Translation: The Challenges, Frustrations & What I Love
By Lori Hetherington. Published in Open Doors Issue N. 4 June 2023.
Translators enjoy jokes about their profession. How does a freelance translator de- fine ‘weekend’? Two working days till Monday. Or this one: I’m a translator and yes, I do like meeting people. I’ve even been to a party. Once.
There’s truth in both of these, and of course also exaggeration, but more than any- thing I would say that translators are a misunderstood lot. In the eyes of some people, what we do seems a sort of magic, while for others it’s hard to fathom why we take so long to craft a translation.
Let’s start with the magic. Which is not really magic at all.
It’s a matter of taking a text, let’s say a novel, in one language and turning it into the same plot and characters evoking similar emotions and mental images with similar significance but in a different language. This is what we aim for in literature; in tech- nical translation the aim is to convey the information in the most precise and acces- sible form possible. A translator doesn’t just take the words on the page and convert them into equivalent words in another language. That’s what Google translate does, and it may work for the brief email you need to send to a business owner in Nepal but online translation platforms—for now—aren’t able to perceive how one text is read, understood and reacted to in the original language and then choose combinations of words in another language that will most likely recreate that experience for a reader who approaches the text from a different cultural perspective and context. Culture and context are key for successful translation, and artificial intelligence struggles with such nuanced and highly variable elements.
Now, that doesn’t mean that AI is the devil when it comes to translating a piece of literature or other text. Machine translation can help a human translator by propos- ing solutions that they might not have considered, both in terms of word choice and syntax. Machine translation is also frequently combined with human post-editing: the computer generates an initial translation which the translator then adjusts and corrects to produce a fluent and effective final version. However, when it comes to
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interpreting the intended message of a text and recreating something that is as close as possible to it in another language and culture, a skilled human translator is what you want. Especially one who intimately understands the culture and context of both the source and target languages.
Something I’ve discovered few people know is that translators generally work to- ward their mother tongue. So, for example, I was born in the US and lived there until I was in my mid 20s; I translate from Italian into English. I rarely work in the opposite direction, even though I’ve been a resident of Italy for more than thirty-five years. If I do, I always work with a mother-tongue Italian translator and/or editor. The reason for this is that a native speaker has greater command of the nuances and syntax of their first language and can most probably turn out a more refined and well-crafted text. Comprehension is passive; writing is active.
There are examples of authors and translators writing in a language different from their own—consider Jhumpa Lahiri. She has received acclaim for books she’s written in her most recently adopted language (Italian) after having won a Pulitzer Prize for her short story collection The Interpreter of Maladies. She’s even self-translated one of her Italian books into English, although Lahiri’s books written in English and translated into Italian are the work of others. It’s important to point out that this sort of linguistic fluidity is unusual, although there are many translators who work from a variety of languages toward their native tongue. For example, a friend of mine trans- lates into English from Italian, French and Russian: she grew up in Italy and France with a polyglot mother and a Russian grandmother. I asked her once if she works with different languages simultaneously. “Yes, in fact I’m doing that right now: I’m translating one book from Italian in the morning, and another from French in the afternoon.” A translator’s output is what’s important, the source may be more flexible.
There are various paths to becoming a translator but one thing is certain: just be- cause a person knows a language, doesn’t mean they can translate it. I’m a univer- sity-educated American but I’m incapable of accurately translating legal contracts or philosophical treatises, and I won’t even try! Some translators approach the pro- fession via formal education with university degrees or certification in translation while others become translators in roundabout ways through other life experiences. In either case, a translator needs to be a keen reader, a creative thinker, and a skilled writer.
Most professional translators have areas of specialization, especially in terms of tech- nical or literary translations. For instance, a translator often deals with topics they’re familiar with and/or literary genres they enjoy reading for pleasure. In my case, my university degree is in physical and environmental geography for which I studied a broad range of scientific subjects: I often translate scientific texts or edit scientific articles written in English by non-native speakers. Meanwhile, some translators learn about a topic through the translations they work on. For example, a colleague once
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told me she had translated instruction manuals for household appliances and as a re- sult knew quite a lot about troubleshooting for washing machines. When a repairman came to fix her washer she told him straight away and in technical terms what she believed the problem was. Much to the technician’s surprise, she was spot on.
