Interview with the Australian translator of classical Japanese literature Meredith McKinney
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2020/12/12/books/for-meredith-mckinney-translation/
-
Jobber og kataloger
- Learn more about
-
Medlemsaktiviteter
- Learn more about:
Share an article »
ProZ.com blog »
Belgium
Local time: 02:01
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
This is one of those slogans that resist dying out, but that are far too general and because of that superficial to be true in all situations.
A translation shouldn't be unreadable, but "as natural as breathing" is a concept which penetrated translation from the field of literature.
Science, technology and law are completely different.
The message should be unambiguous, not necessarily a pleasure to read.
More Agreers
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:01
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
A translation shouldn't be unreadable, but "as natural as breathing" is a concept which penetrated translation from the field of literature. Science, technology and law are completely different.
Agreed. The requirements are very different, and I imagine those who translate literature alone would struggle, if asked, to deal with the stringencies of commercial translation. But maybe such translators do not exist? Surely very few can hope to make a comfortable living from literary translation.
The message should be unambiguous if the source is unambiguous. If the source is ambiguous, so should be the target text!
Regards,
Dan
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:01
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Well - I'm breathing. That's a start!
Local time: 19:01
German to English
+ ...
Try doing that when the client has a genuine emergency and needs the translation by a given date or time. That important meeting is about to take place, they still don't have your translation so they frantically call you up. "It's resting." you say, "It needs time to breathe, you know." Client loses his project and maybe job, while you smilingly hand him the perfect,... See more
Try doing that when the client has a genuine emergency and needs the translation by a given date or time. That important meeting is about to take place, they still don't have your translation so they frantically call you up. "It's resting." you say, "It needs time to breathe, you know." Client loses his project and maybe job, while you smilingly hand him the perfect, breathing translation that is useless to him now.
I think what bugs me is the "advice to translators" part. Ofc the author of the article might have put it that way.
Everything depends on what kind of text you are translating in what kind of circumstance for what reason. Certainly you do have to look at a complete translation with fresh eyes and have some distance to it during the revision. But mostly you can't put away a translation for a while, because the modern industry doesn't work that way. ▲ Collapse
More Agreers
Netherlands
Local time: 02:01
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
So, are we discussing the heading of this blog post, which was created by some random, underpaid, late-night subeditor who took a quick peek at the text of the post before heading home for the weekend, or should we discuss what the author had actually said? She said "You have to be able to ... bring out [the meaning] in some other form that is as natural as breathing in your own language." She never said (nor implied, as far as I can tell) that "translations must be as natural as breathing".
United Kingdom
Swedish to English
+ ...
I like to think that the translations I churn out day in, day out on the production line aren’t too shoddy, but the ones I get given the time and funds to lavish extra speci... See more
I like to think that the translations I churn out day in, day out on the production line aren’t too shoddy, but the ones I get given the time and funds to lavish extra special care on are in a different league.
Now that I’m entering the last decade of my working life, I can’t be doing with pressure and stress any more, and I’m making it my mission to convince more clients that this is the way to go.
I’m not holding my breath though
United Kingdom
Swedish to English
+ ...
She never said (nor implied, as far as I can tell) that "translations must be as natural as breathing".
Samuel, I can’t see the difference. Can you explain how you understand it please? (It isn’t the most elegant or, dare I say, natural of sentences!)
France
Local time: 02:01
Member (2018)
French to English
Well Chris, Samuel specified "breathing in your own language". I'm now trying to breathe in all the various languages I speak, to see what difference it makes.
To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:
You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »
This discussion can also be accessed via the ProZ.com forum pages.