Language is the main bridge to communication. Knowing or understanding the meaning of a language is not enough. A good translator should know the culture, the history and the beliefs of the native speaker of that language. Not to mention the fluency and mastery level of both languages. There are many challenges and difficulties in translation. Do you want to know more? Keep on reading, fellas.
The main stem of difficulties in translation is the fact that there are many words that have multiple meaning. Due to this fact, one should really understand the meaning of the words and know the proper use of the words wisely. And also, that is why translation word for word is not acceptable.
A friend from Holland had this following true experience. He was a Dutchman and wanted to have a haircut on his trip in France. He knew some French, however he tried to tell the female hairdresser that he’d like to have a part in his hair. The thing is, he knew the Dutch word for “a part in my hair”, and translated it to French in the only way that he could think of. He concluded that the French word did not represent the real meaning of the Dutch when the female hairdresser said, “But, Monsieur, we’re not even married”.
The second difficulty in translation is language structure. Every language has their-own unique structure. The structure of one language directly related to the difficulty of translating that language to another language, and vice versa. English simple sentence consists of a subject, followed by a verb and an object. While in Persian, it is composed of a subject, an object, and finally a verb. On the other hand, in language like Arabic, the subject pronoun is a part of the verb, so there is no independent subject on it. Not to mention the verb differentiates the masculine or feminine pronoun the perspective of the subject.
The third point of difficulties in translation is idioms and expressions. Idiomatic expression is one of the things Google Translate can’t do (ups, sorry). Even people who are not familiar with the language may take it by confused. Some idioms are misleading, as they seem transparent because of the possible literal interpretation. But somehow, the idiomatic meaning are not necessarily signaled the surrounding words. For instance, “give it a shot” means to try, and not giving any shot to any body.
Now that you know the main difficulties in translation, don’t let yourself tricked into one. Know the whole aspect of a language before you translated one. Anyway, just incase you are curious about the previous story, “a part in your hair” in French means divorce. See how mastering languages before translating is essential? Good luck!
The main stem of difficulties in translation is the fact that there are many words that have multiple meaning. Due to this fact, one should really understand the meaning of the words and know the proper use of the words wisely. And also, that is why translation word for word is not acceptable.
A friend from Holland had this following true experience. He was a Dutchman and wanted to have a haircut on his trip in France. He knew some French, however he tried to tell the female hairdresser that he’d like to have a part in his hair. The thing is, he knew the Dutch word for “a part in my hair”, and translated it to French in the only way that he could think of. He concluded that the French word did not represent the real meaning of the Dutch when the female hairdresser said, “But, Monsieur, we’re not even married”.
The second difficulty in translation is language structure. Every language has their-own unique structure. The structure of one language directly related to the difficulty of translating that language to another language, and vice versa. English simple sentence consists of a subject, followed by a verb and an object. While in Persian, it is composed of a subject, an object, and finally a verb. On the other hand, in language like Arabic, the subject pronoun is a part of the verb, so there is no independent subject on it. Not to mention the verb differentiates the masculine or feminine pronoun the perspective of the subject.
The third point of difficulties in translation is idioms and expressions. Idiomatic expression is one of the things Google Translate can’t do (ups, sorry). Even people who are not familiar with the language may take it by confused. Some idioms are misleading, as they seem transparent because of the possible literal interpretation. But somehow, the idiomatic meaning are not necessarily signaled the surrounding words. For instance, “give it a shot” means to try, and not giving any shot to any body.
Now that you know the main difficulties in translation, don’t let yourself tricked into one. Know the whole aspect of a language before you translated one. Anyway, just incase you are curious about the previous story, “a part in your hair” in French means divorce. See how mastering languages before translating is essential? Good luck!
Challenges and Difficulties in Translation
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