Translation as a process and a product

Metaphorically, language in a process of translation is often compared to a window through which your reader can see what you mean. Editing is like polishing the window. It usually means taking away the words that you do not. You should also be aiming to make your language transparently clear. Editing takes place at the final stage of the translation process – revising, polishing and trimming “the product”.

A translator converts written material, such as newspaper and magazine articles, books, manuals, or documents from one language into another. Criss R. in his paper Translation as a Profession refers to the translator’s native language as the A language and the non-native languages as the B or C languages. A B language is one which the translator can speak, read, and write virtually as a native speaker does. A C language is one which the translator can read and understand like a native, but does not necessarily speak or write so well. Obviously we all have an A language, and equally evident, all translators have a B language. Many translators have more than one B language, and some also have C languages. What very few people have is two A languages. A good translator is by definition bilingual. The opposite is not necessarily true, however. A born and bred bilingual will still need two things to become a translator: first, the skills and experience necessary for translation; second, knowledge of the field in which he or she will translate.

The skills and experience for written translation include the ability:

- to write well in the target language

- to read and understand the source language material thoroughly

- to work with the latest word-processing and communications hardware and software.

Translators must strike a balance between fidelity to the source text and readability in the target language. We have all seen material that is so obviously translated as to sound awkward in our native languages (e.g. Майте гарний день!, Розмістіть свого перекладача поруч із собою; Замовте копію ключів тощо), The best translation is the one that no one recognizes as a translation. In other words, the document should read as though it were written in the target language originally. This implies, by extension, that the translator's time and effort are transparent, and the translator ends up being invisible. In other words, you do your best work when no one realizes you have done anything. A good translator is said to be invisible. Achieving this level of translation is challenging, to say the least. Applied linguistic students have to work hard to meet this challenge and develop the algorithm of faithful translation which is both accurate and idiomatic.

One of the postulates of translation says that translation is both a process and a product. The result, the outcome of the professionally done work is always a quality product, ideally an error-free one. Paraphrasing the thought that “good writing is re-writing, re-writing and re-writing” we may claim that a good translation as a quality product is a thorough reading, revising, editing and re-editing of the translated matter. In other words, editing is an integral part of the translation process, its final stage.

Translation takes time and effort. To produce a quality product, i.e. an accurate and faithful translation, and, thus, to minimize the editing process, the translator is to consider the following general principles which are relevant to all translation (Fuller,F. The Translator’s Handbook):

- Meaning. The translation should reflect accurately the meaning of the original text. Nothing should be arbitrary added or removed, though occasionally part of the meaning can be transposed. Nothing in the translation should sound unnatural or forced. The aim of editing is to make your first draft easier to read. The words on the page should never get in the way of your meaning. The reader should never have to stop at any point and wonder what you are saying.

- Form. The ordering of words and ideas in the translation should match the original as close as possible. This is particularly important for legal documents, guarantees, contracts etc. But differences in language structure of SL and TL often require changes in the form and order of words.

- Register. Languages often differ greatly in their levels of formality in a given context (e.g. a business letter). The translator must distinguish between formal or fixed expressions (Enclosed please find a cheque for …; As much as I would like to be of assistance to you it is beyond my power…) and personal expressions (e.g. I’m sending you some money; I would really like to help etc).

- Source language influence (interference). Source language influence is an important concern. Duff A. (1996) claims that what we are dealing with here is structure, more than lexis, i.e. with the overall way in which a sentence is shaped, rather than with the individual choice of words. This “shape” is determined by the structures available in English. Similar structures (the passive, or the infinitive forms) may exist in other languages but they will not necessarily be used as frequently, or in the same way. However, because the thought is set in English students will naturally be tempted to reproduce the English structure including word order rather than look for a (possibly) more appropriate structure in their own language and vice versa.

One of the most frequent criticisms of translation is that “it does not sound natural”. This is because the translator’s thoughts and choice of words are too strongly moulded by the original text. The mother tongue (Ukrainian, in our case) naturally shapes students’ way of thinking, perceiving the world, and to some extent their use of the foreign language (pronunciation, choice of words, word order etc). Language interference is also referred to as cross-linguistic influence.

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