Jun 24, 2020

Vocabulary Equivalence :Things You Need to Know

So, what is vocabulary equivalence that will bother you sometimes? For those who know English well, they will get disturbed easily whenever they hear people talk – so English – but totally wrong indeed! English is not just you translating word per word to and/or from other languages. It is more about the context where about the situation or topic takes place.

Vocabulary Equivalence

So, to give better understanding and right information given, you should know more words or vocabulary equivalence to the targeted words. And to give better implementation, here will be given some examples of the cases.

Brief Things You Need to Know


When you like vanilla cake and sundae ice cream, then you probably will say that you love both equally. And it means that you will treat them as equivalence. It may be only you that treat them like that. And others may not do like what you do.

So, basically, the word equivalence shows the state of two things being equal which can be interchangeable. In math, the equivalence comes up with the equal sign. And for the other occasions, you can see where the doctor may cure you with some alternative medicines that can solve your health problems.

To state to say the antonym of vocabulary equivalence is nonequivalence or not interchangeable. It has synonym such as par, equality and equation. In sport, it has meaning the same with deuce such as in the badminton, tennis and table tennis also.

Or, you can also say the word ‘tie’ to express the equivalence meaning. In the case of comparable, equivalence is the same with likeness and similitude.

Challenge Yourself


Do you know the equivalence of these words?

1. Twice

2. Sleep

3. Beautiful

4. Diligent

5. To Dust

6. To Write

7. To Play

8. To Study

9. To Love

10. Tricky

The answers for above words are:

1. Two times

2. Snooze, Nap, Kip, Slumber

3. Pretty, Cute, Lovely

4. Constant, Laborious, Tireless,

5. To clean, To brush, To Sweep, To Mop

6. To Jot Down, To Mark Down, To list

7. To Entertain, To Amuse, To Have Good Time

8. To read, To learn, To work

9. To be passionate about, be in love with

10. Delicate, Ticklish, Awkward

By knowing the vocabulary equivalence, it means you have more glossaries and synonyms. It can’t be the antonym because you need to seek for something that is equal to a word you mention or want to express later. And, by doing this, you can be smarter and know better in the future. This will make you gain more points in order to get better benefits.

Read also : Translation Study : Process of transferring the meaning into the receptor language text

Jun 16, 2020

Translation Mistakes In Advertising

Hi! What makes you laugh whenever you walk out into street and watch some English words written mistakenly? It happens a lot when you go to the restaurants or cafes. The situations might go like these: The owners may request some jargon verbally into the advertisement companies or agencies. But the mistakes happen or occur in the writers or publishers.

translation mistake in advertising


It literally can be just an error. Or it is totally mistake made. So, generally we can say it is unconsciousness mistake ever made or it is totally human error double mistake.

Let’s see the examples:

- The jargon of a bakery: Fresh from the open

- The menu lists:

Ø Orenje Juice : Should be Orange Juice

Ø Friends Fresh : Should be French Fries

- Wrong translated branding sentence:

Ø KFC’s “finger licking good” into “eat your fingers off” in China

So, all the translation mistakes in advertising is back to the misunderstanding of the context. It is why when someone is trusted to translate the words, they should look thoroughly and wider concept where it will be announced or published.

Read Also 3 Types of Ambiguity In Translation and Ways to Handle the Issue. Be Aware!!

It will be disadvantage both financially and on the market’s trust if the companies have to take back the products suddenly from the markets. It has big loss for all.

So, how to avoid those mistakes??

1. Don’t use translation tool

It only will lead you to incorrectness. The tool only show you one to one word translation which it will not give more contextual translation. If you only use this kind of method, you will be misleading. The solution is you can just use the simplest and clearest words to represent your products.

2. Don’t assume all native speakers are good translators

It is true that they speak English very well. But, they know little about contexts you want. The contexts are not only about the places but also the characteristics of the people, the situations, the traditions, the times, and more. And mostly the natives do not study long time about the grammatical English. So, why don’t you try to find English speaking translators from other countries also to compare the work.

