Translation - What is it you really do?

In our world with more than 3000 languages, translation is a service needed to no end. International trade links, diplomacy, dissemination of knowledge, travel, cinema, books and manuals for gadgets, furniture assembly and computer software all depend on translator's work - men and women mostly unknown and unrecognized, though working hard to transfer thoughts and information from one language to another. It is a hard and demanding task to help information across the language barrier because language is a living art changing from day to day and not a firm monument.

Snares and Pitfalls

Many are the snares waiting for the translator. Knowing two or more languages is not the key to successful translation. Quality work calls for comprehensive and deep knowledge in a certain area. Language alone has so many traps to let you down! Some examples well known to most Germans are the "false friends" you might remember from learning English at school. Words dare to exist that look almost as they do in German, but have a different meaning. So, if an American is putting gas in his car, this is what a German would call Benzin. The English call it petrol, which Germans might take as Petroleum. But it isn't - Petroleum is called paraffin in England. Americans don't think so; to them, paraffin is what Germans call Wachs (or English wax). To know your vocabulary and it's traps and not fall into them is one of the easier tasks for most translators.

A bigger problem is that few words in one language cover all the meanings of a foreign word - sometimes a word doesn't even exist in the target language that comes near to the source language's word. Translators have to choose from similar words and take into account the topic, the context, the style and many other factors. It can be of utmost importance to make the right choice. And what about a word's connotations?

Idiomatic expressions, proverbs and vivid expressions belong to the translator's hardest tasks. While English people kill two birds with one stone, Germans kill two flies with one hit; if it's raining cats and dogs in England it is raining strings in Germany. And being "blue" is a totally different piece of cake in German and English.

The most difficult bits in translation, though, are information and examples that are not necessarily stated or only hinted at, which are well-known in the source language's culture and -- daily life. How many tales and legends or traditions from Germany, Spain, the Netherlands or Ireland do you know?

Translation - Science and Art together

Due to all the problems listed above, information needs to be rendered as correctly as possible while keeping a certain freedom within. A really good translation - needing sweat and toil - puts a heavy demand on the translator's mind, feeling and sentiment, heart and experience, yes, even to the total being he or she is. Certainly this is the main weapon against machine translation (not machine-aided translation, mind!). Today's programs for "fully automatic" translations simply cannot recognize and take into account the variety of nuances and options in language. Simply try one of the internet portal sites free translation services, i. e. at AltaVista. Let the translation engine take any - even a simple - sentence and translate it several times from your mother tongue into a foreign language and back again.

Where the source text written by a person provides not only pure information but paints with words and gives insight and motivation to the reader, the lack of power and ability of the machine can be seen to its full extent. A human being of the same abilities, maybe an author, is needed, to render these texts faithfully and acceptably. This is especially true in poetry. Poetry does not only pass on information, but incorporates sounds, verses, rhythm, choice and order of words, grammar, and maybe even the flow of words on the sheet.

The science of translation thus grows and becomes art insofar as a careful weighing of content and form is performed. It is often impossible not to loose something in a translation. But no matter how good or bad, how straightforward or complex the source text is there is one golden and basic rule for the translator: he or she is not the author; therefore he or she has no right in the world to "improve" on the original. Her or his task is to render the thoughts, sentiments and atmosphere of the original as truly as possible. But what to render if the original's message is unclear? One must not give in to the temptation to make the unclear clear, to strengthen the weak or to refine the clumsy. To exercise restraint in such cases can prove to be a real demand - and art.

Theory and Practice

Earlier I have shown some examples in the language pair German-English and set up a rule not everybody agrees with: "Information needs to be rendered as correctly as possible while keeping a certain freedom within."

Why would someone disagree with this statement? Well, theoretically a translation should render the original as accurately as possible. In practice there is a great deal of discussion about what exactly is accurate and faithful. The Knights of Form take style, vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, grammar etc. to be the most important parts of a text and demand that a lot of care is taken over these points when translating. As far as the original requires it and the target languages gives you these possibilities I certainly agree. What, though, if I wrote (in a German translation) that the accused had been taken to prison by railway -"Der Angeklagte wurde per Bahn ins Gefängnis geschafft"? Most Germans would read it as it is: the accused was taken into prison by rail. But, as you might know, in an English text the expression "He was railroaded to prison" usually means, that the person was taken into prison on the basis of false accusations. And what do you make of "He placed everything on one card?" Funny? Indeed, but if I say "He put all his eggs in one basket." this helps you more, does it?

So, I would count myself under the Knights of Content and say that it is the translator's right and duty to change the form, if it is absolutely needed to render the contents and make the translation's reader react in about the same way as the reader of the original did. The end of the story is with each translator; -- and I can imagine swapping points of view, too.

Translating - Can I do it?

Maybe you have asked yourself if translation would be a job for you. Now then, there are some basic requirements and ideas helping you to find and answer and, if you find this to be affirmative, do it:

1. Learn your intended working languages by heart.
   To know a language by heart means to know its cultural background. Someone said, that a translator must have the ability to "recognize hidden citations, faint echoes of the language's classic literature, its proverbs and dialects." If you want to translate from English, you should know your way around the Bible, Shakespeare, Alice Behind the Looking Glass and the most popular children's verses and songs. For German, probably the same is true, though use Goethe instead of Shakespeare and Grimm's Maerchen instead of Alice
    
2. Read in two languages.
   It is a big help to read good literature in the original language and one or more translations. Pay attention to the way they were translated, what degree of freedom and limitations the translator has used or accounted for. Subscribe to regular magazines that have the same date of publication in both languages, if possible. Do make sure that the contents are the same, though! Visit multilingual sites on the Internet.
    
3. Learn to know the people whose language you will translate.
   Plan your next holiday in the country that speaks "your" foreign language. If possible, make your place of residence there and - if you really are honest about it and this way is still open to you - choose your partner in the country.
    
4. Learn about your target audience.
   Will you only translate technical texts? Or only novels? No matter what your specialist area is or will be, learn from and about the people you translate for. What do they say and how do they talk? Can you use foreign words?
    
5. Keep up to date.
   As said above, language is a changing and living thing. New words are created; new connotations are made. Should you have a specialization it is very important to keep up to date in it and be a part of it in one way or the other. What trends do show?
    
6. Training, training, training…
   As is the case with every other job only training leads you to higher honors. Ask your direct clients or the agencies you work for to comment on your work. Let positive comments be a source of satisfaction and take negative comments positively as well, as they show where you can improve yourself. Look for advice and counsel from qualified friends and colleagues. This may sound old-fashioned, but be humble and patient. A good translator is not trained or born - a translator never stops learning, but acquires and improves knowledge in a never ending process.

Further Information

If you want to know more on the translator's tasks here are some valuable pieces of information and articles:

First, there is the Profile of Amanuensis - Guido Lenz Translation Service.

"Translation as a Profession" , a series of articles by Roger Chriss that were published on CompuServe's forum for foreign languages, FLEFO. I have collected these in a Word document and put a table of contents to them. The file is available in zipped format in the download area. Caution! The file size is approximately 130 kilobyte, the text itself is in English.

"The Concept of Information in Translation Theory" , a dissertation by Billy O'Shea. I offer this file in the download area as a Word document and in PDF format. This file, too, is written in English and zipped. The size is approximately 90 Kilobyte (Word) respectively 170 kilobyte (PDF).