In his quote about being a translator, Amara Lakhous talks about how his job as a translator essentially broadens his horizon, and how being able to speak different languages he is able to leave on concealed island (island in this case means language language) to move along to the next. This allows him to build a connection between several sets of land. His idea of being a smuggler states that he perhaps takes his newly learnt languages/phrases, and takes them back to his original island.
This interpretation, language is seen as a jewel in every person's life. However, it is also what keeps you restricted in your island surrounded by the vast sea which loses translation. At this point, translators like Amara Lakhous or Fahmida Riaz come into place. Like Fahmida states, translating is an incredibly difficult task, almost similar to writing the book on a new level. Every word has its place in the whole in the original copy, which translators need to take into consideration. At times, his or her interpretation of the original novel must be taken into account when translating.
Nonetheless, there are limits to translating other languages into English. Fahmida gave the example of a word in Urdo, which has no one-to-one translation. Similarly, the controversy with Feng Tang again demonstrates the inability to translate specific words or phrases into another language. In other words, the difficulties in replicating structure allows the translation to lose meaning or context, as references in one language may not be understood in another.
However, different text types will have different degrees of difficulty in translation. Novels typically tend to be a slightly easier to translate than short pieces of literature such as poems. For poems, the structure, the rhythm, etc all play a role in the delivery and purpose behind it.
