If you ask a translator what she or he are translating now, it would be rather simple to answer at any point as Hamlet did, “Words, words, words.” But in all honesty, that’s not really what literary translation is about. Sure, a translator encounters countless words every day and writes nearly as many, but the real substance of the work of literary translation is about bringing much more than just words into the new language. In fact, the words are the part that can be most easily manipulated without damaging the faithfulness of the text. Or to put it another way, a rigid adherence to the same words quite often leads one to miss the mark completely.
What are You Translating?
What are You Translating?
What are You Translating?
If you ask a translator what she or he are translating now, it would be rather simple to answer at any point as Hamlet did, “Words, words, words.” But in all honesty, that’s not really what literary translation is about. Sure, a translator encounters countless words every day and writes nearly as many, but the real substance of the work of literary translation is about bringing much more than just words into the new language. In fact, the words are the part that can be most easily manipulated without damaging the faithfulness of the text. Or to put it another way, a rigid adherence to the same words quite often leads one to miss the mark completely.