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Dancing on Ropes: Translators and the Balance of History
'Full of lively stories ... leaves the reader with an awed respect for the translator's task' EconomistWould Hiroshima have been bombed if Japanese contained a phrase meaning 'no comment'? Is it alright for missionaries to replace the Bible's 'white as snow' with 'white as fungus' in places where snow never falls? Who, or what, is Kuzma's mother, and why was Nikita Khrushchev so threateningly obsessed with her (or it)?The course of diplomacy rarely runs smooth; without an invisible army of translators and interpreters, it could hardly run at all. Join veteran translator Anna Aslanyan to explore hidden histories of cunning and ambition, heroism and incompetence. Meet the figures behind the notable events of history, from the Great Game to Brexit, and discover just how far a simple misunderstanding can go.
272 pages, Paperback
First published May 20, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
April 9, 2025
An interesting book on the impact of translators and translations on the mutual understanding of different cultures. The historical examples on which the narrative is built - from Berlusconi's jokes, to the Nuremberg trial, to the relationship between Borges and di Giovanni - are meant to illustrate the technical complications these professionals face in the daily routine of their work. The conclusions about the present and future role of computer-aided/automated translation are valuable and, again, not without subtle irony.
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Un libro interessante sull'impatto di traduttori e traduzioni sulla comprensione reciproca tra culture diverse. Gli esempi storici su cui è costruita la narrazione - dalle barzellette di Berlusconi, al processo di Norimberga, al rapporto tra Borges e di Giovanni - hanno lo scopo di illustrare le complicazioni tecniche che questi professionisti devono affrontare nella routine quotidiana del loro lavoro. Le conclusioni sul ruolo presente e futuro della traduzione assistita/automatizzata sono preziose e, ancora una volta, non prive di sottile ironia.
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Un libro interessante sull'impatto di traduttori e traduzioni sulla comprensione reciproca tra culture diverse. Gli esempi storici su cui è costruita la narrazione - dalle barzellette di Berlusconi, al processo di Norimberga, al rapporto tra Borges e di Giovanni - hanno lo scopo di illustrare le complicazioni tecniche che questi professionisti devono affrontare nella routine quotidiana del loro lavoro. Le conclusioni sul ruolo presente e futuro della traduzione assistita/automatizzata sono preziose e, ancora una volta, non prive di sottile ironia.
July 12, 2025
Io sono terribilmente di parte perché adoro le lingue straniere e la traduzione quindi parto subito dicendo che questi libro mi è piaciuto TANTISSIMO 💖 L'autrice raccoglie una serie di episodi nella Storia legati all'ambito delle traduzioni e dell'interpretariato, si spazia dagli incontri tra URSS e USA ai dragomanni dell'Impero Ottomano, passando per il processo di Norimberga e la diffusione della Bibbia... Ho scoperto molte curiosità e aneddoti su momenti importanti della nostra Storia che non conoscevo! 😍 La scrittura è scorrevole e, pure se non avete studiato lingue, è accessibilissimo a chiunque! In tempi in cui la traduzione è sempre più trascurata, questo saggio mostra invece l'importanza della comunicazione ben fatta tra lingue e culture diverse!
August 30, 2021
TFW you spend your long weekend reading about your job X D
Anyway, enjoyed this immensely because I am a total nerd. Also this contained references to one of the men featured in A Field Guide to the English Clergy and one of the misunderstandings referred to in Once Upon a Time I Lived on Mars. I just mention this as a weird coincidence.
Once again I came away from this with a long list of book recommendations, including but not limited to Mark Twain's sassy reverse translation of what he perceived to be a French butchering of The Jumping Frog - you know that's going to be SAVAGE.
Anyway, enjoyed this immensely because I am a total nerd. Also this contained references to one of the men featured in A Field Guide to the English Clergy and one of the misunderstandings referred to in Once Upon a Time I Lived on Mars. I just mention this as a weird coincidence.
Once again I came away from this with a long list of book recommendations, including but not limited to Mark Twain's sassy reverse translation of what he perceived to be a French butchering of The Jumping Frog - you know that's going to be SAVAGE.
November 6, 2021
A very good book. An insider from the intersection of languages sprinkles her own insights and experiences among some of the most important translated moments from history. Some very provocative reflections.
I found the prose a touch more involved than standard comfortable leisure reading, so it felt a little hard going at times. I think because there are often several agents involved in her stories, more clarity would have been preferable to the concision and neatness Aslanyan achieves.
Undoubtedly a skilled and fascinating account.
I found the prose a touch more involved than standard comfortable leisure reading, so it felt a little hard going at times. I think because there are often several agents involved in her stories, more clarity would have been preferable to the concision and neatness Aslanyan achieves.
Undoubtedly a skilled and fascinating account.
November 1, 2021
It was in places very interesting but in the end I just couldn't stand how extremely self-satisfied this was - over two hundred pages written like an unending stream of weekend Observer features. After the first hundred you kind of feel like drowining in a morass. All the more the pity since the author clearly could have done much better.
