Word by word is not the best way to go

Sometimes, you are able to understand a certain foreign language, but not to express yourself properly enough in it. That is completely normal. If that is your case, we are here to help. In fact, many of the members of our team have already seen themselves in this situation. Today I want to talk about an issue that has happened in most cases. It can be resumed in the following question:

Why did you translate it this way? That’s not the same word that in the original.

First of all, let me assure you: we did it for a reason. It seems some people do not like paraphrasing but, actually, it is very rare to find a word by word translation. Why is that? It has been done this way because we usually use a functional scope. There are some cases when this is necessary, for example, when a word has no equivalent in the target language. Other times we take this decision after making ourselves the following questions: “What is the text trying to say? If I translate it word by word, will it make sense in the target language? Will it sound natural?” In order to translate, first we have to interpret.

Here is an example:

Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres. <-- Latin text

Gallia is all divided in parts three. <-- Literal (word by word)

Gaul is divided into three parts. <-- Idiomatic (non literal)

Gaul has three divisions. <-- Functional (more paraphrased)

We are not saying paraphrasing is the best option, or that it should always be used. We are saying that this is a valid option meant to improve the efficacy of the translation while maintaining the original message.

As Maria Schwartz said, an acclaimed translator of Russian fiction, history, biographies, and reviews, our team aims to “Creating translations that are faithful, not literal”. Of course, if you have reasons to want your translation to be as literal as possible, let us know. The more information you give us for facing a translation, the better. We are here to assist all your concerns.

By: Daniela Cid

To read a really interesting interview with Maria Schwartz, follow this link: http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2010/04/04/creating_translations_that_are_faithful_not_literal/