Should translations be done exclusively by native speakers of the target (“into”) language? This question has recently come up in several publications. The language industry and training programs in the US predominantly answer in the affirmative. I have speculated about some possible reasons for this attitude. A recent article in the American Translators Association (ATA)Continue reading “Shortcomings of (Untrained) Native Translators”
Category Archives: Translation Theory and Practice
Guilty By Association: When Idiomatic Translation Hurts Your Message
One of the benchmarks of a good translation is whether it sounds “natural” or “flows.” An important exception to this rule is when the “natural,” idiomatic expression has negative connotations in that language. Such cases may warrant a departure from the choices made in the original text.
Are Your Corporate Materials Localization-Ready?
US-headquartered corporations will often want to expand their operations overseas. At the same time, few of them internationalize their corporate communications and training materials. In other words, the original content was authored with the US in mind, and when the company decides to publish this content abroad — to localize it for other markets —Continue reading “Are Your Corporate Materials Localization-Ready?”
How Bad Is Translation Expansion in Russian (And How To Curb It)
Russian is supposed to expand greatly and wreak havoc on your user interface. But does it really expand that much?
Coding Approaches That Foil Russian Localization
When you are ready to take your app to international markets, certain assumptions that were made for English no longer work for the localized app. Here are three approaches that will make your app less functional and user-friendly in Russian.
Unquestioned Assumptions About Translation
Encountering translation both professionally and casually, as a consumer, I can’t help noticing certain assumptions on which people operate when ordering, evaluating, and sometimes even performing translation. I will list some of them here in the order of apparent complexity. In other words, while each subsequent attitude may look like a solution to the previousContinue reading “Unquestioned Assumptions About Translation”
Invisibility of Translator in Fiction
Translator invisibility is a recurring theme in translation studies. To summarize the issue, I will quote Lawrence Venuti’s famous book on the subject: A translated text, whether prose or poetry, fiction or nonfiction, is judged acceptable by most publishers, reviewers, and readers when it reads fluently, when the absence of any linguistic or stylistic peculiaritiesContinue reading “Invisibility of Translator in Fiction”
Maria Guzenko 