Sometimes Borges would even sporadically include a translation from one text in his own work.Īs a young adult, Borges would develop a career as a translator focusing on English, French, and German into Spanish.when he translated Angelus Silesius through a post-Nietzsche lens. He would even rewrite an entire text in the shadow of another, i.e.Remove “textual distractions”, adding nuance, changing the title, etc.He would eliminate elements of the source text that was redundant, unnecessary, or inconsistent with the whole.Rather than gift his readers a literal translation, Borges applied his own method:

Borges was often reported saying “the household was so bilingual that was not even aware that English and Spanish were separate languages until later in childhood.” Later in his life, Borges would move out of his family home to Geneva, Switzerland, where he studied French and German.īorges’s translation philosophy revolves around the belief that the work itself is “ultimately more important than its creator”. With an English paternal grandmother, young Jorge grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in a Spanish and English bilingual household. Borges enjoyed leafing through different translations of the same text, often as a literary exercise, maintaining that any changes in linguistic code were encouraged in his opinion, and at times necessary. High-quality, professional translation and localization provides a text, whether it be business, literary, or legal, with nuanced meaning, connotation and association. With a translation philosophy similar to Jacques Derrida, another showcase among our famous translators, Borges argues that high-quality translation can enrich a source text, even improve it. He never worked for a translation agency, but consistently translated independently and as a hobby throughout his life. All of these achievements seem to pale in comparison to his secretive contributions to the translation community. Borges wrote original works of fiction, poetry, and essays.

A key figure in Spanish language and literature. Jorge Luis Borges is an Argentinian writer, poet, and translator. “The original is unfaithful to the translation.” -Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge luis borges espanol