A MOMENT OF A PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATOR TRANSLATING “ALTERED” CONTENT (WITH DETERMINATION AND FOCUS, OF COURSE)
Google Translate songs. I imagine relatively many people will have heard of them, not least ever since they enjoyed a spot on the Jimmy Fallon Show.
But it’s impossible to predict what kind of output you will get. It’s not just about the content to be translated; the output will depend on exactly which language pair is applied, and that’s not exactly hard to believe, is it?
But most people know the principle: chuck the material through Google Translate to have it machine-translated into another language, then back into the first using Google Translate again, before enjoying what you will read from there. However, this article has nothing to do with Google Translate songs; what if I tried it with the text of a short French newspaper article and had a go at seeing what sense I, being a professional translator and all, could make out of that? My mother tongue is English and I speak French to degree level and then some, so what if I translated this text into English automatically using Google Translate then back into French using Google Translate, and did my best to translate that back into English (a second time, if you like)? How good a job would I do of it? After that I compare it to a reliable English translation (also done by me) of the original French material, before it was altered by Google Translate in this way? Who knew what I would discover? But why not?
You know, I totally believe that this is an article that could be trusted to clarify the difference between “good” translation and “definitive” translation, even if I do say so myself.
Anyway, this is the newspaper article I used in this project https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2019/10/16/face-au-tolle-international-provoque-par-son-offensive-en-syrie-erdogan-durcit-le-ton_6015737_3210.html What follows right now is what I got after I put the text of it through Google Translate to translate it into English before then translating it back into French (while ignoring the English text):
Face au tollé international provoqué par son offensive en Syrie, Erdogan durcit le ton
Le président turc a exclu toute négociation avec les Kurdes: pour que l’opération “Source of Peace” prenne fin, ils devraient déposer les armes et se retirer de la frontière turque.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, continue de faire pression. Le président turc a de nouveau rejeté, mercredi 16 octobre, toute possibilité de cessez-le-feu dans le nord de la Syrie en guerre depuis 2011. Une semaine, jour après jour, l’offensive turque contre la milice kurde des Unités de protection du peuple (GPJ) a déjà repoussé les cartes politico-diplomatiques.
Erdogan met en doute sa rencontre avec Pence
Le président américain Donald Trump, qui semblait initialement donner son aval à l’opération turque, a depuis demandé à Ankara de mettre fin à son offensive et de sanctionner la Turquie.
Dans ce contexte, M. Trump a décidé d’envoyer son vice-président, Mike Pence, et son secrétaire d’État, Mike Pompeo, en Turquie. Ils devaient rencontrer Erdogan jeudi pour tenter de le convaincre de négocier une trêve avec les combattants kurdes.
Le chef de l’Etat turc a annoncé mercredi qu’il ne les rencontrerait pas: “Ils rencontreront leurs homologues. Je ne parlerai à Trump que s’il arrive.” Le directeur de la communication de la présidence turque, Fahrettin Altun, a ensuite commenté sur Twitter. Selon lui, M. Erdogan, “envisage effectivement de rencontrer la délégation américaine”.
Ultimatum turc aux forces kurdes
Convoqué par les pays occidentaux pour mettre fin à son offensive en Syrie, le président turc a exclu toute négociation avec les forces kurdes. “Certains dirigeants tentent d’intervenir. Dans l’histoire de la République turque, l’existence d’une organisation terroriste à la même table qu’à la même table “, a-t-il déclaré.
“Notre proposition est: immédiatement, ce soir, que tous les terroristes déposent leurs armes et leur équipement, détruisent toutes leurs fortifications et se retirent de la zone de sécurité que nous avons définie”, a déclaré le président aux parlementaires de son parti Justice et développement (AKP, parti islamo-conservateur) ).
“Lorsque ce que nous avons décrit sera fait, de Manbij à la frontière irakienne, notre opération” Source de la paix “, qui ne vise que les terroristes, se terminera d’elle-même”, a-t-il déclaré.
Les Russes investissent dans les anciennes zones américaines
Le vide laissé par le retrait des troupes américaines sur le terrain n’aura pas duré longtemps. Les médias russes ont montré mercredi les premières images de troupes russes et syriennes prenant position dans la région de Manbij.
Moscou a déclaré que sa police militaire patrouillait maintenant dans la région pour éviter des affrontements armés entre les forces turques et syriennes. “Les autorités syriennes et le commandement russe ont pris toutes les mesures nécessaires pour assurer la sécurité du retrait des troupes étrangères”, a ajouté mercredi soir au ministère de la Défense russe.
I now provide my own English translation of this work – I will emphasise that I gave even more thought to the expressions I used than what I normally do in my professional translation work (it shows in the comments that follow it), in a manner not unlike like that known with that project I did with that Hungarian newspaper article (see my blog titled “My resistance to being deluded by machine translators” dated 5th February 2019); and I don’t even mind admitting that this altered French version of the newspaper article in question doesn’t even look that altered, at a glance and then some. Of course, it might seem easy for me to say that given that I have a degree in French, but like I already said, the output of application of the Google Translate song procedure with a text is totally unpredictable – I’m sure it “basically” depends on the language pair but I will not claim to be an authority on such a niche subject, at least not yet. Getting back to the topic at hand, this is my best English translation (as it were) of this altered French version of the newspaper article that is the subject of THIS project:
In face of the international outcry that has been provoked by his Syria offensive, Erdogan hardens his tone
The Turkish president has shunned all opportunities of negotiations with the Kurds: for him, for the “Source of Peace” operation to be concluded, they would have to lay down their arms and withdraw from the Turkish border.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to apply the pressure. Once again (on Wednesday 16 October), the Turkish president has rejected any possibility of a ceasefire in Northern Syria, a country at war since 2011. For a week now, day after day, the Turkish offensive against the Kurdish “People’s Protection Units” militia (GPJ) has already stirred up political/diplomatic affairs.
