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Archive for the ‘Translation’ Category

Translation, as a means of transposing thoughts and interpreting languages, takes on a significant role in drawing different cultures together. Such a function is evident in the context that defines the meanings of another group’s culture – especially when dealing with a totally foreign language.

Translation is defined as the transposition of ideas that are expressed in the language of a specific social group. Unlike other interpretations, translation appropriately expresses the thoughts of other groups entailed in the process of cultural en-coding, re-coding and de-coding.

Language is an essential aspect of culture without which a social group cannot function. Thus, in the contemporary world of mass, global communication, inter-cultural and multicultural influences can only be absorbed and understood when language is translated. How can changes and cultures influence us if we don’t understand them? Of course, we first have to know about and understand them before we realise the changes and their impact on us. This is an example of the importance of translation of language and thoughts in the spread and influence of cultures.

As different cultures come into closer contact, multicultural considerations arise. Multiculturalism – having different cultures thriving within a society – causes a significant impact and changes in the lives of almost everyone around the world.

Owing to this phenomenon, translators are then faced with alien and foreign cultures (language, in particular) and messages that are totally unfamiliar to them that have to be interpreted correctly. Consequently, translators are tasked to make cross-cultural translations that are dependent on their understanding of the culture they are working with.

English translators are in demand nowadays, especially in the business world. Brochures, manuals, business communications, user guides, financial reports, yearly reports, and research papers are some examples of business areas in which translations are needed. Documents relating to several industries also fall into this class, such as information technology, healthcare, and advertising. With the aid of professional English translators, interpreting texts and documents will be an easy task.

Certified English translators are highly effective and competent in translating English into different languages worldwide, but they must be well versed in this field, conversant in the basics of the English language, its walkthroughs, and its broad scope.

English is the main language in the UK, the US, and several Commonwealth countries, such as Australia, Canada, Malta, New Zealand and other former British colonies. English is the most extensively written and spoken language in the world, with 380 million native speakers. Although Hindi, Spanish, and Chinese have more native speakers, English has the status of lingua franca in many parts of the globe because of the economic, military, cultural, and political influences of Britain during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, and American influence over the last century or so. It has been conveyed and has influenced the world through music, cinema, science, broadcasting, and the Internet. Currently, English is the second most-learned language in the world and is required in many fields and professions. This is why educational organisations and institutions around the globe mandate the instruction of English at a basic level.

Many translators support the idea that in order to translate, a person must become a certified translator. That idea is not necessarily true; however, there are some reasons why it is so in many cases. First, simply being a certified translator does not make you an excellent translator. Certification is a process that organisations apply to verify if a potential translator meets their definition of a first-class translator.

To become an efficient and good Spanish translator, for instance, a translator should specialise in various fields and kinds of texts, including corporate reports, technical handbooks, patents, scientific texts, legal texts, and many more important manuscripts. That kind of skill broadens the language know-how of the translator and makes him more competent.

Nowadays, in the computer/technical age, especially with the use of online resources and e-commerce, translation to Spanish or any other language is just a matter of a ‘few clicks’ on the mouse. Different websites offer Spanish translations, which can aid users in their translation tasks more easily and reliably. Spanish translators are competent and provide high efficiency and many are certified members of the American Translator’s Association (ATA), which is an organisation offering certification tests in several languages. Spanish translators are well-equipped after meeting eligibility requirements as well as efficient work and educational experience that test their capabilities in several tasks that they need to accomplish.

Spanish translators that are available online can provide efficient services and assure clients that they are certified and tested both by experience and time. Spanish translators are very reliable and, if needed, can help businesses to expand into the global market through use of the Spanish language.

There are 105 million native speakers of the German language in Austria, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Germany. German is categorised as a Western Germanic Language, along with Dutch and English. It is one of the major languages of the world. In fact, some people believe that German will become the most-used language on the Internet in the future.  The fact that there are so many German speakers across the globe means that there are many and varied uses for German translation services.  German translators may be required to work with official documents for government organisations, with publishers on translation of books and other texts as well as on smaller projects for individuals, who may need birth certificates or personal letters translated to or from German.

