Translation is not the neutral transfer of meaning between languages but a creative and interpretive act that carries some of the original into a new context while inevitably losing and adding dimensions in the process. The movement of Greek philosophy into Arabic, of Buddhist logic into Tibetan, of Indian mathematics into European through Islamic intermediaries: these translations were not merely linguistic events but civilizational ones, reshaping the receiving culture's entire intellectual field. The translator stands at the intersection of two worlds and must be genuinely fluent in both to serve either.
Each step builds on the last.