32 Quotes About Translations

Overly literal translations, far from being faithful, actually distort meaning by obscuring sense.

じゃあ、〈記号〉と〈象徴〉の違いを２００字以内で説明できる？¿Podrías describir la diferencia entre "signo" y "símbolo" en menos de 200 caracteres?

the best of Cervantes is untranslatable, and this undeniable fact is in itself an incentive [for one and all] to learn Spanish.

There are few efforts more conducive to humility than that of the translator trying to communicate an incommunicable beauty. Yet, unless we do try, something unique and never surpassed will cease to exist except in the libraries of a few inquisitive book lovers.

It is not the literal past, the 'facts' of history, that shape us, but images of the past embodied in language.

Así como un ave en su jaula.Así como un bebedor entre el bullicio de la medianoche,así he intentado ser libre, a mi manera.

'Translations,' Lateran said scornfully, examining the bruises along Kestrel's ribs. 'Like caressing your lover through a burlap sack. You get the gesture of the thing, but not the nuance, and it is overall an irritating experience.'

I ended up taking a literature class, too, about the nineteenth-century novel and the city in Russia, England, and France. The professor often talked about the inadequacy of published translations, reading us passages from novels in French and Russian, to show how bad the translations were. I didn't understand anything he said in French or Russian, so I preferred the translations.

That's the problem with translations," she added sadly. "You can never quite reproduce the flavor of the original.