Originally Posted by
I, Sophroniscus
Lakoff quickly cedes the high ground in regard to the first point, translation. Personally, I think he could have fought to convince people that even here, languages are incommensurable. Perhaps it was professional pride that stopped him. What linguist would imagine that he could not translate from one arbitrary language into another?
Certainly there are points at which translation is difficult, if not impossible. Humor can -- so I understand -- present extreme difficulties to a translator: A joke from one language, accurately translated into another language, may completely fail to amuse any prospective audience...
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