A review by n_i_o
Is That a Fish in Your Ear? The Amazing Adventure of Translation by David Bellos

4.0

It was the title (and the amusing chapter names) that drew me to this book on translation. These led me to expect an easy read with an anecdotal content but it turned out to be rather more wonderful than I expected and offered not only wit but also a coherent narrative.

The central question the book of the book is not 'what is translation' (if that were the case I would still be reading now)instead it explores what it is that translation does. The author never loses himself in philosophical debates instead he uses the almost 400 pages of his book wisely to debunk commonsensical ideas about translation. And since David Bellos is not only a professor but also an experienced translator in his own right he can easily offer the reader both (practical) examples and anecdotes to support his arguments. This makes the book not only interesting in an academic sense but also a pleasure to read for someone who, like me, knows very little about translation.

Btw: I loved the 'afterbabble: in lieu of an epilogue' which discusses the way we normally look upon language diversity and why this makes no sense.