The highest standard in literary translation is “sublimation”. This level of perfection is reached when a discourse is
transformed from one language into another without a trace of awkwardness typically resulting from the tension in
reconciling the differences between languages, while whatever is present in the source text is still there in the target text, and hence what is called “the transmigration of souls”—to quote a Seventeenth Century scholar—is flawlessly engineered. As a result, the spirit and stylistic flavor of the original text remain intact despite the change of their container. There is, however, an unbridgeable divide between languages, between the translator's understanding of the content of the original and the true meaning thereof, between the translator's writing style and that of the author, between the translator’s appreciation of the original and his ability to present what's in his mind to the target reader. It is a long and painstaking journey from a starting point in one language inching forward through myriad bumps and pitfalls and hailstorms to a safe destination in another language. Some losses and damages are inevitable along the way. One should not be surprised when deviations from the original do occur whether in meaning or tone, leading to such accusations as “traduttore, traditore” (Translator is traitor) in the West. The translator can, needless to say, play the roles of a “mediator” and an “enticer” in cultural exchanges, acting as an intermediary or a go-between, ...much in the same manner as a matchmaker arranging for a cross-national “literary rendezvous”.