David Bellos is the Director of the Program in Translation and Inter-cultural Communication at Princeton University, where he is also a Professor of French and Comparative Literature. He has won many awards for his translations of Georges Perec, Ismail Kadare, Fred Vargas and others, including the Man Booker International Translator’s Award in 2005.

His most recent book, Is That A Fish in Your Ear? – Translation and the Meaning of Everything, was published in 2011 to wide critical acclaim and is the natural starting point for this conversation about translation.

We sat down with David in his home in Princeton, New Jersey, to explore the many nuances of the art of translation and to learn why he believes that translation is nothing less than “a first step towards civilization”.