

I can’t begin to explain how difficult translating a text actually is. When I was at uni, language majors had two dedicated classes, one for translating from your first language and the other for translating to you first language. Both were the hardest classes to pass. I had bilingual friends there who had shit grades solely because their methodology was lacking. In the philosophy department, teachers were constantly discussing who translated what text and how it might impact our understanding. Teachers would compare different translations and ask us to always tell who the translator was in our research exercises.
Language is a fucking mess, translation is horrible, that’s why we only do it when it’s a potential best-seller
Beyond the question of transphobia, I’m uncomfortable with the idea of forcing painful, costly and time consuming aesthetic practices on a partner. In a relationship we should take people as they are, nobody is forcing anybody to be in a relationship with someone who doesn’t shave, so trying to impose it on somebody who doesn’t want to… that’s bad