Re: Language superiority, improvement, etc.

On Tue, 13 Oct 1998, Nik Taylor wrote:

> Quite true.  Try translating "wishful thinking" into another language,
> for example.  I read of a contest once to find an adequete translation
> of that into Italian.  There was no adequate translation.  Sometimes
There was no adequate bone-headed translation.  Via circomlocution, there
is no limit to translation.

> words can be translated roughly, like schadenfreude (sp?) = "malicious
> pleasure", but it's not quite that.
"The joy taken in the suffering of another"--yes, it's long, but it is a
translation, and it captures the essence of the word.  I am astonished to
discover that there are people who still believe that "translation"
consists of word-for-word conversion.  There is nothing inherenetly
immoral in the circumlocution.