3. Give clearest information to your translators

It can be your mistakes too for not giving enough information to the translators that make translation mistakes in advertising. By not having enough source of information, your translators will not be able to give broader and more understandable context of the translation.

 Read Translation Gone Wrong (Funny Translation Mistakes)

Writing for Translation: 3 Expert Tips to Avoid Translate Ambiguous

Translate ambiguous could happen and it even almost always happens in every translation. And
when it comes to business document translation, it could be really annoying. It is not only about the
translation of business documents but also almost in every translation that requires certain technical
language especially if you translate about something cultural. In order to avoid the common mistakes
that could lead to ambiguous thing, we are going to show you about the general guidelines on writing
for translation. Check this out.

1. Keep it brief

Translate ambiguous is commonly happened when you use more than 20 words in a sentence. It is
important to keep the sentence brief because it can increase the comprehension. Other than that, you
can make it as the simpler translation too. Short and brief sentences boost the readability for real. If
you are not sure about it yet, you can read what you write in loud voice so you can decide what
should and should not be written.


Avoid Translate Ambiguous

2. Use the Standard English word order (if possible)

The standard word is generally consisted of subject, verb, and object. You can use the modifiers in
front of each. But you also have to make sure that the sentence is right based on the structure of
grammatical and also the proper punctuation. You still need to check the basics since the mistakes
could travel across the target language or even the source. As the translator, it is common to find the
source errors and flag them. But it does not mean that it could replace the proofreading because you
have to avoid translate ambiguous.

3. Avoid the use of long noun strings

Translating is also about connecting one element to another. Those are often omitted from the noun
strings that require the reader to get the connection between each word. If you need to read a
sentence more than twice in order to understand it then there probably will be more complications after the texts are being translated into another language. And if this thing happens, the reader will
more likely find the misinterpretation than the real meaning. In most cases, the translation can be too
literal.
Misinterpreting or ambiguous is a common thing in translation world but you better stay away from
that. There are still many things that should be considered in writing for translation. Hopefully, those
three tips above can help you to avoid translate ambiguous.

Read also :

Jun 9, 2020

Translate Article Tips: How to be a Good Translator

Translate article is a writing job that requires writing skill and the ability to see the target market. But
of course you will be rewarded and highly satisfied with this job especially if you can bring the real
meaning of article you translated to your reader. There are many people who already succeeded in
being a writer especially the article translator. Some of them describe this job as a profession that
based on the experience and knowledge too. It also has the longest impact of the life of the translator
because once you are a translator then you will be very useful for you and other. But of course there
are stages that should be stepped until you finally become a well-experienced translator.
In this article we are going to give you several tips on how to be a good translator. It can be
implemented by you as the beginner, intermediate, or a review for the expert to translate article.
Check this out.
Translate Article Tips: How to be a Good Translator

Love the language

Translate article is about delivering the message of the writing to the reader. If you should translate an
article with French language, then you have to love the French too. In other hand, you should love
your own language and please do not stop in learning it.
Loving the language is not about how to speak to anyone you meet. Since you are a writer or a
translator, you need to learn about writing too. There will be several differences in speech language
and writing language.

There are certain situations that force you to use passive voice. Even though in some cases you are
not allowed to use passive voice, it is important to learn about. And if you already learn and study
about your language, it is better if you translate more into your language than foreign.

Read, listen, and learn

As a translator, you need to read many books to enrich your knowledge and reference. Other than
books, newspaper and any of them are recommended. To complete your study, you have to listen to
the radio, TV, and even talking to people so you will know how the target market around your living.
And if there is a workshop about writing or translating article, you should attend it. It will be a huge
value for you. Just remember that you can learn from everything around you even it is to translate
article.

