Quarterly Essay 52 Found in Translation: In Praise of a Plural World

In: Quarterly Essay v.52

In: Quarterly Essay Ser. v.52

Abstract

Whether we're aware of it or not, we spend much of our time in this globalised world in the act of translation. Language is a big part of it, of course, as anyone who has fumbled with a phrasebook in a foreign country will know, but behind language is something far more challenging to translate: culture. As a traveller, a mistranslation might land you a bowl of who-knows-what when you think you asked for noodles, and mistranslations in international politics can be a few steps from serious trouble. But on the other hand, translation is a way of entering new and exciting worlds, and making link