Overly literal translations, far from being faithful, actually distort meaning by obscuring sense.

Translation is an act of recreation.

Never trust the translation or interpretation of something without first trusting its interpreter.

All translations are made up" opined Vikram, "Languages are different for a reason. You can't move ideas between them without losing something

Who can say if the thoughts you have in your mind as you read these words are the same thoughts I had in my mind as I typed them? We are different, you and I, and the qualia of our consciousnesses are as divergent as two stars at the ends of the universe.

And yet, whatever has been lost in translation in the long journey of my thoughts through the maze of civilization to your mind, I think you do understand me, and you think you do understand me. Our minds managed to touch, if but briefly and imperfectly.

Does that thought not make the universe seem just a bit kinder, a bit brighter, a bit warmer and more human?

We live for such miracles.

When I act as a translator, I am really doing a performance for my fellow Anglophone readers in the West.