Am inceput astazi sa creez o lista de cuvante problematice in limba romana din punctul de vedere al traducatorului (vezi jos, stanga: Romanian-English transferral problems; My pet translation difficulties). Mai multe dintre ele sunt cuvante culturale. Probabil trebuie sa fac si o lista asemanatoare de cuvante englezesti care nu pot fi tradusa in romana... Orice contributie este bine primita...
I today began to put together my list of Romanian words which pose problems for translators (See below, left: Romanian-English transferral problems; My pet translation difficulties). Most of them are cultural words. I should probably get a similar list together of English words which can't easily be translated in Romanian...
All contributions are gratefully received....
Tuesday 17 February 2009
Monday 16 February 2009
Word-for-word translation - a paradox?
Some weeks ago I had a minor contretemps with a Romanian translation client who wanted me to redo parts of the work. He knew a little English, and felt that I hadn't translated all the words and had changed his text. Well, I aim to please and so we talked. While I have to admit that some of his concerns were valid, this only came to light once we had discussed the text’s PURPOSE and READERSHIP – an issue which he had refused to go into when submitting the work – elsewhere I dug in my heels; to move any closer to the source text would have required a move away from the target language. The result would have been Romanglish!
Word-for-word translation is no translation at all, zic eu. I used the Bucharest Metro this weekend, and saw the following warning notice posted in the train:
‘Nu se recomanda stationarea calatorilor in zona burdufurilor de comunicatie intre vagoane’
Roughly translated:
‘Passengers are advised not to stand in the articulated sections between carriages’
Now, if we Romanglicise this with a word-for-word translation, we get:
'It is not recommended the parking of passengers in the zone of the sheep's bladders of communication between coaches'
Would YOU understand such a warning? Most likely not, at least if you were English!
In the Romanian, the folds of the ‘bendy bit’ linking the carriages are being likened to ‘burdufuri’; ‘bags’ like haggis skins – fashioned from ovine, caprine or bovine stomach sacs – in which a particularly pungent variety of traditional cheese is fermented. It doesn’t take sophisticated argument to justify omitting this word from the English version of the text, does it? (A bigger issue would be with what one should replace it! I have pulled 'articulated sections' out of thin air, but then I am not in the public transport industry. Boris Johnson speaks of ‘bendy buses’, but this is hardly technical language. I wonder if ‘burduf’ is…?)
‘Passengers are advised not to stand in the train’s bendy bits’
Of course, as in all things, context is critical. Should the term ‘burduf’ crop up in an historical novel, it would not be omitted. But would the author prefer it italicized with a footnote, explained with a parenthesis, or numbered for a glossary? Such cultural references and similes are just the tip of the iceberg, as far as translation difficulties go. There are practical issues too; should I translate the name of a medical establishment on an international health insurance claim form? Maybe yes if the reader needs to know what sort of a medical institution it is, maybe no if it is to be used as a return address, etc. Somewhere at the wide, hazardous sub-aquatic base of this iceberg are uncaring clients who think that if you ask too many questions you don’t know your job. To stretch an already failing nautical metaphor, if you don’t educate such people when you take the job on, you will be sunk. They will double your workload and then come back for more. ‘Can’t you just translate it?’ is their mantra, and the answer is often, sadly, ‘No, not without your instruction!’.
There is unfortunately a common tendency (not only in Romania, although it is certainly evident here) to regard translation as a simple exercise, of a scientific nature, in which there is A Correct Answer. It is not. Set 10 experts to work on one text, and you will see what I mean! Clients rarely understand the importance of briefing the translator, and in many cases the translator only gets a second-hand briefing via the agency supplying the work. The skill and time required to produce first-class work is almost universally underestimated (often by the translators themselves!). Sometimes the client is unable to tell you who they hope will read the text, other times, they inexplicably fail to mention that your commission is (for instance) installment one of four and do not stop to consider that, with months between installments (and sometimes changes of translator too), the final product will be inconsistent. When this happens, there is always comeback! A good translator is a consultant as well as a wordsmith.
Finally, on a lighter, but not unrelated note:
Nume de localitati romanesti traduse in engleza
(Romanian place names translated literally):
Afumaţi – Never sober
Bucureşti – Get happy!
Buhuşi - Boo!