Jun 5, 2020

3 Tips on Culture Translate and Translation based on Cultural Adaptation

Culture translate thing or something like cultural audit is commonly taking the place prior to translation in order to avoid the solution from different translators. By auditing or translating the cultural writings, it will be recommended to replace the expressions and idioms, metaphors from local, imagery, humor, and many more. And when you are doing the cultural audit, it needs to be adapted for any kinds of market.

Translation based on Cultural Adaptation


Most experienced translators are already able to adapt any expressions from local. And for your
information, even a content writer should be rich of cultural reference or at least they learn it since the beginning of their content writer career. There are several tips when you are going to do culture
translate. Check this out.

Recreating the material

As the translator, sometimes we found that the materials are just not matched with the target market.
And by that, you definitely need to recreate the material from zero and also rewrite it into the new one so it will be proper for the target market. Other than that, you probably will need style and brand
guides for the reference that will be useful for the translators.

Learning and adapting more

It is also a common case if one day you found materials that not creative enough in the content.
Meanwhile, you have to be creative so what you write is going to be read by the readers. This is why
the translators should learn and adapt more. If you do not do that, the translation companies or experienced translators are going to take your job. They can make the materials become very locally
without much adaptation but the culture translate thing always goes well.

Prepare the source content

Translators need the sources in order to write or translated a good article or writing. But of course it
should be adapted into the culture or local wisdom as well as the local target market. You could end
up with 5 or more sources that already adapted by others. And of course it will make your work much
easier since you do not have to translate and adapt all the materials. Preparing will save your time
and also your money. Insurance policy is a good topic for cultural audit. Preparing now will avoid
losing money in later. If you can write it, you better adapt it. Translation companies will ask higher cost for specialties in doing culture translate.

You can read also related information on culture translation at Cultural Problems in Translation and Brief Solutions or  Culture Role in Translation

Jun 4, 2020

Translation Gone Wrong (Funny Translation Mistakes)

People tend to think that translation is as easy as replacing a word with different word of another language. There are actually many ways of saying the same thing in different ways, making it more variable to say it. Therefore the chances of saying the wrong or unintended things are bigger, and also mean that the potential for comedy is huge.
Translation Gone Wrong (Funny Translation Mistakes)


Surprisingly, there are a lot of endless funny translation mistakes going on all over the world. You’d probably seen one already in places around you. As an Indonesian, I laughed a lot seeing these funny translation mistakes around me, or even when I travel to nearby Asian countries. Get yourself ready; here are some funniest translation mistakes!

A sign in Cocktail Lounge, Norway written “Ladies are requested not to have children in the bar”. It can have double meaning, yet very funny. Screwdriver sets in china is written, “Manicure set”. A sign in a China store said, “Please don’t touch yourself, let us help you try out. Thanks!” Moreover, a hotel in China wrote in the advertisement “We have good rooms, and the price is very cheap. Have three human lives and have four human lives, many human lives”

An airline ticket office in Copenhagen wrote “We take your bags and send them in all direction”, well I’m definitely not going to give them any of my bags. A traffic sign in China shows a hand holding a drink, with a big cross red on it; with the notes below “Do drunken driving”. In an Italian cemetery, they have some strict rules such as “Persons are prohibited from picking flowers from any but their own graves”. A translated board in China said, “All is not what a real value, you cannot through hard work and hard to get – Thomas Alva Edison”, and I wonder why I never heard this quote before.

A Vietnamese street sign said, “Please do not dumb here. Not dumb area here”, Oh God they’re not going to check our school score, are they? A bottle of homemade jam has writing on it, “Taste like Grandma”, with a creepy kid’s expression face. Is this a translation failure at all? And it turns out; translating to Welsh is harder than English because there’s a sign of “Bladder disease has returned” on cyclists dismount.

Sometimes good intentions are not enough. Those innocent ones can make hilarious results. So please, I’m begging you, think before you say. Or write. Or print. Just save yourself a pride, will you? Unless you want your sayings to be recruited in these funny translation mistakes, it’s a different story.


