Classical translations routinely distort meaning through culturally specific terms

Evidence

The reader will notice that I too have played a translator’s trick here, substituting the Greek Lethe for the Latin Styx. Latin does not have an exact equivalent of aletheia for truth (thereby hangs Heidegger). — Donna Landry and Gerald MacLean, The Spivak Reader, 1600

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Translation loss is inevitable and driven by the translator’s preconceptions — Donna Landry and Gerald MacLean, The Spivak Reader: Selected Works of…, 2194; Translation constructs meaning anew rather than transferring finished meaning across languages. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 855; Translation into other languages distorted Bantu philosophical terms. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 210 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Translation into other languages distorted Bantu philosophical terms. #exemplifies (0.95) — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 210
• Renan’s weak Arabic forced reliance on inaccurate Latin translations #exemplifies (0.85) — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 295
• Translation constructs meaning anew rather than transferring finished meaning across languages. #expands (0.80) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 855
• Language can distort as well as transmit human culture #corroborates (0.75)
• Translators may deliberately sacrifice the opacity of a difficult original for readability #qualifies (0.75) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 831
• Bilingual treaties with a shared master text spawned divergent national versions with serious discrepancies #corroborates (0.75) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 197
• Language enables meanings rather than passively carrying them #corroborates (0.70)
• Western lexicography assumes words are naturally clear and univocal #corroborates (0.70) — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 436