I am quite conflicted on the whole translation thing.
One the one hand, sharing texts/concepts/ideas with people/cultures who otherwise never would've been exposed to them is awesome and important (imagine life with no Dante, no Confucius, no Aristotle etc.).
On the other hand, things undoubtedly "get lost in translation," the original is always better (imagine Shakespeare not in English - it wouldn't be the same - I know for a fact it isn't) and this concept from the Italian traddure = tradire (to translate = to betray).
Recently I wrote an essay comparing the French and Italian translations of Harry Potter to the English.
The Italian translation was pretty bad and when I asked my cousin in Italy if she'd read Harry Potter she said no, which I found astounding, but after reading the translation I can sort of understand why. It's just not the same. Granted, word choice isn't exactly Rowling's forte her creativity and wit regarding names is and that wit and creativity sometimes can't be translated. If you think about how much word play goes on in Harry Potter in particular, some of that just can't be translated. Especially considering how much exposure there is to Harry Potter in other countries thanks to the movies, somethings you can't change, and some translations don't change names and the like.
How do you get the same feel and meaning of (or lack thereof) of names or words like Hogwarts or Whomping Willow?
It's hard, if not impossible, and requires a lot more creativity than I think translators think they need, after all translation is just copying right, imitation? All you need to translate is be bilingual, right? How hard is it to exchange one word in one language for the same word in another language?
The best translators are writers themselves in their native language, because they understand writing in general, but particularly how it works in their native language. But why translate another's work when you can write your own?
Sure, translating literature (especially poetry/songs) is at the top end of the "most difficult things ever" scale and translating political thought, ideologies, technical/scientific advances is easier as it's the meaning that's important, not so much the form. For example, MLK's "I have a dream" speech gets the idea across in Italian and if you watched the video with Italian subtitles you'd be able to feel his whole awesomeness thing (the same way, even though you don't understand German, Hitler's speeches sound really compelling - probably because you can't understand the subject matter).
Studying interpreting and translating is bringing up more philosophical and ethical questions than I would've thought.
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