Translation Myths pt.1.1

Myth #1: Translation is all about words pt. 1

The first translation myth we will look at is possibly the most common. Most people, when they think of translation, will think that translators take the WORDS from one language and turn them into WORDS in another. Following this logic, all a translator really needs is a good dictionary and they can translate pretty much anything. Learning translation then is really all about learning the words and grammar of both languages and making one fit the other.

So, why is this a myth? Well, here is one solid reason which should be obvious to anyone who has ever learned a second language.

REASON
Different languages use different ways to express the same meaning.

If you have ever tried to learn another language, you will have probably started with some set phrases so that you can ask someone’s name, find out where they are from, how they are and so forth. These set phrases are commonly taken to express similar meanings. Let’s take a common example that you might find in a French phrase book.

What is your name? – Comment vous-appelez vous?

Now, if you go up to a French person and say that phrase to them, the likelihood is that they will respond to you by giving you their name. Yet, the French word for “name” does not appear anywhere in that sentence. In fact, of the four words in the French phrase, only one would be found by looking up one of the English words in a dictionary.

If translation were all about words, this would be a bad translation, yet this translation is accepted and used all the time. If you ask a French teacher to translate “what is your name?” into French, you will be given the exact French sentence we find above.

So why has this French phrase become accepted as a good translation of “what is your name?” The answer is simple: translation is about meaning, not words. In this case, the meaning of “what is your name?” is best expressed using the French phrase which, if literally translated would be something like “what do you call yourself?” Put another way, the effect of asking an English person “What is your name?” is equivalent to the effect of asking a French person “Comment vous-appelez vous?”

This equivalence of effect is often what translators aim for. Understanding how this works and how to find out the meaning of what is said is a key skill for translators. Next tiem, we will look at this in more detail.