- Language is complicated.
- Two languages together are
twice ascomplicated squared. - Translation only accentuates #2.
Truths about Translation #1-3
6 thoughts on “Truths about Translation #1-3”
Add yours
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
An old friend of mine (quite literally: she had been a librarian for the League of Nations)once defined a bilingual person as ‘someone who made mistakes in two languages’.
True about translation, no doubt; not so sure about “transation.”
Ah, but had you noticed that “translations” didn’t agree with “accentuates”?
It was a game: see how many of my typos can you notice.
I’m addicted to that game. It’s internet-wide for me.
Jeff
I think we need a more nuanced approach than “twice.” Perhaps some friends in the comparative or statistical linguistics fields can work up a formula for determining difficulty of translation which takes into consideration degree of cognate relation, etc. 🙂
How about we use the same method used for quick and dirty conversions from Celsius to Fahrenheit: double and add 30?