“Traduttore, traditore” is Italian for “the translator is a traitor”.
The idea of translators being traitors all boils down to price since “faithfulness” and expectations in terms of quality are inextricably linked.
To illustrate this point, read a letter to Father Christmas that was translated by Google Translate…
If you’re only interested in getting the gist of a text then Google Translate will do just fine.
Why have a text translated professionally?
The answer to this question very much depends on the importance you attach to your translation.
Low-cost translations do have their pitfalls. The machine translation might not be proofread, it might be translated by an unqualified translator, it might be late, it might be full of mistakes, inaccuracies and omissions, even if it was indeed translated by a “human being”… But all this goes without saying!
Why?
Well, because translating requires understanding and being able to write properly.
Because translating is about rendering the spirit and not the letter of a text seamlessly in another language.
The following translation was found in a Scandinavian bar:
“It is forbidden for women to have children at the bar”. What do you understand by this?
We’ve all come across ridiculously bad and even incomprehensible translations but they are perhaps harder to spot in a language that is not your own.
Professional translation requires:
1.Translating in one’s mother tongue to avoid any language-related pitfalls.
2.Having an in-depth understanding of the topic to adapt the text to the target culture.
3.Ensuring the translation is proofread by a third party to ensure the meaning of the text is rendered in the target language.
These three criteria can be summed up by the word professionalism.
Professional translators have been through five years’ higher education. They are bi-cultural, have a flair for language and understand their area of expertise.
They also know their limits and know how to go about conducting necessary research.
A Paris-based museum which chose to work with CG after dicing with low-cost translation, told me that they now benefit from saving time and money, getting peace of mind and raising their profile.
The choice is yours…!
CG can offer free guidance with regards to your choices and knows how to provide you with a translation that will meet your needs ! At CG, we put helping customers first.