«A language grows through use, like a katamari; it gloms, gobbles, ramifies, and sprawls, spreading tendrils and acquiring associations. The late Michael Henry Heim (whose translations, from eight languages, included Chekhov, Karel Čapek, Milan Kundera, Bohumil Hrabal, Danilo Kiš, Gunter Grass, and Thomas Mann) was fond of saying that you know when you’re ready to begin translating when you can tell what the language is doing from what the author is doing with it. We must move beyond our delight at our own comprehension, however flattering; in fact, that is the very first step.»
Posted on: Mon, 24 Feb 2014 15:24:01 +0000