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 CHAPTER VIII

THE TECHNIQUE OF TRANSLATING

seems to be a widespread and unfortunate belief that there is no such thing as a technique of translating; or that, if there is, it is a negligible matter,—something which is unconsciously absorbed along with the power to render into English Ollendorfian sentences after the fashion of "No, I have not the green umbrella of your deaf grandmother, but the big Russian is up a tree." Translation, so the argument seems to run, is an even simpler matter than original work: the latter requires pen, ink and paper, and a certain natural aptitude; translation requires only pen, ink and paper,—the foreign author is expected to supply the Rh