Openness to Others: The Task of Translating Palliative Carefor China.

The German philosopher Walter Benjamin, who died attempting to cross a border to escape persecution, described both the impossibility and the possibilities of translation[ 1]. The impossibility is implicit in the very title of Benjamin's essay, Die Aufgabe des Übersetzers. The German word Aufgabe can mean "task" or "endeavor" but also a "giving up" or "surrender." There is no English word that conveys the ambiguities and nuances of Aufgabe. And as I write this, I am aware that translating my English sentences into Chinese will create new impossibilities. But the impossibility of "true" or "literal" translation also opens new possibilities, for interpretation, adaptation, and (re)creation of new meaning. The same holds for translating palliative care: both the term and the discipline or practice.