You can think of words as existing in a network of relationships. For instance, knife and scalpel refer to similar objects that nonetheless occupy a very different space of relationships. There are times when a word occupies a very similar relationship-space in your target language, and some when none really fit the bill, or perhaps there are several with subtle differences with all of them going, in slight ways, contra the original. And it's not only word by word, but also at the sentence level and so on. On one occasion, I offered myself to make English subtitles for a movie. It was quite an illuminating experience.
You can think of words as existing in a network of relationships. For instance, knife and scalpel refer to similar objects that nonetheless occupy a very different space of relationships. There are times when a word occupies a very similar relationship-space in your target language, and some when none really fit the bill, or perhaps there are several with subtle differences with all of them going, in slight ways, contra the original. And it's not only word by word, but also at the sentence level and so on. On one occasion, I offered myself to make English subtitles for a movie. It was quite an illuminating experience.
The idea of different networks of words is really helpful: thank you!
I have only ever read Rilke in English - I have asa result of your article a new appreciation for the translator thanks
My pleasure, Robert. Thanks for reading. x