Asymptote Journal takes a look at some of the concerns translators have when confronting a politically problematic text. The choice of text is of course the first decision a translator faces—but the challenges translators confront aren’t necessarily limited to pushing a political agenda or avoiding it, but also with the nuances of language itself:
For a translator, not all words are created equal. For some Hebrew words I automatically have the proper English equivalent. Other words I have to look up. Then, of course, there are the ones whose translation varies, and depends heavily on context. Finally, there is a fourth genre, the irregulars: words that give me pause, no matter how frequently I’ve come across them.
