French translator M. Frederic Grellier. Photo: The Star/Ibrahim Mohtar
In the world of literary translation, it’s not enough to simply move words from one language to another. We’ve seen enough ridiculous foreign film subtitles and poorly-done Google Translate results to attest to this.
Every language, after all, has it’s own unique rules, style and structures. A translator must be aware of how smooth a sentence sounds when it has been transformed into a different language – a skill often referred to as “translating by ear”.
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