There is a satisfactory boniness about grammar which the flesh of sheer vocabulary requires before it can become a vertebrate and walk the earth.
Anthony BurgessRead
Translation is not a matter of words only: it is a matter of making intelligible a whole culture.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Translation goes beyond word-for-word conversion; it involves understanding and conveying cultural nuances.
This quote by Anthony Burgess emphasizes that translation is not simply about replacing words from one language to another, but rather about capturing the essence of a culture. It involves interpreting context, idioms, and emotions to allow for a deeper understanding of the original message within its cultural framework.
Themes
TranslationCultureLanguageUnderstandingCommunication
In practice
Example use cases
In a seminar discussing global communication, I could use this quote to highlight the importance of cultural context in translation.
More from Anthony Burgess
All quotes βThere was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie and Dim, Dim being really dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar making up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening.
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Violence among young people is an aspect of their desire to create. They don't know how to use their energy creatively so they do the opposite and destroy.
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Only in England is the perversion of language regarded as a victory for democracy.
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You needn't take it any further, sir. You've proved to me that all this ultraviolence and killing is wrong, wrong, and terribly wrong. I've learned me lesson, sir. I've seen now what I've never seen before. I'm cured! Praise Bog! I'm cured!
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It may not be nice to be good, little 6655321. It may be horrible to be good. And when I say that to you I realize how self-contradictory that sounds. I know I shall have many sleepless nights about this. What does God want? Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness? Is a man who chooses the bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed upon him? Deep and hard questions, little 6655321.
Anthony BurgessRead
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