At the Translation Conference by Margaret Atwood 

I believe that this poem takes place in a conference, as the title says, and the speaker talks about his or her language and gives some information about the structure of language. What do I feel while reading this poem? I cannot answer that question because every language creates a culture, and the culture of every country and every language is different. Therefore, it may be normal to understand gender through clothes rather than using "he" or "she" depending on the culture or not having a "no" word for women. But in my opinion, although it makes sense to say Wednesday and Thursday without future tense suffixes, it seems very strange that women cannot say the exact "no" word or try to understand gender through clothes. According to this culture, if the word tie is mentioned, they understand that they are talking about men, so I ask this: many women wear ties; why is the word “tie” only for men? The answer is very obvious to me because you cannot see a woman wearing a tie in a culture that is so mistaken even in terms of language. This is all because of the rules set by men and the taboos that have lasted for years. Another issue is that women say "perhaps" instead of "no." This seems ridiculous to me because women have limits even in the language they speak and have. Language, culture, and people are connected, and women are not free even here? If I look at all this from a feminist perspective, it is very sad that women or anyone else is stuck in such a culture. But if I look at this poem as linguistics, as I understand from the end of the poem, it is a situation that will challenge the translators. For example, in my culture - as it should be, women have the word "no.". I think that when a translation is made from the language mentioned in this poem to my language, people in my language will have difficulty understanding the subject. Because it is forbidden to say "no" in the original text, it is called "perhaps," and this means no, but in my language, "perhaps" does not mean no. If I look at it from another perspective, for example, I think that even if another person learns the language mentioned in the poem completely, it will still be difficult. If I generalize this, I think this is valid for every language. Because, as I said, language and culture are linked. Unless you are a native of that language and country, it may be completely difficult to understand the mindset of those people or what the words mean. Because even if the word normally expresses a certain meaning and a person understands it, there may be a spiritual value behind that word carried by that culture, and a non-local person may not understand it. That's why, in my opinion, it is very important to know the culture of both languages ​​when translating. Even if you are not local and have difficulty understanding, finding it in the act of researching and trying to understand is also a success for me. Because even if we cannot completely transfer a word from one language to another, even if there is no serious translation, it will be enough to know what that word means. Because if there is a similar situation in the culture of the other language, it is sufficient for the reader to use the word they will understand. So, as Atwood says at the end of the poem, no one faces death.