Refer: YouTube | How the UN Translates Everything in Real-Time by Half as Interesting
Most of the books I found meaningful are products of translation.
Real-time translation of diplomatic speeches at such a grand stage as the UN has far more stakes. While watching speeches in the Indian Houses of Parliaments, I observe similar phenomenon. It makes me wonder how effectively can such powerful people communicate with each other using different tongues.
Distilling a person’s ideas from their words into an essence. Repackaging that essense using a different set of words, and figures of speech.
The act of translation lacks a layer of agency, at least on the surface. After all, it’s not the translator’s original idea that they are communicate, is it?
Interpretation seems to be a unifying skill, to me at least. Unfortunately, I have not translated any piece of work yet. But, it could be a potentially valuable exercise.