info

      Learn more about our offerings

    • Apply Now

      Your path to NYU starts here

    • Two NYU SPS affiliates discuss how to prepare your people for the future with a custom educational program
      Custom Educational Programs

      Design a custom educational program with us

  • Request Info
News and announcements

Translating 'The Beast Within: Humans as Animals': Interview With Alison Duncan, International Product Development Manager & French to English Translator

Book Cover: The Beast Within by Jessica Serra

  • April 07, 2025

  • Modified May 27, 2025

  • Darius Phelps

  • Tags
  • Center for Publishing, Writing, and Media

Share to:

<p><i>This article was originally published on April 30, 2024</i></p> <p><span class="p-body">Congratulations to Alison Duncan, a Master’s in Translation alum (Class of 2018), whose translation of&nbsp;<i>The Beast Within: Humans as Animals</i>&nbsp;by Jessica Serra was recently published. During our interview together, I had the pleasure of learning more about Alison’s time in the MS in Translation program, and what innovative new work she has on the horizon. Through her professional network, Alison was introduced to the science editor at Johns Hopkins University Press, who in 2018 was looking for a translator to work on the English edition of a French book she had acquired, and the rest is history.</span></p> <p><span class="p-body"><i>The Beast Within</i>&nbsp;by Jessica Serra is the first title in the Animal Worlds series.&nbsp;<i>What Do Bees Think About?</i>, scheduled to publish in May 2024 and also translated by Alison, will be the second title in the series, and more titles are in the works. When asked about how her time at NYU contributed to her career and translation practice, Alison detailed that her coursework equipped her “with best practices for how to carry out the act of translating, from the technical aspects of using translation technology to the more creative aspects of stylistics.” Learn more about Alison’s translation process below, along with an exclusive excerpt from<i>&nbsp;The Beast Within</i>.</span></p>
Alison Duncan
<p><span class="p-body"><b>Q: Which aspects of Jessica Serra’s work did you view as crucial to communicate in your translation of the book?</b></span></p> <p><span class="p-body">A: Ultimately, I want English readers to have the same experience as French readers: to be guided through scientific studies in a way that intrigues, be presented with ideas of what the world is like for other animals, and finally arrive at the end of this journey with a shifted perspective and understanding of Jessica Serra’s ultimate point that humans are simply part—and not the pinnacle—of the animal kingdom.</span></p> <p><span class="p-body"><b>Q: What are key linguistic aspects that you kept in mind when translating between French&nbsp;and English?</b></span></p> <p><span class="p-body">A: Readability, fluency, and making science approachable and relevant for readers were my linguistic goals for&nbsp;<i>The Beast Within</i>. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve received in my career is that to be a great translator, it’s important to first be a great writer. Mastering the ins and outs of your target language’s grammar and style, being precise with word choice, knowing how to construct sentences and paragraphs that flow, discerning when to diverge from the source, all of these things are essential to make a translation read like it is not, in fact, a translation. I hope that readers who pick up&nbsp;<i>The Beast Within</i>&nbsp;will have the same quality reading experience as those who pick up&nbsp;<i>La bête en nous</i>.</span></p> <p><span class="p-body"><b>Q: What is your biggest takeaway from the translation of this book?</b></span></p> <p><span class="p-body">A: Research is vital. But so is time management and using the tools at your disposal. As a translator of science-related content, I spend a significant amount of time reading parallel texts and more generally educating myself about the subject matter. For&nbsp;<i>The Beast Within</i>, this often meant looking up an article the book cited, reading its abstract, locating key terminology, and understanding the scientific method used in the study as well as the researchers’ conclusion. In some cases, I needed to do additional background research to understand concepts or terminology. While I find this interesting, it is so easy to fall down a rabbit hole. If not careful, an hour could go by researching a single term! Translating this book reminded me just how important it is to manage my time efficiently and use technology (CAT tools, glossaries, etc.) to work smarter—lessons I first learned in my NYU courses. For example, it’s happened more than once in my book translation experience that I’ve added a term to the glossary only to uncover more information 100 pages later that makes me rethink the original choice. Technology helps me document my research so I can revisit it and make changes consistently without losing too much time.</span></p> <h4 class="h4">&quot;Readability, fluency, and making science approachable and relevant for readers were my linguistic goals for 'The Beast Within.' One of the best pieces of advice I’ve received in my career is that to be a great translator, it’s important to first be a great writer.&quot;</h4> <p><span class="p-body"><b>Q: Was there a paragraph that you particularly enjoyed translating that we can share?</b></span></p> <p><span class="p-body">This paragraph from the epilogue was particularly enjoyable to translate because not only does it summarize the book’s message quite well, but it also conveys the author’s passion for her work.</span></p> <p><span class="p-body">&quot;In 1859 Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution shattered [the current] model of thought by reintegrating humans into the animal kingdom. But reconnecting with one’s animality was not an easy task. How could humans accept the idea of being relegated to the status of beast, even though they had been striving to distinguish themselves from it for thousands of years? It was a very hard pill to swallow. It was no longer a question of dithering around philosophical questions or theological positions, however, since science, impartial and objective, revealed and continues to reveal discoveries on a daily basis that cannot be ignored. Our behaviors and our skills, however emancipating, can be understood in the context of our animality. But then, if human beings are just animals, even if unique ones, what does that leave us for delineating ourselves? Since we construct our human identity through culture and how we want to be seen, it is our actions and values that give meaning to our passage on Earth. Reconciling with the “beast within” not only allows us to know ourselves better but to be open to a new worldview in which animality is no longer derogatory. Wonder awaits anyone who dares to lift their blinders, because the kingdom of beasts—these masses thought to be devoid of intelligence and feelings—is revealed to be a universe of genius, vibrating with emotion. But it is also a violent realization; reestablishing our connection with our animality and with animals forces us to take stock of the consequences that our long disconnection with them has had, and of the urgent need to remedy it. Poached, transported like merchandise, confined in spaces that do not respect their needs, slaughtered without being stunned first; there are billions of sentient beings who suffer because of our anthropocentric way of thinking. How long will we continue to exploit animals so we can convince ourselves that we are not also animals? This is the challenge of our time: either we regard other forms of life with humility and respect, or we blindly continue in our occult beliefs, which reinforce our place in the universe but condemn thousands of species to extinction and precipitate our own demise in the process.&quot;</span></p> <p><span class="p-body">Excerpted from&nbsp;<i>The Beast Within: Humans as Animals</i>&nbsp;by Jessica Serra, translated by Alison Duncan. Copyright 2024. Published with permission from Johns Hopkins University Press.</span></p> <p><span class="p-body">On behalf of the NYU SPS Center for Publishing and Applied Liberal Arts, we are extremely proud of all that Alison has accomplished and look forward to what she achieves next.&nbsp;</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