March 21, 2022
An occasionally uneven but mostly fascinating set of vignettes that describe how translators have worked in various historical contexts. Aslanyan's work evinces deep learning and real curiosity about the history of the translator's craft. It is full of remarkable details and stories. If there is a weakness of the book, however, it is the lack of an organizing principle, a thesis that ties the vignettes together. The chapters can seem a bit desultory and only loosely connected.
August 24, 2025
This is designed to be a “popular” book versus an academic one, but it misses the mark there. Most of the book feels very academic, the final two chapters being the only exceptions (and those are the best two chapters in the entire book!).
Many sections are very hard to follow. Each chapter gives a historical event/exchange in which translation/interpretation played a big role, and these parts, ironically, read like they were translated into English, they are so choppy and hard to process.
The author weirdly assumes that readers understand why one particular translation is better or worse than another, without explaining the possible meanings of each translation, and often she does this without even giving the English equivalent! So readers are expected to be fluent in every language she references in the book? Strange.
Finally, the author is clearly anti-religion and believes any translation of the Bible that speaks of miraculous events, or which goes against her 21st-century feminist beliefs, is mistranslated. (For instance, she believes that “virgin” should have been translated as “young woman.”)
Note 1: There is some profanity in the book.
Note 2: The physical book has very thick, quality paper, so kudos to the publisher on that front!
Many sections are very hard to follow. Each chapter gives a historical event/exchange in which translation/interpretation played a big role, and these parts, ironically, read like they were translated into English, they are so choppy and hard to process.
The author weirdly assumes that readers understand why one particular translation is better or worse than another, without explaining the possible meanings of each translation, and often she does this without even giving the English equivalent! So readers are expected to be fluent in every language she references in the book? Strange.
Finally, the author is clearly anti-religion and believes any translation of the Bible that speaks of miraculous events, or which goes against her 21st-century feminist beliefs, is mistranslated. (For instance, she believes that “virgin” should have been translated as “young woman.”)
Note 1: There is some profanity in the book.
Note 2: The physical book has very thick, quality paper, so kudos to the publisher on that front!
June 5, 2024
不知道是不是我的閱讀錯覺，感覺其中提到口譯的部分會比筆譯更多，也有談到基本每本翻譯書裡都會提及的機械翻譯問題。總體來說不錯讀，作者筆鋒凝練且刀刀要害，對於觀點的提出與見解相當分明。
June 15, 2023
I enjoyed this book, though it was much more dense and academic than advertised. Aslanyan does a great job sharing interesting stories about translators and interpreters throughout history, though it was heavily focused on the West (there was some discussion of the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East as well). The last two/three chapters were a strong break from the rest of the book, where the author spends much more time sharing her own thoughts on the industry and airing some grievances and opinions. She does do a fantastic job at making the case for the historic and important role language professionals have always had throughout the world.
I think that anyone in the translation industry or in multilingual would find this an informative read. Just brace yourself, this is not a light read (despite the fun cover).
I think that anyone in the translation industry or in multilingual would find this an informative read. Just brace yourself, this is not a light read (despite the fun cover).
February 22, 2023
A bit tedious and heavy on (unnecessary) historical details, it was a struggle to get the main idea, and reading through some parts felt like heavy work. Out of 18 chapters, I was only hooked to 3 or 4, plus a few anecdotes here and there.
May 17, 2023
Un libro in cui si dà concretezza e tangibilità a una professione troppo spesso bistrattata e dimenticata. Gli episodi riportati (tanti, variegati e ben documentati) sono narrativamente piacevoli e si intervallano a riflessioni tecniche riguardanti l’ambito della traduzione.
August 20, 2023
AI doesn't have to dance on ropes – that is what translators are for. History knows many examples when translators try to find the balance to keep things going. This is a social occupation. In Dancing on Ropes: Translators and the Balance of History, Anna Aslanyan shows that translator's professionalism ultimately determines who rocks and who's on the rocks. And the air dance metaphor itself highlights the challenges involved in the work of translators.
For a moment, I felt as if I'd broken open a five-year-old fortune cookie: "In 2018, when 352 experts were asked to estimate the probability of AI outperforming humans in various tasks in the near future, their combined predictions suggested that this would happen in translation by 2024. The report, published by Oxford and Yale researchers, defines outperformance in this area as machines being 'about as good as a human who is fluent in both languages but unskilled at translation'. Among 'specific AI capabilities' listed, 'language translation' is mentioned next to 'folding laundry'."
When I perform my dance on the ropes, it is a mixture of joy and terror, because the stakes sometimes are so high that practicing translation techniques is sometimes like a dizzying jump. Translation is similar to a martial art — it is a fight between the author and the translator-creator.
The book is a great source of anecdotes as it follows all along the history of the trade: from Mavrocordato's beginning of the whole modern industry of interpreting and translation, to a serious gap followed by Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bombings to natural language processing and the under-reported story of the plight of front-line translators (recently put on screen by Guy Ritchie in The Covenant), from the translator's share in the New York Times pieces of Jorge Luis Borges, and to translating Victor Pelevin into Chinese.
