TRANSLATION: I DON’T WANT TO DISTORT REALITY

It is time for me to post my latest translation business blog. So far, I’ve said the title… so what is it really all about? What am I really going to say?

I guess I’m going out on a limb here. Try to understand: I’m actually (consciously) wondering how many times in the history of professional translation bad translations (whether real or imagined) have been blamed on “bad things” (when the meaning of said “bad things” is largely vague; and the claim is likely only being suggested by someone having a hopeless unfounded guess) which may be anything from subtle misunderstandings on the part of the translator to a clumsy, awkward phrase written by the translator which was taken the wrong way by the client even if it did “work” at conveying the correct message in theory, and I make no secret of it; or else I would never have been able to say exactly that, would I?

It seems that one thing I have always been aware of ever since I became a self-employed professional translator – even if I have never been able to put it into such words until just now, and I’ve been doing it for eight years now – is that there are many industries / sectors where, when the customer buys something, if they have a problem with it at a later time, even if they feel the urge to openly complain to the seller about it, it’s all too easy for the seller to say that they should have considered the actual matter in question / borne it in mind to begin with. In other words, they should have been prepared to accept responsibility for what they have bought, or else not have bought it at all. Caveat emptor – that’s what it’s called. And, say what you will, but I just have to say that I appreciate, now, that deep down I’ve always known that if customers of mine (as a self-employed translator) ever had anything “not so welcome” to say about what I did for them, I would NOT be able to invoke caveat emptor, and that’s only because they are not able to judge what I actually (claim to) offer them in advance of me “doing anything for them” i.e. a professional translation service worth the name. Logically, they could only claim that they had anything to say about it after my work for them was completed.

I deliberately put this bit in a separate paragraph, specifically because I hope that people will read it “unusually attentively”. I am really, really, REALLY on my guard against writing things in my work as a professional translator that would hint at something that just isn’t real, however intelligent or insightful it may seem on the surface. To put it another way: I simply want to do all I can do to avert the creation of distorted reality through my or anyone else’s mind when I translate for people, without compromise. To clarify: that does not just mean be on my guard against inadvertently encouraging people to buy into / believe anything about known ideas which, however easy it may be for some people to “vindicate” them while being none the wiser, are SIMPLY NOT TRUE because they stemmed from emotion, belief or hope rather than facts which don’t need to be substantiated any more than they already are. People can end up with new distorted ideas about reality from, say, a rumour, which are not necessarily potentially pernicious (depending more than anything else on the level of intelligence of both the person(s) the rumour revolves around, and those who share in it and instantly become capable of reinforcing and spreading it when they do). As it is, I can still remember that old Jim Carrey film The Truman Show, where the people in the film actually knowingly aim to have the eponymous character develop an irrational fear of travelling by sea – and succeed! (How cruel is that!?) This is something which religious scholars should be able to identify with – and I’m not here to discuss religion and argue which religious traditions, or religions, are “true” or “false”; that’s not with this blog is all about. I simply think that I owe what is mentioned above to my clients, that’s all I’m saying – certainly if I’m translating challenging material. And after all, no truer words were spoken than “History is not what happened in the past; history is what we think happened in the past.” That said…

The girl in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8pNh6LqFh8 is Pupinia Stewart – and this is not the only video she has ever posted where she says completely absurd and stupid things which I – without wishing to upset anyone – find amusing. And yes, there are the response videos – videos people have posted where they watch this video for the first time and their very response to it is caught on camera and made public, obviously with their own consent (if not Pupinia’s as well), which is fine. And they say so many things along the lines of “Oh my God, how can anyone say anything that stupid?” or “WHAAAAAAT?” I don’t blame them. Anyway, I have actually sent a link to this video to my parents in the past, and my dear old mum suggested said that she’s more intelligent than she lets on… and, from what I’ve seen, she’s right. Go to Pupinia Stewart’s page on Wikitubia and it is pointed out quite openly that a lot of people falsely believe that her videos reflect her true intelligence – some say she’s a troll, while some say she’s a comedy genius. Fair enough. But, getting back to the topic at hand, I thought of “Pupinia Syndrome”, where a person does things that they know are not on par with their actual level of intelligence but they do it anyway in the belief that it will appeal to people and make them more liked by them (well, that’s comedy for you) – probably because they are reluctant to let their real level of intelligence, their real selves, show in what they only wish they could do… if only it wasn’t so vehemently shunned by their peers. It’s not like I don’t believe that “Pupinia Syndrome” could actually be applied as a label to certain things for the right, noble reasons; however, if the concept of “Pupinia Syndrome” could be enough to encourage people to think things about her that, while very far from being injurious in intent, simply aren’t true… then maybe – just maybe – I really should be apologising to her in advance. Pupinia, I’m sorry. I like your videos, I promise.

Now, while “Pupinia Syndrome” is probably to be understood as a false concept, it’s ever so easy for me to hold it as a “valid” one which plays a role in the real world anyway. If you don’t understand what I am saying… the point above is to be regarded as an example of distorted reality, which can come about when translation is done wrongly. THE… POINT… A… BOVE… IS… TO… BE… RE… GAR… DED… AS… AN… EX… AM… PLE… OF… DIS… TOR… TED… RE… A… LI… TY… WHICH… CAN… COME… A… BOUT… WHEN… TRANS… LA… TION… IS… DONE… WRONG… LY.

…Bye.