If “literary translation is almost as ancient as literature itself” it is probably true that the issue of “the impossibility of exact fidelity” (Drabble) was born within the same period and artfully expressed by the Italian phrase “traduttore traditore”.
For many teachers the idea that “there is no literature in translation” means that the indirect approach to literature, which is the translated work, should never be regarded as a genuine perception of the original. They may be right but, what is also true is that but for translations, there would be no literature either. In this article, however, I will focus on the role of literary translations for both the study of literature and the learning of language.
Learning with Literary Translations
