http://www.proz.com/forums/ Topic: The work of a translator... en-us Mon, 09 Nov 2026 16:07:26 +0000 Mon, 09 Nov 2026 16:07:26 +0000 http://www.proz.com/faq support@proz.com (ProZ.com Support) support@proz.com (ProZ.com Support) Michael Grant Off topic http://www.proz.com/post/1824178#1824178 Mon, 17 Oct 2011 05:16:00 +0000 <b>Forum:</b> Off topic<br/><b>Topic:</b> The work of a translator...<br/><b>Poster:</b> Michael Grant<br/><br/>The work of a translator is like:<br /><br />[quote]the work of an artist who is asked to create an exact replica of a marble statue but who cannot secure any marble.[/quote]<br /><br />The quote is attributed to Werner Winter, accomplished linguist/German U-boat commander(!!!), found here: [url removed] <br /><br />Google Translator is like creating a replica of the marble statue in a single color of clay, which reproduces only a rough likeness. While we human translators, using an array of colors, textures, and mixed-media, create replicas that reproduce not only the figure, but all of the colors and veins that are found in the marble as well.<br /><br />What do you think? What other great metaphors do you have for what we do?? <br /><br />MGrant