"Translations [into the German language], even the best ones, proceed from a mistaken premise. They want to turn Hindi, Greek, English into German instead of turning German into Hindi, Greek, English. ... The basic error of the translator is that he preserves the state in which his own language happens to be instead of allowing his language to be powerfully affected by the foreign tongue."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Rudolf Pannwitz, Die Krisis der europäischen Kultur (1917), as translated in Walter Benjamin, Selected Writings: Volume 1, 1913-1926 (1996), pp. 261-262.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Translation
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Translation
39 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Translation →
Related Quotes
"In translation of poetry; there exists a possibility of components like imagination, art of wordplay, skill of constr…"
"I conceive it is a vulgar error in translating poets, to affect being fidus interpres... [for] poetry is of so subtil…"
"There exists a chance of every poem getting changed while reaching every reader. This ‘getting changed’ is a form of …"
"I will venture to assert, that a just translation of any ancient poet in rhyme is impossible. No human ingenuity can …"
"Translators are the shadow heroes of literature, the often forgotten instruments that make it possible for different …"
"Translation is at best an echo."
"Translation of poetry into poetry is difficult, because the translator must give a brilliancy to his language without…"
"Such is our pride, our folly, or our fate, That few but such as cannot write, translate."
"No man is capable of translating poetry, who, besides a genius to that art, is not a master both of his author's lang…"
"Nor ought a genius less than his that writ Attempt translation."