Topic 1. Translator’s activity

1.1. Profession of Translator

In the profession of translation two types of translators/interpreters –free-lance and in-house ones work. It is a very specific profession, and the people involved in it, both would-be translators and those who work with translators are often interested in how to survive, how to know the criteria of a good translator.

A translator converts written material, such as newspaper and magazine articles, books, manuals, documents, etc., from one language into another. This is not to be confused with an interpreter, who converts spoken material, such as speeches, presentations, depositions and the like, from one language into another. Although there is some vague connection between the two abilities: translators cannot necessarily interpret, nor can interpreters necessarily translate. Moreover, the best translators are not good interpreters and likewise, truly great interpreters are not much for translation. And while many professional training programs require interpreters to develop some skill in translation, professionally trained translators often have no exposure to the skills of interpretation. Four psychological groups of people – sanguines, melancholics, phlegmatics and cholerics – perform in different way depending on their psychological type and knowing this they are more inclined either to translation or interpretation. The most neutral and reserved, balanced and moderately emotional is a sanguine person, able to work in both translation and interpretation. Melancholic and phlegmatic persons, being excessively tranquil and immovable, might make their oral presentation a bit dull and monotonous, though in translation they can show the best of their skills. Cholerics, on the contrary, might undeliberately jesticulate too much, lose control of their voice and body language and make interpretation too noisy and emotional.

We’ll also use the following words in this book. Source text or language will refer to the language which the material first appears in. Target text and language refer to the language that the material is translated into.

1.2. Bilingualism

Translator speaks his native language(s) and some non-native languages. In our case English is the one which the translator can speak, read, and write virtually as a native speaker does. German is the one which the translator can read and understand like a native, but does not necessarily speak or write so well. For instance, Russian and Ukrainian are our native languages. English and German are our non-native languages.

A good translator is by definition a bilingual person. However, the opposite is not necessarily true. A born and bred bilingual will still need two things to become a translator. First, the skills and experience necessary for translation and second, the knowledge of the field in which he or she will translate.

The skills and experience for translation include the ability to write well in the target language, the ability to read and understand the source language material very well, and the ability to work with the latest word-processing and communications hardware and software.

This brings up the question: does a born and bred bilingual makes a better translator than someone who learned the non-native language later in life? There is no definite answer, but the following issues are important. First, a born and bred bilingual often suffers from not truly knowing any language well enough to translate. Second, born and bred bilinguals often don’t know the culture of the target language well enough. And last, they often lack the analytical linguistic skills to work through a sticky text.

However, the acquired bilingual might not have the same in-depth knowledge of slang, colloquialisms, and dialect that the true bilingual has. As well, the acquired bilingual will not be able to translate as readily in both directions. Finally, true bilinguals often have a greater appreciation of the subtleties and nuances of both their languages than someone who learns their non-native language later in life can ever hope to have.