Story called the Translator

In my fiction 2 class we read this story called the Translator. I thought it related so well to this class but of course I forgot to blog about it till right now

The story is about a man who has to go to Pakistan I believe and when he gets there he meets his translator. His translator is a young man who takes him to where the man will need to make his speech. When the man gets to the place where he needs to make his speech he sees a woman and she asks a question. Through the translator he hears the woman's question and answers it. He is at once more in love with the woman than he has ever been in love with anyone in his entire life.

He asks the boy to set up a meeting between them alone so he can be with her and talk with her. The boy does this and the woman and man and translator boy meet up at a bar and spend a most magical night laughing and drinking and eating all through translations from the boy. The man is more in love with the woman than ever at the end of the night. He sets up another date with her.

The next morning he wakes up to find that some of his money has been taken and the translator boy has disappeared. In his place is an old man who speaks broken english. He is extremely sad, more sad than he should be perhaps, but isn't really sure why. Later on he meets up with the woman again, this time with the old man translator with broken english.

They sit down to drink and eat and talk again but, as he sits and talks with her through the translator, he finds that he does not think her beautiful anymore. Instead he thinks she is plain and boring and her words are crude instead of delightful.


I thought that this was such a good story in relation to our class because the woman hadn't changed at all. It was the translator who had changed and the man had been in love with the words rather than the woman herself. She could have been saying the same thing, but the choices the old man translator used could not compare to the eloquence with which the young boy had spoken.

It's a really great story. I'll try to find the exact title and author and i'll post again