Buzău - Really Fat Lip
Călăraşi - Daftly-dressed Folk on Horses
Constanţa - The Steadiness
Dor Mărunt - Miniature Melancholy
Huşi – Shoo!
Năvodari – Networkers
Mamaia – Grandma’s place
Oneşti - The Sincere Ones
Piteşti – You are hiding
Predeal – Not quite a hill
Satu-Mare - The Rather Roomy Rural Community
Slobozia - A Very Wrong Local Tradition
Târgu Frumos - The Aesthetically Pleasing Bazaar
Urlaţi – Gimme Some Noise!
Voluntari - Town of Unpaid Assistants
Thanks to Andrei for most of these, have a great week! (Further contributions welcome)
Word-for-word translation is no translation at all, zic eu. I used the Bucharest Metro this weekend, and saw the following warning notice posted in the train:
‘Nu se recomanda stationarea calatorilor in zona burdufurilor de comunicatie intre vagoane’
Roughly translated:
‘Passengers are advised not to stand in the articulated sections between carriages’
Now, if we Romanglicise this with a word-for-word translation, we get:
'It is not recommended the parking of passengers in the zone of the sheep's bladders of communication between coaches'
Would YOU understand such a warning? Most likely not, at least if you were English!
In the Romanian, the folds of the ‘bendy bit’ linking the carriages are being likened to ‘burdufuri’; ‘bags’ like haggis skins – fashioned from ovine, caprine or bovine stomach sacs – in which a particularly pungent variety of traditional cheese is fermented. It doesn’t take sophisticated argument to justify omitting this word from the English version of the text, does it? (A bigger issue would be with what one should replace it! I have pulled 'articulated sections' out of thin air, but then I am not in the public transport industry. Boris Johnson speaks of ‘bendy buses’, but this is hardly technical language. I wonder if ‘burduf’ is…?)
‘Passengers are advised not to stand in the train’s bendy bits’
Of course, as in all things, context is critical. Should the term ‘burduf’ crop up in an historical novel, it would not be omitted. But would the author prefer it italicized with a footnote, explained with a parenthesis, or numbered for a glossary? Such cultural references and similes are just the tip of the iceberg, as far as translation difficulties go. There are practical issues too; should I translate the name of a medical establishment on an international health insurance claim form? Maybe yes if the reader needs to know what sort of a medical institution it is, maybe no if it is to be used as a return address, etc. Somewhere at the wide, hazardous sub-aquatic base of this iceberg are uncaring clients who think that if you ask too many questions you don’t know your job. To stretch an already failing nautical metaphor, if you don’t educate such people when you take the job on, you will be sunk. They will double your workload and then come back for more. ‘Can’t you just translate it?’ is their mantra, and the answer is often, sadly, ‘No, not without your instruction!’.
There is unfortunately a common tendency (not only in Romania, although it is certainly evident here) to regard translation as a simple exercise, of a scientific nature, in which there is A Correct Answer. It is not. Set 10 experts to work on one text, and you will see what I mean! Clients rarely understand the importance of briefing the translator, and in many cases the translator only gets a second-hand briefing via the agency supplying the work. The skill and time required to produce first-class work is almost universally underestimated (often by the translators themselves!). Sometimes the client is unable to tell you who they hope will read the text, other times, they inexplicably fail to mention that your commission is (for instance) installment one of four and do not stop to consider that, with months between installments (and sometimes changes of translator too), the final product will be inconsistent. When this happens, there is always comeback! A good translator is a consultant as well as a wordsmith.
Finally, on a lighter, but not unrelated note:
Nume de localitati romanesti traduse in engleza
(Romanian place names translated literally):
Afumaţi – Never sober
Bucureşti – Get happy!
Buhuşi - Boo!
Buzău - Really Fat Lip
Călăraşi - Daftly-dressed Folk on Horses
Constanţa - The Steadiness
Dor Mărunt - Miniature Melancholy
Huşi – Shoo!
Năvodari – Networkers
Mamaia – Grandma’s place
Oneşti - The Sincere Ones
Piteşti – You are hiding
Predeal – Not quite a hill
Satu-Mare - The Rather Roomy Rural Community
Slobozia - A Very Wrong Local Tradition
Târgu Frumos - The Aesthetically Pleasing Bazaar
Urlaţi – Gimme Some Noise!
Voluntari - Town of Unpaid Assistants
Thanks to Andrei for most of these, have a great week! (Further contributions welcome)
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