One Word: Translate

To translate is to restate a thing in different words. It’s a simple concept with vast depths.

The English word comes from Latin, where “trans” means “across”, and “latus” means to carry. Hence, to carry across.

Typically we carry ideas across from one language to another — French to English, or German to Spanish. Being a translator certainly is an honorable occupation. Google’s “Translate” service is wonderful, despite occasional (and sometimes hilarious) lapses.

There’s also translation between everyday speech and specialized languages such as mathematics or binary computer code.

But translation can occur within the same language. If something is stated in terminology that is obscure, roundabout, highly technical, archaic, or poetic, then it may be helpful to translate it into plain speech.

Even when something is stated plainly, it may be helpful to restate it just as plainly. Sometimes simply saying a thing in two or more different ways can help us wrap our minds around it.

What fascinates me most about “translate” is how it drives home the all-important distinction between words (in whatever language) and the underlying concepts they carry.

Concepts, ideas, are the substance of thought. Words — consisting as they do of sounds and shapes — are the wrappings within which we package those thoughts.

The beauty of translating is that it forces us, as translators, to see through the words. To wrap them in new and different words, we first must unwrap them. Only so can we see them bare, as they actually are.

Sometimes in translating from, say, technical jargon to plain English, we discover that the ideas being communicated have no substance: There’s nothing there!

Or an idea may be deep and beautiful — but an inept translation can mask this, making it appear trivial.

As an example of the latter, Baha’u’llah speaks often of the “Crimson Ark”. In Persian literature, this metaphor has a rich literary history and profound symbolic ramifications. An early English translation rendered this as “the red boat”, leaving readers scratching their heads.

Separating ideas from the words with which we clothe them is an acquired skill. We aren’t born with it. It’s easy and tempting to mistake words for the thoughts themselves.

One benefit, in my opinion, of learning at least one language other than our own native tongue, is that it helps us see our own thoughts more clearly.

Even if we don’t have the means or opportunity to learn a “foreign language”, we can practice translating. When we hear something said, or read something written, we can simply restate it in different words.

This is particularly tricky if the idea being expressed is something with which we tend to disagree. In politics, say, or in religion, or anything else emotionally charged.

The temptation then is to translate it into words that make it sound shallow or stupid. It’s a natural and almost universal tendency.

A more productive use of that energy is translating it into different words that capture its essence without imposing a judgment, one way or another.

A good way to tell whether we’ve succeeded is by asking whether the original speaker or writer would accept our translation as a fair restatement. (If that speaker or writer is present, we can let them be the judge.)

If the answer is “yes” — that is, if we can and do translate accurately another person’s ideas, even though we disagree — then suddenly we’ve created a safe space within which real conversation can take place. There’s room for spirited debate and possibly even (who knows?) some meeting of minds.