Read Also :

Jun 2, 2020

Direct Translation Problems


The purpose of language is to communicate, to give and gain some information related to the things
that may important or even only some things that common. Nevertheless, if it fails, it means the
language and its function cannot get the purposes. People will not know the idea or even ways to
communicate in the good ways. As result, it becomes a big responsibility and even an important role
as the translators to give the correct idea. Moreover, to tell the exact information, you have to be
careful and even to comprehend the idea while you are translating the sentences. As result, the
reader will get and believe to the things that you already told to them. Besides, it also means that you
are able to give the important purpose of language. Therefore, in this article I am going to inform you
some Direct Translation Problems that will help you to avoid them! Here they are!


Direct Translation

Language Structure

The first Direct Translation Problems that you are facing while you are doing the translation directly is language structure. Every language has a unique structure, and it becomes a special thing and even
challenging thing to do at one if you are translating the language to another language directly.
Moreover, the accuracy and simplicity of the translations become the essential thing to do. It means,
you have to be able to translate the language as simple as you can, especially to give the right idea of
the language. However, you also have to make sure that while you are translating directly you have to
be able to arrange the structure of the language perfectly. Hence, it will help the readers or even the
listeners to understand and comprehend the idea exactly.

Multiple Meaning

The second Direct Translation Problems that the translators face is multiple meaning. While they are
translating directly, not a few translator ever do and make this mistake. In addition, they are making
multiple meaning unconsciously. For examples, using the several meanings in one sentence, so it
sounds repeatedly and boring while the listeners or the readers hear and see your translations’
results. Therefore, it becomes essential for you to know some words that have multiple meanings;
such as, words that sound alike or usually known as homographic, homonyms, and homophones, and
some words that sound different or usually known as heterophonies or heteronyms.
Briefly, by knowing those Direct Translation Problems, it will help you to fix your mistakes that
probably done by you while you are translating directly. It will be good for you also to learn these
points in order to diminish the mistakes. Happy trying!

Jul 22, 2019

Syntactic Problems in Translations

Translation is a task that requires diligence and high carefulness. As a writer and translator, we have to be consistent in doing the job, especially in minimizing the mistakes that probably happen into the sentences. For examples, syntactically issues, grammatically issues, and other issues that the translator and writer have to be careful in doing their jobs; especially to create and give the true meaning. As result, it will help the readers to get the meaning and main idea of the writings that you have made. However, in the process of writing, you, as a translator may get the problems in doing your jobs, such as make Syntactic Problems in Translation. Hence, it becomes your responsibility to know some problems in order to minimize the mistakes. Here they are!
syntactic-problems-in-translations

Transitional Phrase

The first one that is probably do in the Syntactic Problems in Translation is transitional phrase. This thing is concerned in the logically sentences that is related to the transitional word and how you, as the translators, are able to link one word to another word effectively. Besides, you also have to make sure that the use of transitional words; such as, consequently, therefore, furthermore, are put in the correct position. For instance, “You watch the TV to close. Consequently, it will damage your sight.” In this example, the word of consequently is not needed because the readers are already knew the consequences of the problems, they also able to figure out that it will damage the sight if you watch the TV to close.

Wordiness

The second point that also mostly happen in the Syntactic Problems in Translation is wordiness. Wordiness is known as the most problems in syntactic that always happen to the translators. The tendency relates to the use of two until three words in the sentence. Sometimes, it also refers to the location that best to put the word in the sentences. It is used to help the readers to get the meaning of the sentences easily. Therefore, it will create the good communication among the writers and the readers, especially when the translators or the writers are able to minimize and even avoid the wordiness that is known as the source of mistakes that mostly done by the writers while they are translating or even constructing the sentences.

In conclusion, by knowing the lack of your structure in constructing the great sentences, you will be able to avoid the mistakes, especially Syntactic Problems in Translation. Transitional phrase and wordiness are popular problems that the writers or translators face while they are doing their jobs. So, find your mistakes and change it into the good one for your readers!

Read also Lingusitic Problem in Translation