Walter Benjamin "The Task of the TransIator". Essay

Benjamin Work of Art
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Benjamin Work of Art
The task of a translator is an essay written by Benjamin whereby it mainly talks about the works a translator should do. In his text, a translation’s main work is not to give readers an understanding of the meaning of the original information that is being conveyed. It is not of praise that the translation reads out as if it was written in the language of the original text. The true translator of a text does not try to make the text easy and understandable to the reader but instead souk dry to keep the original uniqueness and foreignness of the original text. In the book, there are several elements that can be seen in the text and these elements impede, complement, and somehow affect how the text is interpreted.
The first element portrayed in the essay and complements the text is its main argument. The main argument that Benjamin tried to pass across is that the purpose of translation is not to pass a moral or a lesson because translation is aimed at interpreting art. The main aim or art itself is not to pass any moral lesson because art is not meant for only the viewer. This can be seen when he argues in his text that no poem is meant for only the reader. Benjamin points out a common mistake done with translation where he states that translators want to turn Hindu and Greek into German or any other langua...