The art of translation can be a tricky business because language itself is very complex. According to the Linguistic Society of America, there are roughly 6,909 languages in the world. Each language offers a complex set of rules in which they operate, rules that a translator must follow. It is because of such complexities that translations tend to be subject to context errors and cultural mistakes. In this essay I will discuss examples of such errors as well as the challenges that translation faces.
COMPLEX LANGUAGES
Complex languages like those of east Asia seem to be subject to a lot of translation errors. These languages are often heavily based on idioms and cultural context. They are also riddled with formal greetings (between the old …show more content…
When working with complex languages, the translator must be mindful of formality, gender, and social status rule. Societies like the Japanese heavily enforce the idea of gender, age, and social status as speech differentiators. This is why it is crucial for translators to keep the cultural implications of both languages respectively.
TRANSLATION ERRORS
Translation errors can sometimes be amusing, especially when one finds them in everyday items. Thanks to globalization, the world has now become more connected. This means that people from all over the world need to understand each other. Thus, translators are in charge of transferring the message from one language to another without possibly losing any important information.
Mistakes in translations of advertisements is some of the most commonly found. The mistakes range from small mistranslations to embarrassing blunders that could potentially ruin the image of whatever product is being sold. Swarajya magazine compiled a list of translation errors that took place within the advertisement campaigns of large English speaking companies into other languages. For …show more content…
Examples like these show just how important it is for translators to look well into the culture that they are translating into. Any slang terms are also important as it is possible for the original word to have a negative connotation when spoke between regular people. These words can’t be found in the dictionary and so should be researched by the translator as part of their documentation process.
CHALLENGES OF TRANSLATION
Translation comes with it’s own set of challenges depending of what type of translation and the complexity of the language. One of the most important things that should come into play when translating is the conveying of emotion in the message. This is where electronic (automated or instant) translation and manual translation differ. Manual translation is done by a person who may understand and convey these emotions back into the text, just in another language.
As a translator one should be able to comprehend what is being translated in order to not lose the meaning of the message. As translator Jutyar Zhazhlaiy says
COMPLEX LANGUAGES
Complex languages like those of east Asia seem to be subject to a lot of translation errors. These languages are often heavily based on idioms and cultural context. They are also riddled with formal greetings (between the old …show more content…
When working with complex languages, the translator must be mindful of formality, gender, and social status rule. Societies like the Japanese heavily enforce the idea of gender, age, and social status as speech differentiators. This is why it is crucial for translators to keep the cultural implications of both languages respectively.
TRANSLATION ERRORS
Translation errors can sometimes be amusing, especially when one finds them in everyday items. Thanks to globalization, the world has now become more connected. This means that people from all over the world need to understand each other. Thus, translators are in charge of transferring the message from one language to another without possibly losing any important information.
Mistakes in translations of advertisements is some of the most commonly found. The mistakes range from small mistranslations to embarrassing blunders that could potentially ruin the image of whatever product is being sold. Swarajya magazine compiled a list of translation errors that took place within the advertisement campaigns of large English speaking companies into other languages. For …show more content…
Examples like these show just how important it is for translators to look well into the culture that they are translating into. Any slang terms are also important as it is possible for the original word to have a negative connotation when spoke between regular people. These words can’t be found in the dictionary and so should be researched by the translator as part of their documentation process.
CHALLENGES OF TRANSLATION
Translation comes with it’s own set of challenges depending of what type of translation and the complexity of the language. One of the most important things that should come into play when translating is the conveying of emotion in the message. This is where electronic (automated or instant) translation and manual translation differ. Manual translation is done by a person who may understand and convey these emotions back into the text, just in another language.
As a translator one should be able to comprehend what is being translated in order to not lose the meaning of the message. As translator Jutyar Zhazhlaiy says