In the course of a translator’s career, he is bound to come across some interesting translation projects.
One of them that I have encountered is to translate a Cantonese opera into English.
In a global village, language barriers collapse with help from localization service providers. As against translation, localization is the combination of language and subject-matter translation. For example, for instructions for the installation of a software programme written in English will be translated to Chinese not just by a linguist, but by a software engineer who knows the software and has used it, and who also is an expert in the English to Chinese language pair. The result is not just word-for-word translation, but a translation that does not leave any margin of error of misinterpretation for a highly technical subject matter. Read more…
Language is primarily used to make meaningful interactions feasible. The more complex the message that a person needs to express, the more necessary it is to use a structured communication system. Read more…
To participate in the global economic field is among the most ambitious aspirations of many businesses. Being able to penetrate the international market signifies that a business has grown bigger and is ready for the challenges associated with globalization.
While many of us perceive globalization solely as the process of preparing a product for a multicultural market without putting much emphasis on language-specific content (internationalization), it actually involves another integral phase called localization. Read more…
Localization is the second and larger process of language translation. A localization strategy involves cultural adaptation and peculiar dialect-based translation. It also involves subject-matter expertise, such that, not only top-calibre linguists provide the translation, they also have worked from the industry and have first-hand expertise of the subject they are translating for. Read more…
A website is among the best ways to reach a global market. That is, if any business wants to conquer geographic boundaries and service the world, such an internet presence will be most helpful. Read more…
With regards to dermatoglyphics, we also realise why some people are so good with words, others are good in athletics. These abilities are inborn, since the day we were fetuses in our mothers’ womb. However having those kinds of qualities do not necessarily translate you into a genius in those areas. One must still have a nurturing environment to help you develop those qualities.
Back to translation. For those who are learning a third language, it is also important to immerse yourself into that environment so that you can pick it up faster. Non-native linguists who stay for long in a country would tend to understand even the localised terms. A language comes together with the culture. Thus building language bridges would allow one to build culture bridges as well!
I must say…reading Og Mandino’s book entitled “The Greatest Salesman in the World Part II The End of the Story” is very addictive. Again, this books has sold millions copies till date and been translated into several other languages.
In this book, Og featured The Ten Vows of Success. The subject title belongs to the Fifth Vow. Og explained each Vow in such simplicity that it is easily understood by the readers. I truly believe whoever reads it will benefit tremendously from his knowledge.
In this Vow, I have learnt that “Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve my performance the next time”. And never will I allow “The fear of adversity leading to failure casts a terrible shadow on all the days of our life”. This is because “Experience is the most valuable extract of suffering and yet one of the terrible conditions of this life is that its wisdom cannot be transferred to another.”
“I understand, for the first time, how swiftly all deeds and events, good and bad, large and small, pass on and are no more, the works of man as well as the works of nature.” I can only be stronger through my experience as “All things in life are not only in a constant state of change but they are the cause of constant and infinite change in each other.”
I will take accountability for all bad events that happen to me. Never will I shift the responsibility to others. I will become the best that I can be from each learning experience. Always will I seek the seed of truimph in every adversity.
As the saying goes…”Whatever happens, happens for a reason”
After I have read Paulo Coelho’s The Fifth Mountain, I continue to read his another book entitled “Like the Flowing River”. This is a collection
of reflections from Paulo Coelho. In this riveting collection of thoughts and stories, he offers his personal reflections on a wide range of subjects from archery and music to elegance, travelling and the nature of good and evil.
What actually caught my attention is when I read a particular short story on “The Other Side of the Tower of Babel”. In this story, he pays his respect to the Holy Translator, Saint Mesrob. Below is an extract of what Paulo had wrote and it best summarize the importance of a good book translator:
“Today is 9 October, 2004. The town is called Oshakan, and Armenia, as far as I know, is the only place in the world that has declared the day of the Holy Translator, St. Mesrob, a national holiday and where they celebrate it in style. As well as creating the Armenian alphabet (the language already existed, but only in spoken form). St Mesrob devoted his life to translating into his mother tongue the most important texts of the period, which were written in Greek, Persian or Cyrillic. He and his disciples devoted themselves to the enormous task of translating the Bible and the main literary classics of the time. From that moment on, the country’s culture gained its own identity, which it has maintained to this day.
The Holy Translator. I hold the flower in my hands and think of all the people I have never met, and perhaps may never have the opportunity to meet, but who, at this moment, have my books in their hands, and are doing their best tremain faithful to what I have tried to share with my readers. I think, above all, of my father-in-law, Christiano Monteiro Oiticica (profession: translator), who is today in the company of angels and of St. Mesrob, watching this scene. I remember seeing him hunched over his old typewriter, often complaining about how badly paid translation was (and, alas, still is). He would immediately go on, though, to explain that the real reason he translated was because he wanted to share a knowledge, which, but for translators, would never reach his own people.
I say a silent prayer for him, for all those who have helped me with my books, and for those who have allowed me to read books to which I would never otherwise have had access, thus helping – anonymously – to shape my life and my character. When I leave the church, I see some children writing the alphabet with sweets in the shape of letters and with flowers and more flowers.
When man grew ambitious, God destroyed the Tower of Babel, and everyone began to speak different tongues. However, in His infinite grace, he also created people to rebuild those bridges, to enable dialogue and the diffusion of human thought. This person, whose name we rarely take the trouble to notice when we open a foreign book, is the translator.”
The above extract has touched my heart when I read it. In this commercial world, some people has failed to comprehend the importance of translation. They fail to understand that a translator takes much effort and time to produce a good translation work. My kudos to those professional translators in the world. Thanks for being the Bridge Across Cultures in this world!
In order to be always improving ourselves, we need to read. I once heard from a friend who’s father is a translator, that they have shelves and shelves of books at home for his translation purposes. Not only do we have to be good in the source language, we also have to apt in the target language.
Thus I was actively searching throughout the internet, trying to find out what kinds of books to read, and I stumbled upon this.
It will not serve as a theoretical book to how you can translate your work, but it is a beginning to your work interest.
Of course once again not only do we need to take into account being a linguist, we also need to remember to localise the language to the specific area to which you are translating for.
A starter for your meal, I might say…