Swiss German is a variety of German, used by around four million people residing in Switzerland.  This branch of the German language rarely appears in novels, personal letters, diaries, or newspapers. Other regional German dialects, or Mundarten, also seldom appear in publications and when they do, it’s mostly in comic books and folk literature.  These dialects tend to be mainly used in spoken German,

In written translations, Hochdeutsch, or High German, is used. It emerged as the standard language in the 16th century. Martin Luther’s German translation of the Bible initiated the standardisation. The lexicon dictionary he used became the pattern for German translators nowadays.

Translators play a vital part in connecting people from different countries with different languages. Their main purpose is to communicate messages between persons speaking different languages. French, the official language of France and several other countries, is one of the languages that is most commonly translated.

The Translation People is one of the leading translation companies that have French translators who are native speakers. Translations from English to French are produced by the company’s expert translators, covering the legal, technical, financial, and medical fields, and well as the overall world of international business. The company is fully aware of the cultural and linguistic differences among countries that speak French; these countries include Switzerland, Canada, France, Belgium, and other countries that use the language, including some in North Africa.

The Translation People also offers French to English translation for product catalogues, user and maintenance manuals, technical specifications, quality procedures, press releases, and website content. Their translators are professionals with experience in various fields and many have specific training in the unique cultures of the countries from which they translate. The company offers high quality translations and it ensures that the translators possess the technical knowledge required for each subject.

The Translation People is a world-renowned translation company, noted for their fast and accurate service as well as their wide-ranging format. This company possesses different translators, not only for French but for other languages used all over the world; they serve as a bridge for connecting people from every nation and culture.

Translation services connect languages by considering the differences in social groups, which is rather difficult and can be done incorrectly if a translator is not cautious. Dealing with written words is not the primary focus of this service, since it deals as well as with the characteristics of the text. Cultural differences are considered as they can affect almost every culture in the world. As time progresses, nations with differing cultures began to unite, as they also share technological enhancements. This allows the boundaries between cultures to be blurred.

Today’s translators face various cultures, thus making their job to supply clearly understood translation more difficult. Cultural expressions and idiosyncrasies must be learned first hand, with a vast and meticulous understanding of a particular language. This is called cross-cultural translation, which is required by numerous international organisations.

The task of focusing on the source and target culture is given to the translation service. It has become apparent that the integrated approach in translating has become the most generally used; turning the macro into micro, as it were. Furthermore, cultural transposition should also be focused on, and not just on simple language transfer. Thus, translators should be both bicultural and bilingual.

People often commit mistakes when dealing with different cultures. For instance, showing the soles of one’s shoes, or doing a ’thumbs up’, can be considered unpleasant by some. Learning cultural differences and similarities in traditions, customs and mores can be a great way to develop relationships with others. For people to generate understanding and respect, simple do’s and don’ts can be learned. Therefore, the appropriate employment of translation services is essential if one desires a successful relationship, both in business and personal dealings.

The creative English translator Arthur Golding (1536-1606) was born into a family of influential Puritans. His siblings achieved wealth, but Arthur’s life was filled with financial uncertainty.

Married, with seven offspring, the bereavement of his brother made him a rich man. However, the properties were mortgaged and other burdens drained his inherited resources. Despite his huge body of work and several influential and wealthy patrons, Arthur’s finances were depleted and he was detained in a fleet prison due to debt. He dedicated his first publication to Sir William Cecil; these were the first classical translations that brought him fame. After his death, his literary translations gained recognition. The translation of Ovid was his most important work written in iambic heptameter.

Golding as the English translator of Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’ was remarkably a strong man filled with Puritan compassion, who translated several works. He set out the moral standards contained in the stories and infused the metamorphoses with a stern moral tone. It was from his pages that Elizabethans obtained their knowledge on conventional mythology. He translated commentaries of Julius Caesar, the history of Junianus Justinus, Niels Hemmingsen and David Chytraeus’ theological writings, etc., and completed translating the ‘Trueness of Christian Religion’. His original work is prose entitled the ‘Discourse on the Earthquake of 1580’, where he was inspired by how God portrayed his wickedness through the catastrophe.

Golding is the renowned English translator of Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’, which William Shakespeare used as a reference. His importance in sixteenth-century writing extends further than this work on several religious and classical texts. Golding’s translations were broadly read and discussed in literary groups of his day.

