Irving Finkel: evaluation

Transcript context

…I mean, it’s such a, such an incredible discipline. Just like you said, hinted at, just a subtle variation in a single word can change everything. Well, you know, the truth about translation is that you never really have a word in one language which precisely equates another. You never do. They’re always a kind… The best you can do. And sometimes it makes no difference, and sometimes it’s really quite misleading. And so what people do when they learn Akkadian, is they learn the Akkadian word and they learn the English translation, right? You have, “To divide. ” So whenever you have the verb, it’s some form of divide or division. But actually, it’s not, because divide is like the primary root, but there’s maybe 10 nuances of what that can mean in English, where the one at the bottom and the one at the top, you’d hardly know they were connected. And the Chicago Dictionary, which is such a magnificent thing, when you come to the museum and see me- …I’ll show you this. It’s the most salient and important thing that came out of America in all its history, is the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, which is this long. There’s only one rival to it for cultural importance, which is the electric guitar, of course. But the two of them, I think, are your countrymen’s greatest achievement. It’s the pride of our nation-…

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