Degree in Translation and Interpretation. Work languages: English, German and Spanish. Free software translation. Proofreading. Liaison interpreting. Writer.
If you have read this blog before or if you follow me in my Google profile, you'll know that, besides translator, I'm also writer. Today I have started to translate the main page of my website into English and German and little by little I hope than I can keep on translating all sections.
The idea came after seeing my book on sale in a austrian website, in which all the information is in German. I thought that, if some visitors are interested in my book, it would be easier the access to the translated information.
I hope that, with the translation, I could have more readers in other countries.
Good morning. Today I show you an illustration of the artist Amy Mebberson.
It appears Pocahontas and Snow White. Both princesses love nature and they have a sweet and melodic relationship with it in Disney films. In this image, this communication gives sense to the translation. The joke is that possibly Pocahontas says nothing, at least that would be the perception of any listener, just like when someone says “bla, bla, bla”. However, Snow White, who undestands the voice of the animals, seems to understand perfectly what Pocahontas says. Where is then the language barrier? Although it may seem otherwise, the princesses don't understand eachother.
If
you have followed me during the last months, you'll know that, apart
from translation, I like also sci-fi in films, series or books.
Futurama is a sci-fi animation serie, which is set in the year 3000.
My post of today is related precisely with the translation of this
serie.
The
original language is English and in the chapter about I'm going to
talk, Professor Farnsworth has invented an universal translator that
only translates into a dead language. In the original version in
English, and as in Spanish version, the “dead language” is
French
English
Spanish
However,
if we watch the chapter in French, it is not possible that this
language, into which the machine translates, was French too. That's
why, the translators of the serie had to choose another “dead
language”: German.
That
is another curious translation case, because a serie that it is
translated into different languages, and, as in this chapter, it
plays also with them, translators face to this type of problems. In
this case, it has been solved in a correct form. Maybe there are
people who think that this solution is very far of the original, but
in some cases, and this is a very good example, translation doesn't
go together with the source text, because it won't have any sense. In
addition, the context and the idea of the machine keep intact, as
well as the touch of humor talking precisely about one of the most
spoken languages nowadays.
Yesterday
I read an article about a “fantastic” mistake of Google
Translator. Apparently in the translation from Ukranian into Russian,
the sentence “Russian Federation” was translated like “Mordor”,
the fictitious land of The Lord of The Rings ruled by the evil
Sauron.
Logically,
Russia doesn't mean Mordor, but it was a translation mistake, because
Google Translator works with statistics and it chose wrong with the
analysis of all documents that it uses. Google Translator doesn't
apply gramatical rules and that's why it makes this kind of mistakes.
The
reflection about this topic is not to use directly a translation from
an automatic traslator. You have to check it always or, if the text
has a languages that you don't control, ask for help. A translator or
proofreader will help you. This mistake about Mordor is very showy,
but it is possible that the translator will make some unnoticed
mistakes and your text won't have the quality that it requires.
Today
I was reading an article about Open Source and I have discovered an
expression that I didn't know in English: jump on the bandwagon. For
those who don't know the meaning, jump on the bandwagon means to play
along or take advantage of something that is already working. In
Spanish means subirse al carro. It has nothing to do with a real
wagon.
As
you can see, the translation may be literal: saltar o subirse al
carro. However, in order to understand the meaning, it is necessary
to know the connotation of the expression.
If
you don't recognize some expression when you read it, my piece of
advice is to read the complete phrase or paragraph. The context will
help you to understand the meaning. In addition, you can go to a
translator, dictionary or glossary to check it and learn something
new.
I
let you here the article about Open Source. It is very interesting
and you can also improve your English. Just like me.
