Hofstadter – God Didn't Say That

The Artificial Strangeness of Word-for-Word Translations

Related to my previous post, Douglas Hofstadter discusses (on page 380 of Godel, Escher, Bach) translating a Russian novel into English. He wonders: [B]ut if you translate every idiomatic phrase word by word, then the English will sound alien. Perhaps this is desirable, since the Russian culture is an alien one to speakers of English.…
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JoelMHoffman October 1, 2009 1

Ancient Wisdom, Modern Lives

Recent posts from my Ancient Wisdom, Modern Lives:

Interest Rates Old and New: How High is Too High? A short history of ancient interest rates, in light of a 10% cap on credit-card interest rates proposed in the US Senate by Bernie Sanders and Josh Hawley
In the AI of the Storm We should all embrace AI instead of fearing it. Here's why.
Happy Year of the Snake Why is there a year for such a despicable animal as the snake? There might be a very good reason...
The Surprising Connection Between Hanukkah and Christmas Hanukkah and Christmas, which happen to coincide this year, happen to have a surprising shared history. Here it is.
Positivity Is Poisoning the Holidays (but It Doesn't Have To) Here is an antidote the poisonous pressure to be happy, especially during the holidays.

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The Artificial Strangeness of Word-for-Word Translations

Ancient Wisdom, Modern Lives

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