Ari’s Reviews > Babel > Status Update

"'That's just what translation is, I think. That's all speaking is. Listening to the other and trying to see past your own biases to glimpse what they're trying to say. Showing yourself to the world, and hoping someone else understands.'"

"'You want to do the right thing,' said Ramy, bullish. 'You always do. But you think the right thing is martyrdom. You think if you suffer enough for whatever sins you've committed, then you're absolved.'"

"English did not just borrow words from other languages; it was stuffed to the brim with foreign influences, a Frankenstein vernacular. And Robin found it incredible, how this country, whose citizens prided themselves so much on being better than the rest of the world, could not make it through an afternoon tea without borrowed goods."

literally how i felt studying english language history and linguistics hahaa

"'Translation means doing violence upon the original, means warping and distorting it for foreign, unintended eyes. So then where does that leave us? How can we conclude, except by acknowledging that an act of translation is then necessarily always an act of betrayal?'"

"'The poet runs untrammelled across the meadow. The translator dances in shackles.'"

"'So you see, translators do not so much deliver a message as they rewrite the original. And herein lies the difficulty - rewriting is still writing, and writing always reflects the author's ideology and biases.'"

"'Anyway, live translation isn't considered all that glamorous, because all that really matters is that you get your basic points across without offending anyone. You don't get to play around with the intricacies of language, which is of course where the real fun is.'"

big agree

"'Languages are easier to forget than you imagine,' he said. 'Once you stop living in the world of Chinese, you stop thinking in Chinese.'"

so true it's like they start to devour each other in your brain if you give one too much power over the others

"'Languages are easier to forget than you imagine,' he said. 'Once you stop living in the world of Chinese, you stop thinking in Chinese.'"

too real it's like they try to devour each other in your brain if you give one too much power over the other