How To Avoid The Potential Pitfalls Of Document Translation}

How To Avoid The Potential Pitfalls Of Document Translation

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Jamie SimpsonDocument translation is a crucial part of communication between different areas of the world. Simply reading about how various archaeologists debate the meaning of different passages of text demonstrates that there are pitfalls to be avoided to ensure a clear meaning in the resulting document. These pitfalls are found in two different areas – the original document and the translator.

The Original Document

As language evolves, different colloquialisms develop. Many times, these localized concepts are difficult or even impossible to translate to another language.

The best way to avoid this problem is to ensure that the original document is written in the most “textbook” language possible. While certain colloquialisms add elegance and a meaning that suits the concept perfectly, each use of a localized saying creates an opportunity to add confusion to the translation. Penning the original document with translation in mind requires an awareness of the actual language used and the possibility that it could be misunderstood by a translator.

The Translator

A translator is the bridge between the author of a given document and his or her audience in a foreign land. To ensure that the translated document retains its original meaning, it is necessary to use a translator who is intimately familiar with both.

Even paying close attention to the original writing of a document, it is virtually impossible to guarantee that it is totally free from localized terminology. An author in the UK would think nothing about referring to a car park, whereas a translator trained only in American English would find it impossible to make the connection from ‘car park’ to ‘parking lot’. Avoiding this problem requires a translator who is intimately familiar with the culture of the person writing the document as well as the culture of the expected audience. A letter from an Australian businessman to a Chinese businessman requires someone trained in conversational Australian English and conversational Mandarin, Wu, Min, or whatever the native language of the Chinese businessman is. This familiarity with both cultures allows the translator to make the correct translations for various colloquialisms and to suggest alternatives when no direct translation exists.

Culture encompasses more than simply geography. An American engineer in the nuclear power industry will use vocabulary that an American golf instructor will be totally unaware of. Likewise, a Japanese nuclear power expert will likely have industry specific vocabulary that parallels that of the American engineer but be unknown to the average Japanese person.

To ensure that the document is translated perfectly, choosing a translator who is familiar with both the geographic culture and the industry culture of both the author and the audience is essential. Translation is as much an art as a science. Every language on Earth allows various ways of saying the same thing. Selecting the most effective and appropriate of these ways is something that requires more than simply being able read both languages. It requires an understanding of which word choices both the author and audience of a given document would use in a given situation.

Document translation is a complicated field with a myriad of possible mistakes. Choosing simple language for the original document and a translator intimately familiar with the cultures of the document’s author and recipient will allow these potential mistakes to be minimized or eliminated.

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