In today's world, more and more societies are hegemonizing as well we indulging other cultures within their own. As the world industrializes and further globalizes, it is crucial to be aware of the other existing cultures in the world and translated texts aid to facilitate the pursuing of this idea. Within Part 3 of the Language and Literature course, Literature Texts and Contexts, translation in general carries a big bag with it filled with cultural significance and social sayings as well as expressions. Furthermore, within each language there is a reputation and a certain way of interpretation which is integrated in the education and ways of living of each society. As said by Amara Lakhous, translating is like smuggling, meaning that it can be seen as wrong however people benefit from it. Translation itself is something that allows us to be able to achieve international mindedness as through translating books, one can gain enriched knowledge about someone's culture, nevertheless, the book was written in a way that captures the essence of that culture. However, the "wrong" aspect of translating texts is that they are not always correctly translated and often are misinterpreted. Translation will never be able to reach complete accurateness as per each word has a different meaning and interpretation as well as not all words can be translated.
Regarding the benefits correlated to translating texts; it enriches a person's understanding of other cultures, hence enhancing international mindedness. Especially concerning education, when exposing students to other cultures, it makes them not only aware but conscious about how diverse the world it. Additionally, for those who cannot have the privilege of education, translated texts can aid in educating them about diversity within our world and the principles followed by each culture. Learning about the functionality of each culture also provides a person with a sharper critical thinking and understanding of the history of the world. Many translated texts comprises of a historical background of the culture of country regarding that period of time, further educating people about the world with simply translated books.
On the contrary, many may argue that translation is not only wrong but it is offensive as it misinterprets messages and cultural values that were represented by the author. In the Arabic language for example, words have more than one meaning and more than one interpretation as well as there are many proverbs and sayings which cannot be translated or would not make sense if translated. Therefore translating a text could potentially jeopardize the value of those words. When words are translated, many words are lost and that can create a chaos and cultural crash because while some might be benefiting from it and learning about another culture that they do not have access to, the culture whose words have been translated are not being interpreted the way they should and that can lead to misunderstandings and protests against translated works or even a certain author.
Overall, translated works can impact the meaning of culture in a good or bad way resulting in misinterpretation or leading to provide international mindedness towards educated and uneducated people. Translated texts can also serve as a voice for not only social commentary but to people to portray their experience with a certain culture. Literary texts are mostly influenced by cultural context which does impact the way and format in which the text is written. Literature is the perfect medium for expression and it allows humans to be free and explore their thoughts in literary works. However once that person's freedom is translated to another language it can sometimes diminish the value of words and reconstruct meaning.