Thanks to the internet, a translator can find information about almost any item or fragment of history, or go almost anywhere with street view. Before the 1990s, trans- lation was much more laborious and required a collection of bilingual dictionaries that each weighed the equivalent of three bricks and took up an exaggerated amount of space on a bookshelf and, once opened, on a desk. Fortunately, finding accurate information or images is much easier now, although I hate to think what conclusions someone might draw if they investigated the chronology on my pc. It’s not unusual for me to search for information about poisons (while translating a historical novel set during the time of the Borgias), cyber security and handguns (for a contemporary romantic suspense novel), the correct spelling of a contagious disease (for a research article), and fascism (for a historical mystery set in the 1930s).
Which brings me to why a translation of what might appear to be a brief text can occasionally take a very long time. In fact, one of the things a potential client can say if they want to really rub a translator the wrong way is, “Sono poche pagine. Cosa vuoi che sia?” In other words, just a few pages… it’s really nothing much. These words also contain subtext: “I expect to have the completed translation in hand quickly and to pay very little.”
What may appear to be a few written pages can require hours of research to find the precise terminology or to verify that you, the translator, understand what you’re writing about. A translation by a clueless translator is just as useless as one done by a person who doesn’t have the necessary linguistic skills. Another stick in the wheel (to translate literally from an Italian expression) can be that the style of the original may clash with stylistic guidelines in the target language. Consider the value placed in many fields on writing concisely and contrast it with the apparent love of wordiness in certain spheres of Italian culture. Sometimes the translator has to work their way through convoluted sentences and paragraphs before even starting the translation. It’s something like clearing a plot of land overgrown with nasty brambles before fur- rowing the soil and planting a vegetable garden.
And what about that vision of the lonely translator, hunched over their keyboard, piles of books and papers scattered on the desk alongside a plate with a dry, half-eaten sandwich? It’s accurate only some of the time. There are endless translators’ networks and close ties between colleagues: if you’re stuck, there’s virtually always someone else who’s resolved a similar problem and most likely they’re willing to help.
Unfortunately, though, the support of colleagues can’t change a tight deadline: a translator’s nightmare and one that many professionals are haunted by on a daily
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basis. Since what’s involved in translation is often misunderstood, people who com- mission translations sometimes neglect to plan adequately in order to allow enough time for the translator to do their best work. Translators are humans too, and we need weekends to relax with friends and family and sometimes evenings to binge watch a series on Netflix.
There was a meme going around a couple of years ago. It showed six individuals standing on a beach, each in a swimsuit with the caption, ‘tan lines from typical sum- mer activities.’ The tennis player had a tan line on her upper thighs and upper arms. The rollerblader had easily recognizable tan lines from knee and elbow protection. The translator was white all over, without a tan line in sight.
To understand the meme, take a moment to really ponder all the places words trans- lated from another language can be found and reflect on the fact that someone direct- ly (or indirectly in the case of machine translation with human post-editing) shaped them. News bureaus, product packaging, international insurance companies, airline safety guidelines, intelligence services, sports federations, the entertainment industry, car makers, marketing agencies, refugee and migrant support organizations, research entities, government agencies, pharmaceutical companies, international courts and legal services, producers of electronics, publishing houses, and any website that is available in more than one language. This list could go on and on. By looking at trans- lators and our work from this perspective, it’s possible to see how critical our role is in the current global context. We are the invisible players who bridge the gaps.
One of the aspects I love about my profession is that there is no right or wrong way to translate a text. One version may be deemed more efficient or more reflective of the style of the original, but what I write in the target language is the result of my inter- pretation, of my understanding of the intended audience, and of the moment in time in which I sit down to work. I’m on cloud nine when my fingers tingle as they hover over the keyboard and the words begin to sing, but there are also days when my gut tells me that I’m missing the mark. And that can be remedied by thorough revision. What I really love, though, is knowing that what I turn out will touch someone else in some way, perhaps evoking emotions or simplifying some aspect of their life, that through the words I write I’m bringing people closer together.
A translation is elastic and dynamic and can always change and still be right, and that’s why there are often multiple translations of classic works of literature. And also why publishers, authors, and businesses frequently ask a translator to provide a sam- ple before awarding a contract. It’s important to find the right fit, like a pair of gloves. When you put them on, your hands look different on the outside but on the inside nothing’s changed.
