August 11, 2010

#1,660

The voice that seduces us is not the voice with which the writer is born, but the one which is born from the encounter of his talent with his language.
The mysterious person produced by his unmistakable use of language.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 277

2 comments:

  1. The original Spanish is:

    La voz que nos seduce no es la voz con que el escritor nace, sino la que nace del encuentro de su talento con su idioma.
    La persona misteriosa elaborada por el uso inconfundible de un lenguaje.

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  2. There are two distinct words in Spanish that have both been translated into English here as "language."

    The first word is idioma, which denotes a national language or a regional dialect, such as English, Spanish, Catalan, etc. It can also denote a special type of language used by certain people or on certain occasions, such as the language of the court (i.e., the way one would speak when speaking to a king).

    The second word is lenguaje, which has a more general meaning than idioma. It refers primarily to man's ability to communicate through speech or a system of communication analogous to speech, but can also refer to the way one communicates.

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