Defining translation as an art

I believe it is good for all of us that translation professionals everywhere state quite openly in their marketing material that translation is definitely not just a matter of replacing words with words, then they proceed to be quite vocal in explaining how this is the case.

To say the least, there is a number of common phenomena (linguistic, but also cultural) owing to which whole meanings and sensitivities get lost as a message is translated from one language to another. Sometimes it all lies in a single word - when translating something into English one has to be very careful not to write anything like "advertise to us" when it should read "advertise with us"! But this blog is not exclusively about that.

The "lost in translation" phenomenon is frequently a source of humour (if also embarrassment and even offence as well as confusion). Umberto Eco goes as far as to say that "translation is the art of failure". Personally, I can get a much better grip on the quote, "translation is the art of understanding", which I found stated by the user "pierlucx" on the Traduguide website - and although I agree totally, I have to say that it is far from exclusively that. It's also the art of being coherent. For example, in one of my other blogs I pose the challenge: "define common sense" (by which I meant a dictionary definition - without resorting to subjective opinion or anecdotes or anything like that!). Today I define it as "attitudes and policies that unconditionally and undeniably exist for the sake of best interests, a priori."

But even educated people are not that unlikely to underestimate the challenges that come with professional translation sometimes. Depending on the materal being translated in a given translation task, the translator is required to be not only a true master of two languages (both the language being translated into and the language being translated from) but also an expert in the subject matter. Imagine reading an article about a particular, convoluted subject matter (let's say politics or science) that was written by someone who knows little or nothing about that subject matter. Even if it may be full of undeniably correct information technically, you just will agree that it lacks the impact of conviction it should possess - it will strike you whether you are an expert in the field or not. If I may digress: can you see from this how important it is that a translator be a good writer in general?

It's like listening to a guy with the naïvety of Peter Pan insisting that he is not a misogynist. Chances are that it is true - but then you couldn't expect him to understand the true nature of misogyny, could you? Of course, you don't feel inclined to accuse him of anything, because of that feeling of... humility? Sympathy?

They say the best things in life are free. Happiness, love, friendship... etc. etc. Well isn't it just a shame that understanding, a concept which just seems so easy for one to view as having those kinds of parallels, is not. I can already witness one reading that statement and "seeing the light", waking up, losing naïvety.

...I wish you happy days.