From the U.S. Army, to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, to a career in literary translation

Hadi Umayra’s (MA ’18, translation and interpreting studies) life doesn’t look much like it did a decade ago, but there’s been one constant throughout the years: his passion for language and translation.

Born and raised in Iraq, with Arabic as his mother tongue, Umayra’s journey with the English language and English literature didn’t begin until college, and it wasn’t until the Coalition for the Liberation of Iraq entered his homeland in 2003 that he was able to master it.

“It gave me the opportunity to practice English with native speakers, and I mastered the language well after working with them for a period of four years,” he said.

It was that work that allowed him to travel to the United States in 2009, where he started speaking English fluently and decided to join the U.S. Army. That’s where he was a decade ago: serving as a translator and cultural advisor for the Army. Umayra spent four years on active duty and was deployed overseas three times.

“When I got deployed, my main job was to ensure that the deployed soldiers understood and had some knowledge of the Arabic culture and language, because our troops most of the time had direct contact with local civilians, and vice versa,” he said. “My job was also focused on establishing a relationship between the troops and local culture.”

His role wasn’t just focused on teaching and building relationships. He was also a leader, in charge of 12 translators in his battalion, with a rank of sergeant when he left the service with an honorable discharge. Several years later, Umayra decided he wasn’t done creating cultural connections. That’s when he started looking for the right translation program for him and his career.

“I found myself struggling with how to choose the right university that would meet my needs and put what I had learned in my career as a translator and cultural advisor in a book or on paper,” he said.

His search led him to the U of I. 

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Man in graduation robe and cap poses next to statue
Photo provided by Hadi Umayra 

“I felt super happy because this university has a history,” said Umayra.

It was at the U of I that Umayra was able to achieve his dream of obtaining a master’s degree in translation, and it was here where he learned the techniques needed to be a successful translator.

“The study of translation at the U of I was the main basis on which I relied to achieve all my success and certificates and become known in the literary field as a translator, researcher, and writer,” said Umayra.

He isn’t done learning, either. He’s pursuing his PhD in English literature with a specialization in translation at the University of Texas at Dallas. He also obtained a master’s degree in political science from there in 2021.

It was during this time that Umayra was nominated for the Pushcart Prize, which honors the best poetry, short fiction, essays, or other literary works published in the small presses over the previous year. His translation work, “Aisha, Baghdad, and Me” got him the nomination. Umayra said the recognition came with an indescribable feeling.

“I felt I had wings and flew into the sky,” he said. “This nomination for this award is the definition that I have become a significant translator in the professional literary world, and that is what I aspire to achieve. I would like to be a translator who’s referred to and listed internationally.”

That’s not his only goal for the future, though. He wants to become a professor of translation science, and the U of I is on his list of places to revisit.

“I will visit the translation department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to tell the students who study translation my story and how it started here.”

Dania De La Hoya Rojas