Bud Whitley
Christopher J. Lucas discusses the phenomenon in the late 1980’s and early 90’s were some members of the academic world were trying to make curriculum more divers and multicultural by including litterateur from more sources than “dead white men.” These members had a goal to give students a more rounded curriculum and expose them more diverse cultures and fields of study. However, many of these college professionals over look the fact that a number of multicultural books do not translate well into an American culture.
A translation occurs when a language barriers disrupts the directly translating works of literature from one language to another. Translating into English often times causes works to lose a great deal of connotation and meaning, not to mention literarily phrases and techniques that do not exists in the English language. Literary techniques such as alliterations, similes, and metaphors loose all meaning when translated directly, causing the works to make far less sense than originally written.
The fact that many of the books and poems and speeches contain values and beliefs not normally held in American culture cause another issue in the incorporation of such works. These conflictions of beliefs lead to confusion and misrepresentation. If improperly taught, some highly prejudice works from other countries might give the incorrect impression that all people from that country think and feel the same way. Aspects of the movie “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” although a comedic satire, could be misinterpreted to suggest that all people of Kazakhstan have horrible prejudice for a particular race of people. With this possible danger on the horizon, great care needs to be taken when incorporating translated works into a previously strictly European culture.
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