Translation has served as a school of writing for many authors. Translators, including monks who spread Buddhist texts in East Asia, and the early modern European translators of the Bible, in the course of their work have shaped the very languages into which they have translated. They have acted as bridges for conveying knowledge between cultures; and along with ideas, they have imported from the source languages, into their own languages, loanwords and calques of grammatical structures, idioms and vocabulary.
What has served as a school of writing for many authors? Who spread Buddhist texts in East Asia? What did translators shape in the course of their work? What have translators acted as by conveying knowledge between cultures? Where were idioms and vocabulary imported from?