Translation Issues
4-97 (December 1997)
by Ingrid Fuckner
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Translation Issues
4-97 (December 1997)
by Ingrid Fuckner |
I am a chemist and earn my living by writing German versions of English manuals, just as my colleague Dr. Annegret Zimmermann does (she wrote "What a technical translator can do for you".
My English at its best is only average. In fact: my English was much better when I was a student of chemistry. Since the time I have started working as a technical translator I have forgotten a lot of it. Nevertheless, my clients like my manuals very much. How does this happen?
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When I started working as a technical translator I was just a physical chemist intensely interested in technology who had quite good English. Since then I have concentrated on improving my knowledge of science and technology as well as the psychology of learning, didactics and European regulations. My English unfortunately diminishes. My effort in further education focuses on the topics of the manuals -- improving my English is only of subordinate status. Most important is increasing my specialist vocabulary.
My mediocre English doesn't matter because my clients don't want a translation as faithful as possible to the original, including the style, but they do want a perfect translation of information!
So, if I don't understand an instruction in the original text, I try to find out what it means by using my specialist literature rather than my dictionaries, because science is the same in all languages of all nations and I am curious and want to know everything!
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During translating the text, you can not help to notice any ambiguities, errors, etc., in the original manual. These discrepancies are returned to the client and are used for improving the german manual as well as the original one. So my work also has the function of quality control.
After understanding the topic I rewrite the text in my own words. Doing this I keep in mind that I am writing for a German reader.
In this context let me tell you about a very interesting experiment at Forum 95 in Dortmund, Germany. One topic was explained using the same words in two different formulations. The amazing result: native English speakers preferred a different version than German readers.
An English text that is easily understood by an English reader may be scarcely comprehensible to a German reader. In fact, missing the cultural differences in translations may cause a lot of trouble: the text may become ambiguous and unclear.
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The qualifications of an English user and a German user can differ considerably. At least from this point of view a good translation stops simply being a "translation" and starts developing its own life! Then I stop being a translator and start being a communicator.
I think this is most important for my work, because I see myself as some sort of teacher and try to make learning and understanding as easy as possible for my readers. My work as a technical communicator differs not much from what I did in the university: writing instructions for other students.
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I do not simply translate the original texts, but I rewrite the manual in German (my mother-tongue), keeping the information of the original. I use a version of controlled German, easy-to-understand and adapted to the target group. Since I have started working as a technical communicator I have improved my German and it is now a more precise language.
The main thing in getting a good translation is not only understanding the original language, but also understanding the information in the text and then transforming it into the target language.
Now you know why I enjoy my work as a technical communicator --
even if I "only" translate texts.
Sometimes I hear other technical translators complain that their work is quite boring.
I never feel like this.
Therefore I encourage my colleagues to develop their work to what they want it to be:
a varied and interesting activity, where every new assignment stands for a challenge.
"transline Deutschland - Übersetzungsdienst für technische Übersetzung"