A Fundamental Linguistic Aphorism

Source text^[1]

On n'habite pas un pays, on habite une langue. Une patrie, c'est cela et rien d'autre.

Target text 1^[2]

No se habita un país, se habita una lengua. Una patria es eso y ninguna otra cosa.

Target text 2^[2]

One does not inhabit a country, one inhabits a language. That is a homeland, and no other.

— Emil Cioran
Aveux et anathèmes (1987)
Confesiones y anatemas^[3]
Avowals and Anathemas^[3]

Notes

1. Éditions Gallimard, 1987.^[↑]

2. My own translations.^[↑]

3. My translations of the original title in French, before the editing and grouping of the author's work in larger compilations. Those volumes were published under different titles in Spanish and in English.^[↑]

From Sagan's Evolutionary Speculations

Source text^[1]

Human beings and other animals have very sophisticated high-data-rate perceptual and cognitive abilities that simply bypass the verbal and analytic consciousness [...]. The word [intuition] conveys, I think, a diffuse annoyance at our inability to understand how we come by such knowledge. But intuitive knowledge has an extremely long evolutionary history; if we consider the information contained in the genetic material, it goes back to the origin of life. The other of our two modes of knowing —the one that in the West expresses irritation about the existence of intuitive knowledge— is a quite recent evolutionary accretion. Rational thinking that is fully verbal (involving complete sentences, say) is probably only tens or hundreds of thousands years old.

Target text^[2]

Los seres humanos y otros animales tienen habilidades perceptivas y cognitivas con una tasa de datos alta, muy sofisticadas, que simplemente circunvalan la consciencia verbal y analítica [...]. La palabra [intuición] comunica, pienso, una molestia difusa hacia nuestra inhabilidad de entender cómo llegamos a tal conocimiento. Pero el conocimiento intuitivo tiene una historia evolutiva extremadamente larga; si consideramos la información contenida en el material genético, llega hasta el origen de la vida. El otro de nuestros dos modos de saber —el que en Occidente expresa irritación acerca de la existencia del conocimiento intuitivo— es una acreción evolutiva bastante reciente. El pensamiento racional que es plenamente verbal (involucrando oraciones completas, podemos decir) tiene probablemente sólo decenas o cientos de miles de años de antigüedad.

— Carl Sagan
The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence (1977)
Los dragones del Edén: especulaciones sobre la evolución de la inteligencia humana

Notes

1. Ballantine Books, 1986. ^[↑]

2. My own translation.^[↑]

For Science Fiction and for Science Fact

Source text

Clarke's Three Laws^[1]

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Target text^[2]

Las tres leyes de Clarke

1. Cuando un científico distinguido pero anciano afirma que algo es posible, casi con certeza está en lo correcto. Cuando afirma que algo es imposible, muy probablemente está equivocado.

2. La única manera de descubrir los límites de lo posible es aventurarse un poco más allá de ellos hacia lo imposible.

3. Cualquier tecnología lo suficientemente avanzada es indistinguible de la magia.

Notes

1. Postulated by science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke.^[↑]

2. My own translation.^[↑]

Remembering Herodotus

Source text^[1]

Et même si ce n'est pas vrai,
il faut croire à l'histoire ancienne.

Target text 1^[2]

E incluso si no es verdad,
hay que creer en la historia antigua.

Target text 2^[2]

And even if it is not true,
one has to believe in ancient history.

Notes

1. Verses from the song “La vie d'artiste”, with lyrics by Francis Claude and music by Léo Férré. The passage was quoted by historian Pierre Briant in the beginning of his book History of the Persian Empire. From Cyrus to Alexander. I discovered this in Dan Carlin's “King of Kings” podcast about the Achaemenid Persian Empire, which is part of his Hardcore History series.^[↑]

2. My own translations.^[↑]