I found the concept of maintaining imperfections in the process of translation to be very interesting. I think in my experience with translating in class thus far, I've found it difficult to walk the line between making it flow better in English vs. altering it too much. There have definitely been times where I feel as though I'm overstepping in making my corrections—which is why this reading stuck out to me.
I think the idea of a translator as a "counterfeiter" makes a lot of sense; the translator's job is to replicate the original work to the best of their ability. A counterfeiter doesn't improve on the thing they're trying to replicate, they just replicate it exactly. But truthfully, this is easier said than done, as also explained by Seidensticker later in the piece.
I think going forward I will try the approach of the "counterfeiter" translator, and see if that helps maintain the author's voice (even with its imperfections).
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