Translation is a key that can open a door of communication between people who normally could not understand each other due to language and cultural barriers. Translation is everywhere, it can be in the form of changing one language to another in order to understand both sides, this is the most common way we see translation. However, I believe translation can also be in more abstract forms such as art and music, these are forms of translation in the sense that people can mutually understand it even if they do not speak the same language or come from the same culture.
In the book “Signs Preceding the End of The World” by Yuri Herrera, the book has to be translated into english from its original language for us Non-Spanish speaking students to understand. Yet this is not the extent of the translation, depending on where you go in the world you will find the book translated into that certain language. This represents how translation can connect people from different cultures through a book. I would like to end this blog post with a quote from this book, “…if you say give me fire when they say give me light, what is not to be learned about fire, light and the act if giving?”. This is a pivotal point in the story for the main character Makina. This represents how important translation is because it also allows people to gain perspectives through the process of understanding another person’s culture.
Literary Genres in Translation 