"Translation is not a matter of words only: it is a matter of making intelligible a whole culture.”
To be a translator is to dress in the clothes of the source culture and wear the fragrance of the target one. Translation is often misunderstood; people may assume that a fine baggage of vocabulary is sufficient for translating. A part of this theory is acceptable; however a translator must have logic, writing and assimilation skills to do the job properly. The cultural implications for translation may take several forms, ranging from lexical content and syntax to ideologies and ways of life in a given culture.
First, logic is the key to a decent translation. A full understanding of the main ideas and the details of the source text is a must in order to avoid false meanings. It is also mandatory that the translator analyses the writer’s point of views and the aspects that lead him to form a given thesis. Sometimes an idea can be interpreted in many ways; the role of the translator is to approach the writer’s opinion as possible. "Say what we may of the inadequacy of translation, yet the work is and will always be one of the weightiest and worthiest undertakings in the general concerns of the world." J.W. Goethe
Second, writing skills are the beautifiers of a translation. Although sometimes the translator has to be a little unfaithful to the source text to create a piece of art, it is acceptable that he crosses the borders and goes beyond the letters to create an enjoyable and rich translation. He should rarely stick to the text by performing a literal translation unless it is highly necessary to do so. "Translation is like a woman. If it is beautiful, it is not faithful. If it is faithful, it is most certainly not beautiful." Yevgeny Yevtushenko
Third, assimilation skills are important to a harmonious translation. The translator is required to choose the culture’s most important features that are desirable to be transferred into the target language. He should also take into consideration the culture’s features of the receiver to stay in harmony with his environment and lifestyle. "Translation cannot be dissociated from the notion of progress, some even maintain that a society can be measured by the translation it accepts -" Jean-Francois Joly.
A world without translation is a world with no interaction, no openness and no sharing: a world where every culture lives in its own shell. Translation allows the world to cohere and coexist which helps with all kind matters that are important to the progress and evolving of the world ranging from trading and technologies to knowledge and development.