A Problem in Translation

---

A combination of two or three nouns and adjectives make compound words. They could be closed of three forms — closed form, like notebook; hyphenated like long-distance, or open form like fighter pilot.

There was a problem providing the content you requested

Some compound words are pretty straightforward, and mean exactly what they say — like afternoon; some mean only half of the term, like say bellboy, and some mean nothing of their original words — for example deadline. In such cases, it can get very tricky for the translator. Any translator needs to choose their niche. You should not try to be jack of all trades; select one or two subjects, and become expert in them.

Familiarize yourself with the compound words most commonly used in your subject area, and learn the translations. Use translation memory and other software to make your job easier. In English there are several verbs that are made up of two words — usually, a combination of a verb and a preposition. Here the preposition which follows immediately after gives it a completely different meaning.

It is highly unlikely that translating the two words into the target language will give you the same meaning! Think of finding an appropriate word in the target language for the phrase or the verb in its entirety rather than attempting a literal translation. In many languages, certain terms may be completely absent — this has also to do with culture, as those objects may not be used by the people, or those actions or activities may not be permitted or simply not performed.

This is a potentially difficult situation for the translator. In such cases it is best to confer with the client and then come to a decision as to the best course to take. They may suggest retaining the word of the source document, or they may suggest a new term themselves, or may even ask you to come up with a newly coined term that gets as close to the actual meaning as possible. There are several words in the English language that have different meanings based on the way they are used in the sentence.

Words are sometimes spelled alike and pronounced alike, but have different meanings, like break a plate or take a coffee break. Words that have the same spellings but different pronunciations like to lead a conference, or a lead pencil. There are hundreds of such words in English, and also idioms, metaphors, similes and so on. However, those words may be different in other languages. The translator has to be very vigilant, and carefully read the source text to fully grasp the meaning.

Only after that should they begin the work of translation; otherwise, it can lead to embarrassing mistakes. Translators are first and foremost, linguists; though they do have good knowledge of certain subjects, they are usually not the top experts in the field. Translators usually specialise in certain niches, and gain subject matter expertise. But sometimes that may not be enough; some documents may be full of technical jargon, or talk about specific procedures or activities in detail. This can pose a problem for translators. If the matter is very technical you may need a lot of time — more than usual, to complete the task.

You would also need to read up and educate yourself to gain deeper knowledge, or to keep in step with the new developments happening in that field. Most clients need the translated work quickly; they have no time to lose. If it is a straightforward document, then you may be able to finish it within the deadline. But when it is a technical or legal document full of technical terms or if there is a lot of dialect and colloquialism involved, it could take longer.

This can be very stressful for you as a translator, when your client is breathing down your back to get the translated documents. Use as many technologies as you can — translation memory software, computer aided translation software and more, to speed up the process as much as possible. Other than that, the only thing you could do is put in a request for more time, right at the outset.

All the challenges we discussed above are linguistic challenges.

Translation Problems and Solutions

Apart from those, a translator faces several other challenges in their line of work. These include but are not limited to: There is no one size fits all translation solution for these problems. Each one will need to figure out how to get around these problems and do your best. The biggest challenge for people is to strike a balance between cost and quality.

It is especially important in the case of translations of technical or medical manuals, or legal documents. You can barely afford to have any mistakes or near mistakes in such documents, as it could lead to misinterpretation by the readers and wrong usage — and that could result in damage to the equipment, or harm to the user; which could in turn have even further ramifications, like loss of reputation for the manufacturer, legal hassles and so on. However, the persons with expertise in such translations may be busy professionals who are much sought after, and they may charge high rates for these documents.

In certain cases, the person or company in need of the translation may not have a very high budget for the same. This is a classic dilemma faced by the customer. There is no easy answer to this problem! Here are some things you can try, though: Do a comprehensive search online, and shortlist a few providers.

His theory presents the three levels of translation i. Referential, Textual, and Subjective. They are enumerated as follows:. So, there are not one but several layers of meaning in the text. The difficulty in translation is due to the fact that each word in a language is charged with memory, associations and literary allusions. The problem arises in translating certain culture- based words due to non availability of appropriate equivalents in a different culture. The language and culture are entwined and inseparable.

LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND TRANSLATION: Problems and the Solution

This is because culture of a particular society is a byproduct of factors like geography, history, mythology, beliefs and ideas, superstitions, customs, mores etc, and language is a product of society and a reflection of its culture. It has taken a few millenium to reach the present stage in tandem with civilization.

The thoughts and concepts have grown in peoples of different societies in course of centuries of their existence. Hence, the central problem for the translator is to establish equivalence between SL text and the TL text. It is rightly said that all translation involves either loss of meaning, addition of meaning or finally skewing of meaning.

In literary translation, as in case of. Context plays very important role in translation. The translation of poetry is the most difficult task to do because it makes use of figures of speech, such as; similes, metaphors, irony, paradox etc. Moreover, rhyming, alliteration, versification etc. The other factors which pose problem in literary translation are the transposition of idioms, proverbs, and imageries from SL to TL.

A literal translation of idioms, phrases and proverbs is always harmful. A good translator conveys the fine distinctions of meaning, feeling, tone etc of the original. The other difficulties in literary translation is in finding the equivalent words for culture —based words or swear- words, jokes, slangs, colloquial expressions, homonyms etc.

Certain food items typical of particular society are also difficult to translate. Solutions to the problem of translation:. The solution to the problem of translation is that the translator should be linguistically in both the languages i. In other words, a translator should possess inwardness or feel and mastery over both the languages i.

The translator should keep in mind the socio- cultural matrix while translation. Hence, I would like to explain the terms like linguistic competence. So, linguistic competence means the knowledge of language as a system and its structure. It is also important to understand the term competence. The term pragmatic competence means the ability to use such knowledge along with conceptual system to achieve certain ends or purposes. According to Dell Hymes, pragmatic competence means when to speak, what to talk about with whom, when, where and in what manner.

It is the ability to use language along with the conceptual system to achieve certain ends or purposes. It means the whole of linguistic competence along with socio-linguisticpragmatic competence, i.

• The Gene Autry Book
• With the Boer Forces
• Death of a Hoosier Schoolmaster (Margo Brown Mysteries Book 2)
• I Got A Name
• Deprivation: An Erotic Short