The following is from a contemporary novel. The translator's note spanned twenty pages — longer than any single chapter of the work itself. It explained which puns had been impossible to render and which had been replaced with substitutes; which historical references were familiar to the original audience but obscure to the new one; which idioms had no equivalent and had been described rather than translated. Readers, the translator concluded, were receiving "a faithful version of a different book."
Which inference is most strongly supported by the passage?
- A
Translation produces texts identical to their originals
- Bcheck_circle
Translation involves choices that may produce a text differing meaningfully from the original even at its most careful
- C
Translator's notes are unrelated to the quality of translation
- D
The translator was incompetent in the source language
Explanation
The 20-page note and "different book" framing supports B. A, C, D contradict the description of careful, conscious choices.