Abstract
To say the least, The Translator's Invisibility, written by ?Lawrence Venuti', Professor of English at Temple University has provoked many debates and controversy within the field of translation and has therefore, become a classic text. At the beginning of the book, Venuti quotes Norman Shapiro, professor of Romance Languages and Literatures at Wesleyan University. Let us discuss this quotation and question to what extent Shapiro's idea is feasible. According to him, translation is an "attempt" to produce a transparent text. This means that the aim is not systematically reached, and translation remains an activity mainly directed by a certain ideal objective. Besides, the adjective "transparent" expresses the idea of absence of any trace, or clue. You only notice that there is a translation when there are "little imperfections", which could be considered as evidence that there is a filter of translation ahead of the text. "Ideally" there shouldn't be any imperfection so the translation would be "so" perfect that the text would look natural and fluid.
