"Common European thought is the fruit of the immense toil of translators. Without translators, Europe would not exist; translators are more important than members of the European Parliament." Milan Kundera
"Say what we may of the inadequacy of translation, yet the work is and will always be one of the weightiest and worthiest undertakings in the general concerns of the world." J. W. Goethe
"Translation is not a matter of words only: it is a matter of making intelligible a whole culture." Anthony Burgess
"Translation quality assessment proceeds according to the lordly, completely unexplained, whimsy of 'It doesn’t sound right'". Peter Fawcett
"Translators live off the differences between languages, all the while working toward eliminating them."
Edmond Cary
(from Translating is an Art)
"The secret to becoming a good and insightful translator is to think, think, and think some more. Then research, analyze, read, and never ever lose your sense of humor." Pimpi Coggins
(from Translation Journal)
“The best translators slip into the glove of a text and then turn it inside out into another language, and the whole thing comes out looking like a brand-new glove again. I'm completely in awe of this skill, since I happen to be both bilingual and a writer, but nevertheless a lousy translator."Alma Guillermoprieto
"I hope to finish the book before I'm 90. It keeps you alive. The secret of being a translator is not to be in a hurry. Sometimes it takes hours to find a single word.” Dr. Leonard Rosenman
(from Think Exist)
"The translator's task is to create, in his or her own language, the same tensions appearing in the original. That's hard!" Manuel Puig
"By reason of weird translation, many such sets of instructions read like poems anyhow." Brian Ferneyhough
(from Brainy Quote)
To learn more about the International Translators' Day:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Translation_Day
I once said to a friend who asked me about being a translator: "A translator is an author without a subject".
ResponderExcluirBy that I mean that a translator must create the original author's subject in another language.
My 'just a little longer' idea can be read at www.proqualitrans.com and my other quote applies here "An author is a translator of self".
I also like this quote (not mine...):
"Writing should be done in the same manner as the washerwomen of Alagoas practice their craft. They start with a first wash(ing), soaking the dirty clothing by the bank of the lagoon or stream; they wring the piece of clothing, soak it again, and then wring it once more. They then add indigo, soap and wring once, and then twice. Then they rinse, and soak it again, now splashing the water onto the cloth with their hands. They beat the cloth on a slab or clean stone, they wring it again and then one more time, they wring it until no water drops from the cloth anymore. Only after they have done all this do they hang the clean piece of clothing to dry, on a string or clothes line. Whoever goes into writing should do the very same thing. The word was not meant to embellish or to spark like fake gold; the word was meant to say." (Graciliano Ramos, during an interview, in 1948)