Gregory Rabassa Quotes

• A translation can never equal the original; it can approach it, and its quality can only be judged as to accuracy by how close it gets.

  Gregory Rabassa

  Quality, Language, Equal

  47 Copy quote

• Every act of communication is an act of translation.

  Gregory Rabassa

  Communication, Translations

  16 Copy quote

• A translator is essentially a reader and we all read differently, except that a translator's reading remains in unchanging print

  Gregory Rabassa

  Reading, Language, Unchanging

  Gregory Rabassa (2006). “If This Be Treason: Translation and Its Dyscontents”, p.89, New Directions Publishing

  6 Copy quote

• Translation is a disturbing craft because there is precious little certainty about what we are doing, which makes it so difficult in this age of fervent belief and ideology, this age or greed and screed.

  Gregory Rabassa

  Greed, Age, Crafts

  6 Copy quote

• I have always maintained that translation is essentially the closest reading one can possibly give a text. The translator cannot ignore "lesser" words, but must consider every jot and tittle.

  Gregory Rabassa

  Reading, Giving, Language

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• One of my favorite tricks was taking a page and having the first student translate it from English into whatever language he or she was working on, and the next one would translate it back into English and then into the foreign language, and we'd go around the room and compare the two English versions at the end, and it would be amazing how much survived.

  Gregory Rabassa

  Two, Would Be, Pages

  Source: therumpus.net

  7 Copy quote

• Teaching translation is more of an editing job. You act as editor. But you can have fun with it.

  Gregory Rabassa

  Jobs, Fun, Teaching

  Source: therumpus.net

  6 Copy quote

• 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

  Dark, Owl, Listening

  Source: therumpus.net

  7 Copy quote

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