Working definition. Translation is the creation of correspondence across difference. It preserves a living relation, not a perfect copy.
Inherited meaning
Translation has always balanced fidelity and transformation. Every choice reveals an interpretation: what is essential, what has no equivalent, what needs explanation, and what the receiving context can hold.
Meaning in the imagination economy
The imagination economy depends on translation—between human intention and machine instruction, technical capability and public meaning, future scenarios and present institutions. Treating this as frictionless transfer hides the judgment and power inside the passage.
What changes in practice
Name the audience, the loss, and the transformation introduced by each translation. Keep important source language visible. Invite people from both contexts to challenge what has been made equivalent.