Books Quote by Horace Walpole

“The translator's task is essentially a difficult and often a thankless one. He is severely criticized if he makes a mistake, but only faintly…

— Eugene A. Nida

“Intrinsic to the concept of a translator's fidelity to the effect and impact of the original is making the second version of the work…

— Edith Grossman

A translator is to be like his author; it is not his business to excel him.

— Samuel Johnson

“All I require of a translator is that he or she be a more gifted writer than I am, and in at least two…

— Kurt Vonnegut

“It is the nature of languages that a pretty translation is not accurate, and an accurate translation finds its own beauty without help.”

— Fraus-Dolus

If a translation doesn't have obvious writing problems, it may seem quite all right at first glance. We readers, after all, quickly adapt to…

— Lydia Davis

“To translate a text is to be conducted into its mysteries in a way that no mere act of reading—however conscientious or frequent—makes possible.…

— David Bentley Hart

“My goal is to act as a faithful interpreter, preserving as much of the original's nuances of meaning as possible without embellishment or omission.…

— Ken Liu

It is only logical for the translator to become a part of the world of the author.

— Ventseslav Konstantinov

There are few efforts more conducive to humility than that of the translator trying to communicate an incommunicable beauty. Yet, unless we do try,…

— Edith Hamilton

The problem of translation is to retreat to a simpler tenor of one's own style and creatively adjust this to one's author.

— Paul Goodman

I tend to be kind of literal about translation. I think it's important to present the writer as closely as possible.

— Ann Goldstein