Without translators, we would be limited to only reading literature written in our native tongue and whatever few other languages we could learn well. And that literature would be distinctly different if authors weren’t able to read texts and access ideas from other cultures.

All this is to say that we would be distinctly poorer without translated literature.

But translations seem to scare many people, especially those who have English as their native language. There’s the erroneous idea that translations are harder to read, and some readers fear that translators change texts beyond recognition. There are other people who simply think that anything that comes from outside the borders of their own country is just too different and unwelcome, not recognising that intercultural exchange has always been around and has already shaped most cultures to a certain extent.

What I love about translated literature is the opportunity it offers me to enter another world, another life. I get a little insight into an experience different from my own and I get exposure to new ideas, and this helps me grow as a person. Sometimes, though, I find that life elsewhere actually isn’t all that different from my own, and that makes me feel just a bit closer to people who were previously “other”.

I run an award-winning international literature book group here in Norwich. As far as we know, it’s the only book group in the UK that just reads translated literature. This is surprising because translated literature is such a gift. More.

See: The Huffington Post