ÔEverything we do is translation, and all translations are in a way creations.Õ Ð Octavio Paz
In contrast to the notion that the source text is always the primary text and the translation an inferior duplicate, Borges held the view that a translation can in fact improve an original, that contradictory renderings of the same work can be equally valid, and that an original can be seen as unfaithful to a translation.
What ÒOn TranslationÓ is concerned with is neither the source-language/text nor the target-language/text, per se, but rather the meaning that is generated through translation Ð the friction between languages that generates a third text that is concerned with the function of language as a seemingly transparent generator of meaning.