The dangers of translation

Below is an article worth keeping for reference in case you need to do any translation
THE STAR'S MIND OUR ENGLISH Wednesday October 3, 2007
The dangers of translation
I’M writing in response to the articles From Malay to English (Aug 30), It’s a Malaysian thing (Sept 7) and Better translation (Sept 26).
I have to agree with J (It’s a Malaysian thing) that for the sentence “Comelnya kucing tu! Geram aku tengok!”, a better translation would be “That cat is so adorable!” rather than the more direct or literal translation provided by Fadzilah Amin – “That cat is so cute! I just love to see it!”.
One of the main requirements in any translation work is that the translation (the finished product) must sound natural. Students enrolled on the three-year translation programme at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) are constantly reminded of this.
However, based on my own experience correcting translations made by students, I find that many have the tendency to translate in a literal manner. When translating from Malay to English or vice versa, they tend to replace the individual words in the source language with individual words in the target language as much as possible, sometimes without even taking into consideration the meaning of the sentence as a whole.
Students often say that they do so because they prefer to be faithful to the original. This sometimes results in translation which sounds unnatural and strange.
In my own translation class, I often give the following examples to illustrate the difference between a natural translation and one that sounds unnatural.
The French sentence “Défense de marcher sur le gazon” can be translated literally as “It is prohibited to walk on the turf” (défense = prohibited, marcher = walk, sur = on, le gazon = turf). The translation given tries to follow the word order of the original, and although the translation makes sense and can easily be understood, it does not sound natural in English.
A more natural expression would be “Keep off the grass”, which is a perfectly valid and acceptable English translation despite the fact that it does not follow the word order of the original sentence.
Another example is the German expression “Frisch angestrichen”, which can be translated literally as “Freshly painted” (frisch = freshly, angestrichen = painted). Again, this would sound rather stilted. A more commonly accepted phrase in English would simply be “Wet paint”.
In the field of translation, we call unnatural and strange-sounding language that is inadvertently produced in the course of translating from one language into another ‘translationese’.
This happens when a translator uses a literal approach in translating. The literal approach is also known as form-based translation, where the translator focuses on retaining the form of the original sentence.
To produce a more natural-sounding translation, translators should opt for what is known as communicative translation, also known as idiomatic translation or meaning-based translation, where the emphasis is on retaining the message, not the form.
A good example of meaning-based translation would be the sign many people using the Penang Bridge would have noticed. The sign says “Keep your distance” and the translation provided is “Jarakkan Kenderaan Anda”. In this case, the translation is indeed faithful to the original in terms of meaning, although not in terms of form.
Another important factor in producing a natural translation would be the human factor. Many translation scholars would agree that a translator must always translate into his/her language of habitual use. In the field of translation, this is known as “inbound translation”.
A translator who translates from a second language into his/her mother tongue would normally be able to translate naturally and would be able to produce a natural-sounding translation.
“Outbound translation” is when a translator translates from his/her mother tongue into a second language. This is often not recommended, and if it has to be done at all, the final draft of the translation should ideally be read by a reviewer who must go through the translation without recourse to the original text. This is to ensure that the translation communicates clearly, and that it sounds natural.
The following sentences demonstrate the danger of not taking the right approach. I have no idea what the original sentences are or whether they are indeed translations but if they really are, I suspect they must have been translated from the original language into English in a very literal manner, most probably by someone who is not a native speaker of English.
Seen in a Belgrade hotel elevator: To move the cabin, push button of wishing floor. If cabin should enter more persons, each one should press number of wishing floor.
Seen in an Austrian hotel catering to skiers: Not to perambulate the corridors in the hours of repose in the boots of ascension.
Seen on a slippery-when-wet sign, Beijing: TO TAKE NOTICE OF SAFE: THE SLIPPERY ARE VERY CRAFTY.
And my personal favourite has got to be the following:
Seen in a car rental brochure, Tokyo: WHEN PASSENGER OF FOOT HEAVE IN SIGHT, TOOTLE THE HORN. TRUMPET HIM MELODIOUSLY AT FIRST, BUT IF HE STILL OBSTACLES YOUR PASSAGE THEN TOOTLE HIM WITH VIGOUR.
– Dr Haslina Haroon, Translation and Interpretation Section, School of Humanities, USM, Penang