Why parallel texts: words reflected?
I believe translation can help undo the “babel”.
“After the Great Flood, a united humanity speaking a single language decided: ‘Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’
And on seeing the Tower of Babel, the Lord said, ‘the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them…let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.'” (Genesis 11:4–9)
Translation can undo the “babel”. It can open doors, create understanding and tollerance.
I truly believe that, as the Servas international homepage states, “With every true friendship we build the basis for World Peace.” (http://joomla.servas.org/).
Freindship, therefore, may be the key.
So, if it is true that every protagonist in every book becomes a friend to the reader, and every book a home, then every foreign protagonist in every foreign book can do the same.
This, too, is translation: introducing people from different corners of the earth, making their experiences accessible to other people and, hopefully, breaking down the barriers of “us and them”.
As a translator, that is what I try to do. Other translators have done this for me.
Photos, comments, revisions and all Italian to English translations by Matilda Colarossi.
Twitter: @MatildaColaros1
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
parallel texts: words reflected 
Hello 🙂
May I ask you a pretty strange question?
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Sure. What?
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Thank you so much! Well, where we go… Last week I was looking for ‘Cipollino’ (The adventures of little onion) by Rodari in English, alas unsuccessfully… I wonder… if it exists? I found your blog and your translations of Rodari, that’s why I was brazen enough and decided to ask you about this 😛
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I have no idea if the English translation of this particular story exists. So sorry! 😦
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Oh, thank you! Yes, unfortunately, it looks like that Rodari wasn’t presented to the English readership to the right degree. So pity! Such a brilliant writer!
Thank you again for your feedback. Please, have a great day! 🙂
Tetiana.
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undoing the babel can be very tricky as a language is much more than just a language, it’s a culture and a way of thinking and much more than this! As a mother of 3 polyglots I’m truly fascinated by the ways the brain works in each language. Anyway, I’m happy to have found your blog 🙂
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Thank you! I’m very glad you found me too!
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