How many ways are there to translate a word from one language to another? Sometimes it’s as simple as translating Dora the Explorer’s "¡vámonos!" (let’s go), but in Aberdeen’s Multi-Language Department, often times it’s a bit more complex than that.
I regularly work with Spanish translations from very competent people, and although these translations are already great, my job is to make them better. When reading them, it seems that I’m always faced with the same challenge: How do I make certain words neutral enough so that most Spanish-speaking people will understand them? The Spanish language is spoken in 20 different countries worldwide, making the task of choosing one single word very challenging.
A word that I came up with a couple of weeks ago was the translation for “hangover.” It was originally translated as “enguayabado.” When I first read this I was clueless as to what it meant. I had never heard this term before. It turns out that it’s pretty popular in South America. My supervisor, who lives in Spain, mentioned they use the word “resaca,” which I wasn’t familiar with either. Growing up in Mexico, I always heard people use the word “cruda” when talking about a hangover, so obviously I was leaning towards using that term.
Here at Aberdeen, every challenge is thoroughly analyzed before making a decision, and that’s why, after taking in consideration the audience that was going to be reading the subtitles, we decided to go with “cruda (resaca)”. Luckily we had enough time and space in the subtitles to use both terms!
Translation is definitely an art. Now let’s see how artistic I can be at translating this blog! Spanish version.
Many companies in need of translation usually do not understand what they need. Given this ignorance, they may come up with the idea of getting translations done automatically by a computer software. Once this is tried and tested for the first time, it is usually the last time, because the translation does not serve its original purpose: to communicate effectively with its target audience.
Consider the following before you decide to purchase an automated translation software:
I will give you the example of Spanish, as this is a language that I am fluent in. Think first about the register the language is using. In Spanish, there are two ways of addressing people, formal and informal. In English, there is only one. Not only do pronouns change depending upon the register being used, but verbs and other words change too. The software does not know what kind of register the people are using, and therefore poorly communicates entire sentences.
Then there is the word choice from the software. Imagine a newscaster. The language and the choice of words would be completely different than if the same words were being used while a father speaks to his son. This is because the software does not recognize who the speaker is, who he is addressing, if there is a difference in rank, social status, or the like. Think of English. Imagine kids playing soccer in the street in a low-class neighborhood. These children would not use the same vocabulary as a headmaster would who is addressing a teacher. All this is not taken into consideration by software that translates word-by-word.
Think of grammar differences between languages. In English the second person of the personal pronoun takes the same form for singular and plural: "you." In Spanish, there are four forms, two for singular (formal and informal) and two for plural (formal and informal). The software does not recognize this difference, making the conjugation of the verb that accompany the pronoun incorrect, because the verb in English almost always remains the same. Automated software does not know these nuances.
Your audience will most likely be from a given region of the target language. For example, in South America each country uses a different variant of Spanish. The nouns vary completely from one country to another. Just think of the differences between Australian, Canadian, British, and American English. Even though you still understand each other, every country has its own linguistic nuances.
Try it for yourself. Go to a website in a different language and copy some text. Go to Google translate. Paste the foreign language text and translate into English. Read the translation, and you will see my point exactly.
A good translation depends completely on the translator's ability to capture the essence of the text by using creativity--something only the human brain can achieve. Translating is an art. Software just puts words together, leaving much to be desired.
