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"That's just what translation is, I think. That's all speaking is. Listening to the other and trying to see past your own biases to glimpse what they're trying to say. Showing yourself to the world, and hoping someone else understands."

This quote appears in Chapter 33, providing a flashback to an earlier conversation between Robin and Ramy on the day that they first meet. Ramy tells Robin that translation is merely listening. His interpretation juxtaposes Playfair's argument that translation is an inherently violent betrayal. Oxford views translation as a sort of battle. However, Ramy says that to communicate between languages, one merely needs to acknowledge differences. You don't need to distort something to fit your own biases and backgrounds in order to understand. Difference does not—or rather, should not—preclude communication. Proof of this intrinsic truth can be found in the deeply moving bond between Ramy and Robin. The boys come from different corners of the world and have their own set of unique experiences, but from the start, when one of them speaks, the other listens. And the two of them understand each other more than arguably any other pair of characters in the entire novel. Ramy embodies a perspective of translation that stems from a desire for connection, not control and ownership. Evidently, Oxford's priorities had never been about learning or knowledge, but rather amassing and possessing.

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