The 5 Commandments to Avoid Sentence for Misunderstanding in Translation
If it’s a crime to twist and misunderstand, you’ve got a life sentence!
And I don’t really care whether you ended up in the translation profession because your mama thought it would be prestigious to brag about your languages to your aunties on Sunday’s family lunch or because it took you eighteen years to realize that Isaac Newton was not another comic character in Asterix and Obelix.
Whatever the twist of fate that dictated your career path, you’ve become what you’ve become, and now that you’re aboard you’d better assume full responsibility for the title you got yourself or there’s always another ship to commandeer.
But if you wish to continue pleasing your mama and you’re willing to steer to the professional shore, you need to agree to live by the following 5 commandments:
1.Thou shalt understand the difference between a writer and a translator.
Writers are fully entitled to express themselves the way they feel regardless what their audience feels or thinks.
Translators are bound to understand what the writer meant.
“Oh but I thought the writer meant this or that” won’t give good results. You misunderstood the meaning; you’re guilty as charged! Don’t think so, know so!
2. Thou shalt get over your teachers at the translation schools.
With all due respect to the teachers who tried their best, you might have been taught wrong. School days are gone with your daddy’s pocket money. You’re a professional now, you might as well earn it. Do your own research and find your own proof!
3. Thou shalt revisit your long-inculcated understanding of some concepts.
What you once translated and passed without opposition does not necessarily mean that the translation was always the correct answer. Don’t just choose the easiest way relying on past information. Don’t apply the first thing that comes to your mind.
Be your own judge and repeat the trial.
4.Thou shalt not twist the meaning to camouflage your failure to understand.
You just couldn’t understand and then you gave up. But there are still blanks that need to be filled, so you blablabla using vague words hoping to get away with it. Nothing goes unnoticed. That vaguely translated word was paid for. How would you feel if you go home and find out that the designer shirt that cost you a fortune missed a button?
5. Thou shalt put your I-know-it-all attitude aside and ask for clarification when needed.
Don’t be ashamed to ask. You’re not supposed to have a PhD in law, medicine, IT, and finance. When you’re in a doubt, ask.
Rejoice! You have just completed the Pilgrimage of the Five Translation Commandments and your old misunderstanding sins are now washed away. Stay on track.