Translation is a subject I happen to know a few things about. For many years I was president of one of the country's most prominent multilanguage communications companies whose clientèle included more than a fair number of America's best—known multinational corporations. Among the things I've learned is the difficulty of rendering an expression, particularly an idiom, exactly from one language into another, especially if the two languages involved are not closely related linguistically. A good translator with a thorough fluency in both source and target languages as well as a bit of literary ability will come up with a translation that accurately —— although not necessarily literally —— conveys the meaning of what was said in the original. Thus, it is hardly surprising that, as noted by correspondent Ethan Bronner in today's New York Times, that: EVER since he spoke at an anti—Zionism conference in Tehran last October, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad...(Read Full Post)