The Renaissance is known as the great age of translations. The growth of Humanism inspired translators from different European countries to interpret several texts, including the ancient ones, and to develop translations into the English language.

Latin is the universal intellectual language and it is the best way of reading texts throughout Europe; for those authors who wrote in Flemish, Czech, or Dutch, Latin is essential in the distribution of these texts. If some authors were not fluent in Latin during those times, translators were hired to interpret a certain foreign work into the vernacular, which was considered as a noble challenge, as well as a contribution to the national treasure. The translations became widespread in the 16th century.

Greek text translations appeared during the English Renaissance in England, but a few were derived from translations of translations. Others were also translated from Greek to Latin. The Greek texts were revived during the 15th century in Italy. They were stimulated by the production of brand new manuscripts coming from the East. In Venice between 1495 and 1515, many Greek printed editions were done by Aldus Manutius.

England’s growing curiosity in Greek texts came mainly from travel and trade with Italy. Manutius produced an outstanding Greek text from Plato’s works, and two French refugees achieved influential translations at that time as well. Plato’s texts were available in England during the 16th century, but those were in Latin, which were also translated by foreign intellectuals.

In England, the growing interest in Plato’s work increased especially for his novels and plays about love, which continued to be an important part of Stuart literature. In the 19th century, translations of Plato’s works were entirely translated from Greek to English.

Understanding language is not just knowing the meaning of expressed words and the manner in which they are united, but illustrating inferences based on non-linguistic information and the assumption of the translator to meet the standards of communication.

If the reader or listener understands what the speaker or writer is trying to say, there is good communication. Communication entails the clarity of the message, the channels by which it is conveyed, and the situational aspects that may distort meaning in the reader’s or listener’s minds. When this is applied to translation, the problem will be more complex when the translator is asked to figure out the writer’s message and interprets what has been understood, which may appear completely different from what the reader is trying to say.

Dressler and De Beaugrande (1984) define a pointless text as a serious difference between the arrangement of concepts and relations articulated. Abdellah (2002) points out the work complexity of the translator. Misconception happens in reading and understanding messages, which lead to disfigured representations. Blum-Kulka (1986) recognises consistency as the key in the realisation of the text’s meaning and assumes that this might lose its meaning by translation. Baker (1996) assumes that the maxims of quality, quantity, relevance, and manner are not universal. However, the interpretation may vary from one linguistic society to another.

Every language interpreted must have a preference for a coherent tool to express meanings not literally included in the text. Texts must be read and understood literally, and then translators must know what is implied by the particular terms in the texts. Finally, good translators interpret the literal and the implied expressions into vernacular using preferred devices. With these, a translator is certified to reword, omit, add, and rephrase to convey the real sense that the original writer is trying to say.

‘Personal,’ ‘collective’ and ‘expressive’ are the three most important categories of human activity being addressed by culture. ‘Personal’ signifies that individuals function and think as such; ‘collective’ means that individuals act in a social context; and ‘expressive,’ through which society expresses itself. Language, being a sole institution in which no other social body can function, underpins these three categories.

Translation involves the system of cultural encoding, recoding and decoding. Multicultural considerations then bear a rising degree as cultures gradually connect with other cultures. Translators don’t just deal with words written in a specific socio-political post, space or time, as it is the cultural aspect they’re taking into account. Transfer systems must consequently deal out attributes in relation to the target culture, thus, ensuring the credibility in readers.

Multiculturalism plays a significant role here as it affects almost all the people in the world. In addition, the advancement in technology caused cultures and nations to be united that resulted for outlines (cultural distinctions and boundaries) to rather recede.

Translators face alien cultures requiring its message to be expressed in an alien way as well. Culture conveys ‘culture-bound’ idiosyncrasies, including proverbs, idiomatic expressions and cultural works, whose use and derivation are exceptionally and intrinsically bound to that certain culture to be successful. And so, translators are asked to accomplish a cross-cultural translation that depends on their own comprehension of the culture concerned.

Concisely, the system of cultural encoding, recoding and decoding must focus not just on language transfer but also on the transposition of culture. Thus, as an unavoidable consequence, translators are required to be both bicultural and bilingual, though not necessarily multicultural.