IDENTIFYING AND BANISHING PRETENCES IN MY QUEST TO BE A “GREAT” TRANSLATOR (AND CONVINCING OTHERS THAT I DO THIS)

To those who think that I just spend my days at work in my study with a carefree attitude, loving all the chances I get to make money in the relaxed environment I work in purely because I have a confirmed talent for languages which it’s so easy to wow others with, I offer this blog as my rebuttal.

As I continue to accept and complete translation assignments with almost obsessive fervour out of a desire to earn more money from it than I currently do… every so often I take a step back to allow for accommodation of the accounts of others of what makes one a “true” linguist or translator (usually praying that they’re not full of perplexing jargon and whatnot, and regardless of any and all well-justified claims I could already make that I am such a person); knowing full well that, whatever personal experiences I’ve had of which I don’t believe that others have had similar ones, others will have had certain personal experiences of which they won’t believe that others, including me, have had similar ones. The thing that should be accepted here is that many people who speak more than one language think that to learn a new language is to become familiar with a whole new viewpoint of and attitude toward society at large and the very world we live in. Certainly if articles like this are anything to go by http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/03/speaking-second-language-may-change-how-you-see-world Interesting.

And I guess that that is what has made me wish I could develop a knack for pre-empting awkward questions from those whom I have submitted completed translation work – questions where I find it all too easy to end up not knowing what to think, let alone do (at least originally, and that’s if I’m lucky).

Question: how well do you think I listen – actually listen? There’s a bit in Metal Gear Solid Sons Of Liberty where, when you’re playing as Raiden, you can select the Claymore mines as the active weapon then call Snake on the Codec to have him tell you about them. Part of it is when he basically says, “Be advised that the mine doesn’t distinguish friend from foe.” I realised what was being implied straight away without him having to explain it: “Don’t trigger your own trap.” In other words, you can set off your own mines by walking over them and getting harmed by them in the usual way if you’re not careful. (Duh!) And that’s supposed to be an example of successful “real listening” at work. And I think that “real listening” is very important in translation, for the – well – usual reasons: that it averts misunderstandings and staves off ignorance (whatever the consequences of THAT could be).

In one comment for something that I included in some of my more recent translation work I said, “Can this be confirmed as right or wrong?” (Not merely one of the two.) I think that’s a very apt viewpoint to look at this from. And it’s not just in translation that unintentionally misleading words exist: for example, when you’re trying to make new friends on Facebook, if you click on the “send request” button to do this (say in a link in an email) when you’ve never tried to get in contact with this person before ever, it will say, “Your friend request has been sent to so-and-so.” However, click on the same button when you have already sent this person such a request in the past and it will say “You’ve sent this person a friend request” on the screen (if they have not accepted your request by then). What I’m saying is, just look at how similar those two sentences are to those unwary about that.

The Facebook post for George Trail Translator dated 30th September includes the words “For incredible translations in English, German, or French, call me on: 01344 773948 today!” Don’t ask me; I didn’t post it. Personally, I regard “incredible translations” as out of context here. It’s just that, reading “incredible translations” to me suggests that idea that I try to regale people with what I do, as if it’s all about astounding them or leaving them in euphoric delight, like I were a celebrity or professional athlete. Come on! Translating is hardly a glamorous job; it can be pretty boring, as true as it is that I have found satisfaction in it. But, for the sake of a professional image, I know that nothing can substitute what I am able to say to those of my customers who have ended up frustrated and do so even if they know that they are less than inclined to make allowances for me and my limitations of which I do not necessarily have a full awareness and knowledge. Oh, don’t I know that, as a self-employed individual, I have no-one else to fall back on when confusion trumps hope!

Many a person has felt chuffed about being able to hire someone to do their gardening or replace a pipe at their home while knowing that they could probably do an adequate (if not fully “professional”) job of it themselves if they would just take the time to do their homework before actually getting round to it – who knows, they might actually enjoy it! But I also know full well that I would be out of place in a debate on the finer points of horticulture, and that I have no extensive knowledge of plumbing equipment and techniques enough to make even the best professional plumbers keen to listen to me to a certain extent – nothing I could hope to impress anyone with. Similarly, I know it’s not enough for me just to have a command of a foreign language (as well as my own) that’s “satisfactory” or good enough to please or even impress at an everyday level / raise eyebrows; my customers can but hope that I can show a masterful level of articulate literacy when it truly matters – I know I would be oh so likely to feel the same way if I hired a translator, including if the material to be translated were, in all mercy, very challenging and sophisticated (or perhaps especially so).

But having said that, it’s not like I’ve never written “work-related anecdotes” as examples of what I really do in the past, and I will be doing it here as well. Even today I frequently feel the need to, say, mention to a customer that I wouldn’t be surprised if they thought that a particular word I chose in my translation of a given part in a text was odd or something given the context – it’s just that I was left a bit unsure as to the best way to go given the equivalent expression I happened to come across in the original. Let’s just look at these:

French original:
“Le Pass, c’est aussi des événements toute l’année à découvrir sur www.pass.be”

Does that really translate as “The Pass also offers events throughout the year – discover full details on www.pass.be”, which is what I put, or is it about annual events (Easter, Christmas etc.) – there was once a time when I never would have thought of the latter.

German original:
“Er beobachtete genau”

I guess it depends on the context, but I thought it meant “He made accurate observations” or “He was precise in what he noted”. But I tried putting it through Google Translate, just for comparison, and that said “He was watching closely”.

German original:
“Intensivere Klänge erzeugte er durch Ausholen mit dem ganzen Arm”

I decided to translate this as “He produced more intensive sounds, marked by upswinging with his whole arm”. Of course, I realise that “He produced more intensive sounds” is loose-sounding and vague, with nothing to convince the reader that I actually know what I’m talking about / what’s taking place, but then I wasn’t there. I merely happened to come across this sentence in a document that I of all people ended up translating, for better or worse.

German original:
“AT nur, wenn einschlägige Probleme klinisch auftreten sollten.”

Now, I translated this as “AT only if relevant problems should occur (at a clinical level)” when it probably would have been better not to use the word “should” – but what if, in the original, we’re talking about problems that are expected to occur?

German original:
“Nach Lagerung und Desinfektion erfolgt durch den Oberarzt Dr. Walisch der Gastroenterologie eine Gastroskopie.”
My first translation of this was “After admission and disinfection, Senior Dr. Walisch performed a gastroscopy (gastroenterology). [as in, “something that “falls under the gastroenterology banner”, not that I know actually know anything about that.”]” That was the first time; after I looked at the phrase another time it just, for some reason, straight away came clear to me that it really meant “Senior Dr. Walsch (of the gastroenterology department) performed a gastroscopy.” I’m sure I would have gotten it first time round had the words “der Gastroenterologie” been in brackets.

But even I still occasionally end up with no choice but to do my best to decide on the best approach to take, the best principles to apply, when I do translation. And to be frank, the approaches that I do take, the principles that I do apply, may well be anything but “standard” or “typical”, and therefore wildly abstruse and hard to elaborate. For example, take the following joke (which is awful, I know, but it is what it is):

Where do Muslim ninjas live?
Saudi Arabi-yaaa!

And here’s my attempt at translating it into French and German:

French:
Où habitent les ninjas musulmans ?
L’Arabaïeeee (!) Saoudite.

German:
Wo leben muslimische Ninjas?
Saudi Arabijaaaah-n.

All feedback graciously accepted.