For a moment, I felt as if I'd broken open a five-year-old fortune cookie: "In 2018, when 352 experts were asked to estimate the probability of AI outperforming humans in various tasks in the near future, their combined predictions suggested that this would happen in translation by 2024. The report, published by Oxford and Yale researchers, defines outperformance in this area as machines being 'about as good as a human who is fluent in both languages but unskilled at translation'. Among 'specific AI capabilities' listed, 'language translation' is mentioned next to 'folding laundry'."
When I perform my dance on the ropes, it is a mixture of joy and terror, because the stakes sometimes are so high that practicing translation techniques is sometimes like a dizzying jump. Translation is similar to a martial art — it is a fight between the author and the translator-creator.
The book is a great source of anecdotes as it follows all along the history of the trade: from Mavrocordato's beginning of the whole modern industry of interpreting and translation, to a serious gap followed by Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bombings to natural language processing and the under-reported story of the plight of front-line translators (recently put on screen by Guy Ritchie in The Covenant), from the translator's share in the New York Times pieces of Jorge Luis Borges, and to translating Victor Pelevin into Chinese.
July 13, 2021
Dancing on Ropes explores some really interesting issues related to translation and interpretation. Machine translation. How can one translate humour? The impact the drive for cost savings on court translations has had. Translation as literary collaboration. Aslanyan does it through all sorts of stories, some historical, some based on her own experience (and I wanted even more of the latter!)
Some of the chapters were more interesting than others. There were several, particularly near the start, particularly dealing with historical topics, which I found a bit boring, and where it was unclear what the point was. However, most were excellent, and since most of the more boring chapters were at the start, I finished on a high :)
Some of the chapters were more interesting than others. There were several, particularly near the start, particularly dealing with historical topics, which I found a bit boring, and where it was unclear what the point was. However, most were excellent, and since most of the more boring chapters were at the start, I finished on a high :)
November 4, 2021
Loved this book. It broadened my mind and exposed me to all that goes into translation (how to translate a name, when/how to do thought for thought vs word for word, translating humor, the Bible as a Rosetta Stone of sorts, etc). It showed me that translation is a socio-cultural act. I definitely recommend to anyone interested in the Humanities. The last chapter is devoted to machine translation and discusses its success and failures which would appeal to a computer scientist.
For me to have given it five stars I would have liked to have heard more about her translation experiences. In some of her chapters, in my opinion, she dwells too much on the historical example she uses, although some examples do prove her point and are interesting.
For me to have given it five stars I would have liked to have heard more about her translation experiences. In some of her chapters, in my opinion, she dwells too much on the historical example she uses, although some examples do prove her point and are interesting.
February 11, 2022
Unless you are a translator or regularly use one, you would probably not give a second thought as to how their work makes an impact.
I enjoyed this book because it provided me with a perspective that I would not normally have.
I enjoyed this book because it provided me with a perspective that I would not normally have.
August 16, 2021
Loved this set of mordant interlinked tales about politics and translation, Borges-like at times (he gets a chapter).
December 29, 2021
Un saggio puntuale, con aneddoti interessanti sul lavoro di interpreti e traduttori. Forse più interessante per un interprete.
July 31, 2023
A very interesting read!
January 5, 2025
The book might be more interesting, but I regret that I have bought the Chinese translation of this book.
June 3, 2025
An incredibly enjoyable book about the pitfalls of translation, and how it's changed throughout history. Knows when to be serious, and knows when to joke.
December 25, 2024
Is the art of translation as difficult as dancing on ropes, especially in high-stake situations? The author lays out a convincing case for why the answer is a categorical yes.
Taking examples from history, Anna walks us through pivotal moments where translating a word or a phrase had an outsized impact on the outcomes.
"No Comment" from the Japanese would have been a better interpretation of their response in English when given the ultimatum to surrender during WWII.
From Cold War exchanges between Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev to contemporary politicians like Berlusconi, who loved to crack hard-to-translate jokes, the book highlights how translators and their ability to translate have often saved the day.
My favourite example is how the translation of a single Italian word 'canales' used by Italian astronomer Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli to describe what he saw on Mars, as 'canals' and not 'channels' in English, immediately gave rise to speculation about the possibility of life on Mars.
What we realise is that, ultimately, it's concepts and not words that need to be translated, and that requires a holistic worldview. There is no easy way around ambiguity. We will still need humans (and not computers) in the near future when translations really matter.
Taking examples from history, Anna walks us through pivotal moments where translating a word or a phrase had an outsized impact on the outcomes.
"No Comment" from the Japanese would have been a better interpretation of their response in English when given the ultimatum to surrender during WWII.
From Cold War exchanges between Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev to contemporary politicians like Berlusconi, who loved to crack hard-to-translate jokes, the book highlights how translators and their ability to translate have often saved the day.
My favourite example is how the translation of a single Italian word 'canales' used by Italian astronomer Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli to describe what he saw on Mars, as 'canals' and not 'channels' in English, immediately gave rise to speculation about the possibility of life on Mars.
What we realise is that, ultimately, it's concepts and not words that need to be translated, and that requires a holistic worldview. There is no easy way around ambiguity. We will still need humans (and not computers) in the near future when translations really matter.
July 19, 2021
Che voce dare ad altri? E' giusto farlo? Si può scegliere come farlo?
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews