Quotes About Translation

Please, never despise the translator. He's the mailman of human civilization.

They said 'ski', but they heard 'vodka'!

This piece of shit just propositioned the French detective. What's wrong with my translation program?'' ''Let me have a shot.'' Peabody came around the desk, began to fiddle as she studied the monitor. ''She's very attractive. Let's not blame the computer for trying.

He would not mind hearing Petrus's story one day. But preferably not reduced to English. More and more he is convinced that English is an unfit medium for the truth of South Africa. Stretches of English code whole sentences long have thickened, lost their articulations, their articulateness, their articulatedness. Like a dinosaur expiring and settling in the mud, the language has stiffened. Pressed into the mold of English, Petrus's story would come out arthritic, bygone(117).

He would not mind hearing Petrus's story one day. But preferably not reduced to English. More and more he is convinced that English is an unfit medium for the truth of South Africa.

I have no words. Sixteen languages, but no words. -Vishous

Belladonna, n.: In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison. A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues.

I have a personal relationship with Dizzee Rascal - I know him, he's cool - so this is no disrespect to him or any other British rappers who tried to make it in America, like Wiley and Tinie Tempah, but the type of music they were making to be accepted over there - it doesn't translate.

I had a strong vision for 'The Best Man Holiday,' so I was able to translate that to the actors and ultimately to the screen. Things can't get too heavy or too outrageously funny; it has to strike a balance. Tone is everything. If you've set the right tone, you can get away with a lot of stuff. You can get away with making people cry.

All true communication, even between two people speaking the same language, requires translation," Genji said. "In the end, our hearts must hear what cannot be spoken.

Europe had come out of the fourteenth century pandemic as a world in flux. In this milieu, it was possible to think the unthinkable. It's hardly accidental that in the wake of the Black Death, movements swelled up to translate the Bible into languages people actually spoke. Many wanted to see for themselves what the scriptures said because it kind of looked like maybe, perhaps, just maybe—here's the unthinkable part: maybe the church had gotten something wrong.

His accent needs subtitles.

The gold standard for any brand is to achieve a global status that transcends those barriers, that needs no translation. Nike. Apple. BMW. They're not black. They're not white. They're just cool. That's the brand that makes money. And the only way to be that brand is by connecting with each individual personally while still having a message that resonates universally. Which is why good advertising is really hard to do, and why most of it sucks.

After I've translated all that I know into this language, the patterns I seek should become evident.

I read the greens in Spanish, but putt in English.

I have no idea why one of our most original filmmakers would want to spend two years of his life translating someone else's movie from Spanish into English. And it wasn't such a good film in Spanish, either.

I must confess, my Spanish is not so good - except I read a little, so I started with the English but then determined that it would have to be in Spanish.

When I was a girl, there wasn't anything in Spanish in the movies until you saw it on DVD.

My desk is like a 'U,' so I have my computer and lots of dictionaries because I write in Spanish and I live in English.

I'm bilingual. I speak English and Spanish.

All the English speakers, or almost all, have difficulties with the gender of words.

I'm fluent in Spanish, so I can do a character that speaks Spanish.

There are lots of actors who insist on speaking the lines themselves, and you hear the same thing from directors and the audience, but I don't think it's worth getting het up about. I think it makes more sense to use someone who speaks that country's language: that's what voice actors are for.

I find it really difficult when you make a movie where it is set in Russia and everyone speaks in English. It drives me crazy.