translation

We often think of language as a means to an end, but rarely take the time to consider whether language in itself is influencing our thoughts, not just enabling the sharing of them.

Steph Smith • Gaining Perspective Through Untranslatable Words

I often feel like I am a different person when I speak different languages

In Poisonwood Bible, Nathan Price gives sermons where “Tata Jesus is bangala”, “bangala” meaning beloved. But due to his mispronunciation, it means “poisonwood” instead of “beloved”

Set around the story of missionaries trying to spread the word of Christianity in the newly liberated Congo, this misinterpretation ties into the Price family trying to force their beliefs and cultures onto the Congolese without understanding their cultural beliefs.

Also related to Adah collecting misprinted Bibles

“Betrayal. 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?”

― R.F. Kuang, Babel

Babel Quotes by R.F. Kuang

Ideas related to this collection