Erdogan has doubts about his meeting with Pence
The American President Donald Trump, who initially seemed to have approved of the Turkish operation, has since ordered Ankara to end its offensive efforts and called for sanctions against Turkey.
With this situation, Mr. Trump decided to send his vice-president, Mike Pence, and his Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, to Turkey. They were supposed to meet Erdogan on Thursday to attempt to encourage him to negotiate a truce with the Kurdish fighters.
The Turkish Head of State announced on Wednesday that he would not meet with them: “They will meet their counterparts. I will only talk to Trump if he arrives here.” The communications director of the Turkish presidency, Fahrettin Altun, would later comment on Twitter. As far as he’s concerned, Mr. Erdogan “actually plans to meet with the US delegation”.
Turkish ultimatum to the Kurdish forces
The Turkish President, who has been urged by Western countries to put an end to his offensive in Syria, has shunned all negotiations with the Kurdish forces. “Some leaders are trying to intervene. In the history of the Republic of Turkey, a terrorist organisation belongs at only one table[1],” he declared.
“Our demand is simply this: immediately, tonight, all terrorists must lay down their arms and their equipment, destroy all their fortifications and withdraw from the security zone that we have established,” the President has declared to the members of his Justice and Development party (AKP, Islamic-conservative party).
“After what we have demanded has been enacted, from Manbij to the Iraqi frontier, our operation ‘Source of Peace’, which only targets terrorists, will be resolved”, he declared.
The Russians invest in former US zones
The void left by the withdrawal of US troops on the ground will not last long. On Wednesday the Russian media showed the first images of Russian and Syrian troops taking position in the Manbij region.
Moscow has stated that its military police is now making patrols in the region, to avert armed clashes between Turkish and Syrian forces[2]. “The Syrian authorities and the Russian command have taken all the measures necessary to ensure the security of the withdrawal of foreign troops”, the Russian Ministry of Defence added on Wednesday evening.
Related comments:
[1] I indeed wrote “a terrorist organisation belongs at only one table”: “I’m particularly proud of this bit – see the original altered French version just before.
[2] I specifically decided to use “avert” rather than “avoid” where the word in the original was “éviter” – I think I deserve some credit for that.
What do you think? I suppose that ultimately amounts to a rhetorical question, but whatever you have to say about this work, don’t forget that I specifically chose to do this before my translation of the actual text of the actual newspaper article, which follows. I invite you to look for both differences and similarities (even if that is a grossly vague statement) – maybe, just maybe, it could ultimately sharpen one’s understanding and acuity on the subject of languages, especially when it comes to translation. Here we go:
In the face of the international outcry triggered by his offensive in Syria, Erdogan hardens his tone
The Turkish President has shunned all negotiations with the Kurds[1]: he has declared that, for the “Source of Peace” operation to end, the Kurds would have to lay down their arms and withdraw from the Turkish frontier.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has continued to apply the pressure. Once again, on Wednesday 16 October, the Turkish President has rejected any possibility of a ceasefire in Northern Syria, a country which has been at war since 2011. The Turkish offensive against the Kurdish militia of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) has already rebuffed the politico-diplomatic cards for a whole week ever since it was initiated, from one day to the next.
Erdogan has cast doubt on his meeting with Pence
The United States President Donald Trump, who at first seemed to approve of the Turkish operation[2], has since urged Ankara to stop its offensive, and has authorised sanctions against Turkey.
In this context, Mr. Trump decided to dispatch his Vice President, Mike Pence, and his Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, to Turkey. These two men are expected to meet Mr. Erdogan on Thursday, to attempt to convince him to negotiate a truce with the Kurdish fighters.
On Wednesday, the Turkish Head of State announced that he would not talk with them: “They will meet their counterparts. Myself, I will only talk to Trump, if he arrives.” A little later, the communications director of the Turkish Presidency, Fahrettin Altun, would post contrary remarks on Twitter. According to him, Mr. Erdogan “does indeed plan to meet the American delegation.”
The Turkish ultimatum to the Kurdish forces
The Turkish President, having been ordered by Western countries to cease his offensive in Syria, has shunned all negotiations with the Kurdish forces. “Some leaders are trying to mediate. Throughout the history of the Republic of Turkey, there has never been anything like an incident of us sitting down at the same table as a terrorist organisation,” he declared.
“Our proposition is as follows: straight away, this evening, all terrorists must lay down their arms and equipment, destroy all their fortifications and withdraw from the secure zone that we have established,” the President added before the parliamentarians of his Justice and Development party (AKP, Islamic-conservative).
“Once what we have described has been done, from Manbij to the Iraqi frontier, that is when our “Source of Peace” operation, which targets only terrorists, will be resolved,” he continued.
The Russians invest in former US zones
The void left by the withdrawal of American troops in the terrain will not have lasted for long. On Wednesday the Russian media showed its first images of Russian and Syrian troops assuming positions in the Manbij region.
Moscow, for its part, has stated that its military police have been patrolling the region ever since, in order to prevent armed clashes between Turkish and Syrian forces. “The Syrian authorities and the Russian command have taken all measures to ensure the security of the withdrawal of foreign troops,” the Russian Defence Minister also added in the night of Tuesday-Wednesday.
Related comments:
[1] I decided on “shunned” rather than “excluded” simply because the word in the original was “exclu”.
[2] I used the word “approve” rather than all this “green light” business.
If you have any feedback, I would love to hear it!