Culture September 16, 2011

There was a time when all good schoolboys knew Latin, and even debutantes spoke French. Today, we who claim English as our mother tongue feel less pressed to learn a foreign language. Why bother, when the rest of the world is so keen to master ours? And yet the idea of translation continues to excite strong passions. If I mention that I dabble in this dark art, I am accused of taking liberties and betraying the author’s intentions. I am instructed either to serve the text invisibly or to accept that some things just can’t be translated, and give up.