Imperfect translations are an interesting topic to think or talk about. Not everything is able to perfectly one for one translated from one language to another. In some instances, there is not always a feasible or reasonable answer. I do not think that this is necessary a flaw of translating. Similar to how art is open to anyone's interpretation, a translation of a sentence or phrase in one language by one person is most likely going to have differences compared to someone else's translation of the very same sentence. In my opinion, as long as the general idea is retained then any translation can be deemed fitting or correct.
Seidensticker mentions having to decide whether or not it is better to translate the untranslatable or not translate the untranslatable. I can see why there are merits to not translating the untranslatable, such as not butchering the original meaning, but I believe that making any sort of attempt at something is better than not taking any sort of leap of faith and not trying. Seidensticker was referring to dialects when discussing this topic. Dialects are difficult to translate, however it is not impossible to replicate in another language. We had discussed the topic of dialects before in class, and I thought that the solution of creating a new dialect was a very intelligent and efficient way of dealing with this dialect conundrum.
-June
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