It all started when I bought Charles Berlitz's Native Tongues. It is a fascinating collection of tales about languages - translations, numbers, facts, jokes. I had always been passionate about languages, and this book made me curious about translation. I had always been "against" translation, as I considered that the only way to really understand what someone wanted to say was to read it in the language it was written. To some extent, I still believe that, but not quite! I don't think there is an easy answer to translations, particularly if you are talking about poetry or something similar - it is almost impossible to translate the meaning and maintain the rhythm and musicality of a poem. But that is not true if you are talking about a movie, a book, an article. Besides, the better part of the world which does not speak other languages would be unable to read anything written in other language than their own - which is not really fair! And guess what? I am now a translator!!!
I still believe in the power of learning another language, I agree with Berlitz when he says that "each language group has a distinctive outlook in the rest of the world. When we penetrate this different way of thinking, we have added another dimension to our own personalities." I honestly believe it is better reading an original than a translation - having said that some translations are an improvement to the original. But that defeats the purpose of the translation, which is NOT to add or subtract anything to the original. And that brings us back to the beginning....
