237 Quotes About Translation

We know there are colours in the spectrum untranslatable to our eyes; sounds beyond the range of our hearing; sensations beyond the tolerance of taste or touch. What else is there that we might be missing? Could it be that we, ourselves, only ever really experience the mere gist of our own lives? (attrib: F.L. Vanderson)

I ville, at vi skal være Christne, og I ville selv ikke være det. Men, hvis I ville ikke være Christne, saa værer i det ringeste Mennisker. Handle med os i det ringeste ligesom I ingen anden Religion havde end den, som Naturens Lys dicterer.

Thinking is translating 'prosaic-ideas' without accessories" since ideas (in brain) do not follow any metrical composition.

When he is dissected after his death," a disrespectful interpreter said of a foreign dignitary, "a million predicates will be found in his stomach: those he swallowed in the past decades without saying them.

In my opinion, there are two things that can absolutely not be carried to the screen: the realistic presentation of the sexual act and praying to God.

Toda traducción tiene siempre algo de traición.

Descubrir el poder del azar es descubrir que somos terriblemente frágiles y vulnerables, que dependemos de la casualidad, que una coincidencia estúpida puede destrozarnos en un segundo. Que una palabra estúpida oída por casualidad también puede fulminarnos. Recordar que las personas son terriblemente frágiles es una obligación moral: Paul Auster dice que es cazador de coincidencias por obligación moral.

Love and translation look alike in their grammar. To love someone implies transforming their words into ours. Making an effort to understand the other person and, inevitably, to misinterpret them. To construct a precarious language together.

Poetry that emerges from a poet’s mind becomes complete only when it enters into the reader’s sphere of comprehension.