Spirit of language is in its curses

After a lifetime of service to the art of translation, a Queens College teacher and distinguished professor of Hispanic Languages and Literature, Gregory Rabassa, has been awarded a national medal of Arts by President and Mrs. Bush.
Described by Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garca Mrquez as &#8220the best Latin American writer in the English language,” Rabassa, 84, once told the New York Times that the true spirit of translation &#8220comes out in curses.”
&#8220Curses are never translated literally,” he said. &#8220You find out what is the spirit of the curse, what direction the curse is going. Then you try to find the English. The ultimate is to take out a hammer and hit your own thumb.”
Rabassa is widely acknowledged as being responsible for creating an English speaking audience for many of the best-known and most loved Latin writers including Jorge Amado, Julio Cortzar, Mario Vargas Llosa, Jos Lezama Lima, as well as Mrquez.
Born in Yonkers in 1922, to a mother of Scottish and English ancestry who grew up in Hell's Kitchen and a Cuban father whose mastery of English extended to playful mockery, Rabassa became versed in the subtlety of language, vernacular and meaning.
&#8220With all the diverse mannerisms of speech I heard around me, including the various different New England ones, I developed what might be called an ear for sounds,” he said.
While Rabassa's early life clearly played a role in his chosen profession there can be no denying that Rabassa's ability with translation extended beyond the ordinary - it is a gift.
In the service of his gift, Rabassa studied French and Latin in high school, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German at Dartmouth College and took an assignment as a cryptographer in North Africa and Italy during World War II for the Office of Strategic Services, which eventually evolved into the CIA.
After the war, he returned to America where he studied and taught at Columbia University until he came to work at Queens College in 1968.
His 2005 memoir, If This Be Treason: Translation and Its Dyscontents [sic] (New Directions) received wide reviews and acclaim. Rabassa's gentle gift of language, understanding and a distain for injecting himself into the work of other writers has enabled him to avoid the controversy that has ensnared many other translators.
Rabassa is a lover of jazz and old movies and once said, &#8220The devil knows more from being old than from being the devil.”