Promiscuous tongues: erotics of translingualism and translation

The trope that translation is adulterous is pervasive, and it is a special form of the larger claim-expressed by figures as diverse as Plato, Whitman, and Freud-that reading and writing in general are erotic. Translingualism, the act of writing in more than one language or in a language other than one's primary one, has also been conceived of in terms of sexual betrayal. Henry James characterized L1 as the mother and L2 as the wife, but others have regarded switching languages variously as disloyalty to the mother (tongue), adultery, or polygamy. Fidelity is a commonly used criterion for judging translations, and the familiar Italian adage "traduttore, traditore" carries both sexual and political implications. However, just as marriage is a social convention, the meaning of conjugal infidelity varies with the particular society in which it occurs. Therefore, the meaning of "an unfaithful translation" is not the same in Japan or Nigeria as it is in Brazil or Norway. Some cultures stone adulterers; others celebrate them.