LostinTranslation:ThePerilsofPoorEnglishTranslation
Translationisanessentialtoolforcommunicatingacrossculturesandlanguagebarriers.However,thequalityofthesetranslationscanvarywildly,particularlywhenitcomestoEnglishtranslations.AsanativeEnglishspeaker,I'veencounterednumerousinstanceswhereapoortranslationhascausedconfusion,frustration,andevenembarrassment.Inthisarticle,IwillexploresomeofthecommonpitfallsofEnglishtranslationanddiscusshowwecanimprovethequalityofthesetranslations.
TheProblemwithDirectTranslation
OneofthemostsignificantissueswithEnglishtranslationisthetendencytodoaword-for-wordtranslation.Whilethisapproachmayworkwellforsomelanguages,itoftenleadstoconfusionwhentranslatingintoEnglish.Englishisanuancedlanguage,withmanywordsandphraseshavingmultiplemeaningsdependingonthecontext.Adirecttranslationcaneasilymissthesenuances,resultinginasentencethatisgrammaticallycorrectbutcompletelynonsensical.
Forexample,aliteraltranslationoftheChineseidiom\"打草惊蛇\"(dacaojingshe)wouldbe\"beatgrassstartlesnake\".WhilethissentencemaymakesensetoaChinesespeaker,itismeaninglesstoanEnglishspeaker.Theidiomactuallymeans\"toalertanenemyinadvertentlybydoingsomethingunnecessaryandalertingthemtoyourpresence\".Amoreaccuratetranslationwouldbe\"torevealone'sintentionbyanunnecessaryorill-timedaction\".
TheImportanceofContext
Contextisessentialinanylanguage,butitisespeciallycrucialinEnglish.ManyEnglishwordshavemultiplemeanings,andthemeaningofasentencecanchangeentirelybasedonthecontext.Agoodtranslatorshouldnotonlyunderstandthewordsbeingtranslatedbutshouldalsohaveadeepunderstandingofthecultureandcontextinwhichthetranslationwillbeused.
However,thisisoftennotthecase,particularlyinsituationswherethetranslatorisnotanativeEnglishspeaker.Forexample,Ioncereceivedanemailfromanon-Englishspeakingcolleaguethatendedwiththephrase\"Ihopetoseeyoushortly\".Tome,anEnglishspeaker,thisimpliedthatmycolleaguewouldbearrivingsoon.However,inthisperson'snativelanguage,theword\"shortly\"wasusedtomean\"inalittlewhile\"ratherthan\"soon\".Thismiscommunicationcouldhaveeasilybeenavoidedifthetranslatorhadabetterunderstandingofthecontextinwhichthetranslationwouldbeinterpreted.
TheImportanceofProofreading
Finally,oneofthemostcommonissueswithEnglishtranslationispoorproofreading.Typos,grammaticalerrors,andawkwardsentencestructuresnotonlymakethetranslationdifficulttoread,buttheycanalsocauseconfusionorevenoffense.Poorlytranslatedmarketingmaterials,forexample,canmakeacompanyappearunprofessionalorevenlaughable.
Proofreadingisessentialinanytranslation,butitisparticularlyimportantwhenitcomestoEnglish.Englishisacomplexlanguage,andevennativespeakerscanstrugglewithitsgrammarandsyntax.Agoodtranslatorshouldnotonlyhaveastrongcommandofthelanguagetheyaretranslatingfrom,buttheyshouldalsobeabletoproofreadtheirownworkeffectively.Alternatively,thetranslatorshouldhireaneditororproofreadertochecktheirworkforerrors.
InConclusion
Englishtranslationisacomplexprocessthatrequiresnotonlyastrongcommandofthelanguagebeingtranslatedfrom,butalsoanunderstandingofcontextandculture.Withouttheseskills,apoortranslationcanresultinconfusion,frustration,andevenembarrassment.BypayingattentiontothenuancesoftheEnglishlanguage,theimportanceofcontext,andtheimportanceofproofreading,wecanimprovethequalityofEnglishtranslationsandavoidtheperilsofpoortranslation.
