In his chapter on hard and soft structures JDV speaks of the way the works of Shakespeare, Plato and Chaucer have been rewritten in their translation and consequently the work that we are reading is not the original but rather an adaptation to suit our needs of consumption.

What if Romeo and Juliet actually weren’t star crossed lovers but were just really avid star gazers and what Willy Shakes actually meant to convey was that stars are great? WOT IF?

The chances are slim but the modification of ancient texts is a little alarming for a gal who spent hours upon hours deconstructing many texts by Shakespeare in VCE and a couple from Plato too.

Does this alter the shape of learning? Instead of learning of the beautiful and pure language of past are we merely memorising words that kinda mean the same thing but offer a different over all meaning?

Further does translation from the Chinese language into English alter the content and the way that work is consequently digested? Yes I think it does considerably.

I have touched on the alteration of language in a couple of previous blog posts and it is quite an interesting little exploration.

Food for thought.

Keep it tight,

Georgia Kingspeare

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