Hi, Anton Shepelev!   
   I read your message from 10.07.2016 19:42   
      
    AS>>> Language being the most important medium of culture, it is also   
    AS>>> the first to suffer when its mother culture is under attack.   
    ak>> I don't agree that culture and a language are inseparable. IMHO,   
    ak>> language is nothing, it just an instrument. Language just   
    ak>> describes a PARTICULAR CULTURE.   
      
    AS> How's about:   
    AS> a. Language is a/the product of culture, or b. Each language is   
    AS> a/the product of its particular culture?   
      
   IMHO, here we don't know what culture we are speaking about. There is no   
   specific information. So there is no ground for 'the product'.   
      
   but you can say "Russian is probably the product of Russian culture".   
      
      
    AS> One can judge a culture by its language as a tree by its fruit,   
    AS> for:   
      
   Language is like a stick with which a person scribbles his cultural ideas on   
   walls. ;) It is not a fruit. It is a plate on which the fruit is.   
      
      
    AS> Language reflects the thinking and the worldview of the speaker.   
    AS> The poetry of the Russian people have led them to denoting clouds   
    AS> with the word "oblako", which means clothing (of the heavens),   
    AS> while the English "cloud" (or "clout") means simply a heap.   
      
   It doesn't matter what is the origin of "oblako". At present it is universal.   
   Nobody cares now what it meant in the ancient times.   
      
      
    ak>> We can use, for instance, English to describe the essence of a   
    ak>> Russian soul.   
      
    AS> Even in Russian, that would have been quite a feat!   
    ak>> We've translated into English our great literature.   
      
    AS> I believe the majority of literary translations are made by native   
    AS> speakers of the target language.   
      
   I don't think so. A Russian translator knows the material better. But he must   
   obligatory show his translation to a native speaker so to polish it, to make   
   sure that the English checker understands it well. Only after such (as a rule   
   a long) dialog it is possible to make a good translation.   
      
    AS> Translation is always imperfect, of which any bilingual reader can   
    AS> make certain by comaring some great of work of literature with its   
    AS> translation.   
      
   I would be more careful when using the word "always". The impression the book   
   makes on you is subjective. Besides, we have very little true bilingual   
   readers who understand two languages equally well. And if we speak of poetry   
   translation ... let's don't speak about it. ;-)   
      
    AS> It is best, however, to do it both ways: with the   
    AS> original in one's native tongue and in a foreign tongue. Literary   
    AS> translation is not the same as rewriting a C program in Pascal: it   
    AS> is always a lossy process, the amount of loss being in inverse   
    AS> dependece on the skill of the translator, not to mention the matter   
    AS> of fidelity vs. transparency:   
      
    AS> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation#Fidelity_and_transparency   
      
   It is a endless argument/wrangle, and I don't have time to read it. As for me,   
   I believe that the translation must be as close to the original as it only   
   possible. Also translators have no right to improve the author.   
      
    AS> For some typical gross distortions, see, for example, this   
    AS> readworthy article about five translations of "The Lord of the   
    AS> Rings" into Russian:   
      
    AS> http://www.kulichki.com/tolkien/arhiv/ugolok/semenova.shtml   
      
   Sorry, IMHO, Tolkien's stories are just a waste of time.   
      
    ak>> Culture is something that located inside of people.   
      
    AS> Inside a people, but not inside each individual, because we live in   
    AS> a society and communicate with others extensively.   
      
   Every individual has his own cultural level, and his language betrays him. His   
   language says to everyone what are the individual's moral standards, ideals,   
   education etc.   
      
    ak>> Culture it is th way we treat injustice, a lie, children, old   
    ak>> people etc.   
      
    AS> That is ethics, which is but a part of culture.   
      
   Yes, culture consists of many things, but language is not such a thing. Well,   
   suppose you read a science fiction novel about a planet where there are many   
   countries, nations. But there are no languages at all. There is only telepathy   
   there...!   
      
   It doesn't matter how beautifully you can say something, and, in which   
   language. It does matter what are you saying.   
      
   Bye, Anton!   
   Alexander Koryagin   
   ENGLISH_TUTOR 2016   
      
   --- Paul's Win98SE VirtualBox   
    * Origin: Quinn's Post - Maryborough, Queensland, OZ (3:640/384)