Seidensticker

 The aspect that stood out most to me from this reading was the comparison of translation and counterfeiting. For one, I found it funny to look at translation with that sort of negative connotation, as if the translator is a thief in the night trying to steal away the secrets of a sacred text. Though, in that sense, it is kind of a true idea when looking at it with counterfeiting in mind. Seidensticker is of the idea that a translation should not beautify the text, brush up and clean whatever mess had been made before. A translator is stealing a text, since it never will be the same afterwards. In that same notion, a counterfeiter is not only not trying to make their fake better, but it would be a failure if the product were anything but the exact same as the original (as akin to translation). 

I think going into translation with this idea would be a good idea, at least for myself. While translation is harder to quantify, with no exact “right” way to translate something, I think having this idea of creating a copy instead of a new text would help when making decisions when translating (another difficulty mentioned by Seidensticker). Instead of which translation has the better rhythm or correct proper names, “could this be passed off as the original” is a better question to ask. That, and the idea of doing something wicked should make translating more fun :) 

Avi