The Pained Original

Arguing that, outside class-rooms, discussions on the relationship between translated product and the‘original’do not advance ourunderstanding of translation. The article analyses the nature of‘originals’. It points out that many originals are poorly composed and notes that thereare efforts to make people write clearly. Attention is called to‘internationalisation’of texts for easy translation and‘localisation’.‘Culturaltexts’present hurdles and it is exemplified how cultural information embedded is difficult to convey to foreign audiences. It is discussed how‘originals’change in time: this includes manuals as well as some‘classics’in literature. Other‘originals’, notably in literature published in the UK and theUS, change according to the country of publication. Finally, the article points out that at many international organisations, most obviously so at theEuropean Union with eleven official languages, there is a division of labour. In this division one or two versions of texts(in English or French)are used firstas repositories of the negotiations and as a record of agreements, then as the source text for the ten or nine other language versions, and in the end as oneof the eleven equally authoritative texts of which none can claim superiority over the others.