Words Up

“A translation has reached its goal when it is no longer recognised as a translation.”

Before starting university, I lived in Florence for two years. During my time there, I grew closely familiar with the country, its people and their language. The experience left a profoundly Italian mark on my entire way of life and was my motivation for deciding to study Italian at university – with the goal of becoming a professional translator.

Truly mastering a language means recognising a given message and understanding it within the context of the language’s current use and historical circumstances. Language may be one of the most common communication tools, but it is imperfect. These limits and restrictions make it necessary to wield language very carefully.

Language exists to serve its users, its purpose lies in the transmission of information and meaning within messages. My task is to transmit a message in a given context so that its recipient receives what the addresser intended – as if there were no original message bound to language, merely intention.

In my eyes, translations are texts that revolve around context, target group and meaning. The overarching goal is to ensure that the message received equals the message sent.