When you hear Portuguese, if you're listening fleetingly, it's as if you're hearing Russian, which never happens with Spanish. Because the Portuguese and the Russians share the open vowels and the dark "L," the "owL" sound. — Gregory Rabassa Copy Share Image
A translator is essentially a reader and we all read differently, except that a translator's reading remains in unchanging print — Gregory Rabassa Copy Share Image
Teaching translation is more of an editing job. You act as editor. But you can have fun with it. — Gregory Rabassa Copy Share Image
A translation can never equal the original; it can approach it, and its quality can only be judged as to accuracy by how close… — Gregory Rabassa Copy Share Image
Translation is a disturbing craft because there is precious little certainty about what we are doing, which makes it so difficult in this age… — Gregory Rabassa Copy Share Image
I have always maintained that translation is essentially the closest reading one can possibly give a text. The translator cannot ignore "lesser" words, but… — Gregory Rabassa Copy Share Image
“So the poor translator must not just go back and forth between two languages, but if he is worthy of his calling must shift… — Gregory Rabassa Copy Share Image
“The translator, we should know, is a writer too. As a matter of fact, he could be called the ideal writer because all he… — Gregory Rabassa Copy Share Image
When you hear Portuguese, if you're listening fleetingly, it's as if you're hearing Russian, which never happens with Spanish. Because the Portuguese and the… — Gregory Rabassa Copy Share Image
One of my favorite tricks was taking a page and having the first student translate it from English into whatever language he or she… — Gregory Rabassa Copy Share Image