Explore Programs

  • Your Path
  • Degrees & Programs
  • Master's Degrees
  • Undergraduate Degrees
  • Online Degrees
  • SPS Stories

Experience SPS

  • Your SPS Experience
  • How You'll Learn
  • Expand Your Network
  • Activate Your Career
  • Life at SPS
  • Experience Emerging Technology and Innovation

Join Us

  • Undergraduate Admissions
  • Graduate Admissions
  • Continuing Education
  • High School Academy
  • Apply Now

About SPS

  • Mission & History
  • Dean & Leadership
  • Academic Divisions 
& Departments
  • Meet Our Faculty
  • News & Ideas
  • Events
  • Policies & Procedures
NYU Logo NYU Logo
Accessibility Digital Privacy Statement University Policies Web Policy Academic Accreditation New York University

Info For

  • New Students
  • Adult Learners
  • International Students
  • Online Students
  • Transfer Students
  • Veterans and Active Duty Military
  • Alumni
  • Employers
  • Faculty
  • Custom Educational Programs

Connect

  • Admissions Events
  • Contact Us
  • Give to SPS
  • Request Info
  • Apply Now
New York University

New York University
Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination at NYU - New York University is committed to maintaining an environment that encourages and fosters respect for individual values and appropriate conduct among all persons. In all University spaces—physical and digital—programming, activities, and events are carried out in accordance with applicable law as well as University policy, which includes but is not limited to its Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy.