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| [Two diamond structures*] |
The most important issue for purchasers of translation should be product
quality. While price impacts budget allocation, the effectiveness of the
translation affects the practical use of the text. The challenge, especially when
dealing with an unfamiliar language, is assessing that quality. I suggest
posting two questions on any translation product, specifically on content and
form. The correct answer on both questions provides a strong indication of high
quality.
To clarify the meaning of content and form, all documents contain a
message consisting of larger ideas and specific details. The translation must
accurately reflect those elements both in terms of the concept and the relative
importance of the details. If the word choice misleads or confuses the reader,
the translation is not effective. However, the form of the document and
sentence syntax needs to reflect that message as it is understood by the reader
of the target language. For example, the rate of usage of passive or short
sentences varies from language to language and creates different impressions.
While short, direct sentences is generally considered acceptable communitive
language in English, especially in marketing and technical texts, such sentences
are considered choppy and lower register in Arabic or French. Thus, in most
cases, the syntax of the translation may and even should differ from that of
the original text. This difference is acceptable as long as the content and
style are in line with each other.
Adding to the challenge of accurate translation is the natural
difference in vocabulary among languages. Concepts do not have a 1:1 ratio in
terms of translation. In some cases, while one language may have on word,
another language has two or more or even none. A prime example is the concept to
wear for which English has the single verb while Hebrew has more than seven
different words, depending on the item to be worn. In some cases, words may be more
or less inclusive. An example in the Hebrew-English combination is the Hebrew
word יעיל [ya’il] can be translated into effective
or efficient in English. Thus, the translator may have to add words to transmit
the same idea or may be able to eliminate them without harming the content.
Of course, depending on the type of translation, the freedom of
expression granted to the translator varies. For court transcripts and some
medical documents, precision is of the highest priority with even the smallest differences
in meaning and form having significance in some cases. By contrast, in many
literary translations, the linguist has the privilege and duty of finding a
natural way to transmit the writer’s intention. Two examples are changing poetry
to prose if it is impossible to recreate both the meaning and rhythm of the
original and localizing content, such as the change in the order of the diseases in 3 Men in a boat to keep the list in alphabetical order. In most cases, the
translator not only has the option but often the obligation to adjust the form
to the content.
Thus, when receiving the final translation in an unknown and foreign
language, it is vital to receive an assessment of its effectiveness. To do so,
the first step is to ask one or more native speakers of the target language
what the document is trying to say, with emphasis on the main points. If the message
is essentially identical to that of the source document, the next step is to
ask if the form, i.e., language and structure, interferes with that message
because it is somehow incongruous, including due to overly literal translation or
faithfulness to the original sentence structure. If the answer is negative, it
means that translator professionally transmitted the message. Any dissonance
indicates that the translation can be improved and may be ineffective. In this
manner, the concept of a “good” translation is specified and qualified.
It is clear that paying for an ineffective translation is a poor choice,
regardless of the budget. The customer can and should assess the quality of
translated document by asking two questions, one about the message and the
other about the form, from potential members of the target audience or native
speaker of that language. A clearly positive result should inspire confidence
in the document and the translator.
* Captions help the blind gain full access to the Internet.
Picture credit: Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/jarkkomanty-661512/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=3196968">Jarkko Mänty</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=3196968">Pixabay</a>
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