language

i cant believe that to be a translator i just have to come to terms with the fact that translation does not exist. there will never be complete identity between two different languages there can only ever be equivalence. there is no such thing as translation without loss & in fact loss is inherent to translation you cannot escape it. and as a translator you will always have to make choices that will lead to those losses and it will feel like a betrayal and you will be haunted by what you have killed in translation & grieve and there is nothing you can do about it. the only way to curb that loss is if everyone everywhere spoke every language which is not feasible & there is just a void of meaning, a cemetery of significance in every translation and a world of footnotes and translator’s notes will not be enough to fill in the gaps. but still. yknow yknow