| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: As translators and interpreters, do we play a role in language change? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "As translators and interpreters, do we play a role in language change?".
This poll was originally submitted by Simon Bruni. View the poll results »
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our attention to details can provide always a better or new "translation".
Moreover, I think that for "technical translators", this is not true, I mean: technical tools have a correspondence, and in most cases, that0s it. For those who translate books, maybe they can "transfer" expressions from one language into another language in such an appealing way to introduce these new expressions in the target language.
| | | | Interlangue (X)
Angola
Local time: 18:12
English to French
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I think we must do our best to preserve our language and pass it on as correctly as possible to the next generation but also accept its evolution and changes, possibly drive them, though not systematically.
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I'd like to answer yes, but I think both preserve the language (in some cases) and drive innovation (in other cases).
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keelin feeney 
Ireland
Local time: 17:12
Member (2007)
Spanish to English
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I think that we play a major role in language change as our translations will be read in future years and in other places. We have to preserve our language while letting it evolve. When we see a Hit for a "False Friend" in Google 17,000 times and the correct translation 250,000 times, we should go with the real translation for preservation purposes. At the same time, we have to keep up with the new terminology in technical areas and find the translation for the new "brand name" that the company ... See more I think that we play a major role in language change as our translations will be read in future years and in other places. We have to preserve our language while letting it evolve. When we see a Hit for a "False Friend" in Google 17,000 times and the correct translation 250,000 times, we should go with the real translation for preservation purposes. At the same time, we have to keep up with the new terminology in technical areas and find the translation for the new "brand name" that the company has just invented.
So we preserve, evolve and change language - very exciting really ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Just what I was going to say | Feb 25, 2010 |
Sophie Dzhygir wrote:
I'd like to answer yes, but I think both preserve the language (in some cases) and drive innovation (in other cases).
Words are not just words - they have connotations, shades of meaning that vary from one context to another, or gain and lose importance. The words we choose in the target language colour the way our readers and listeners think about what was said in the source language. Maybe only tiny drops in a river, but the rain is dripping slowly here today, the snow is melting, and there is certainly a lot of water trickling down to the sea!
We have to think about those Google hits... and help to tip the statistics in the right direction!
I´m not sure we are supposed to be explosively innovative, but when the source text is innovative, then the translator needs to find an equivalent somehow!
Happy tranlsating!
| | | | | Introduction of English words into Italian | Feb 25, 2010 |
This is an interesting poll because I am about to start writing a dissertation for my MA about the introduction of English words into Italian through translation. My theory is that original Italian documents do not contain nearly as many words in English as translations from English into Italian and so it is through translation that so many English words are entering the Italian language. Obviously this occurs in some sectors more than others, for example the business and management sectors, m... See more This is an interesting poll because I am about to start writing a dissertation for my MA about the introduction of English words into Italian through translation. My theory is that original Italian documents do not contain nearly as many words in English as translations from English into Italian and so it is through translation that so many English words are entering the Italian language. Obviously this occurs in some sectors more than others, for example the business and management sectors, marketing, etc (all by the way are words which are commonly used in Italian today - in fact I wouldn't even know the proper Italian word for marketing if they have one at all!)
So the implications of never having devised a new word for this concept or instead of having constantly used the English word means that foreigners do not learn the proper word in Italian, the new generation of Italians will not know the word and therefore in some way translation has affected and changed the language. From my Quality Assurance checks of documents translated into Portuguese, Spanish and French, it's interesting to see that Portuguese and French aim to translate most words, even new concepts, Spanish translates a good part of them, but Italian will leave anything it possibly can in English. I once asked an Italian translator why they had left so many words in English in a translation, particularly a technical word which was a fairly new concept but which most other languages had translated. His response was "I didn't know what it meant so I left it in English". Of course that is not always the case, but I just wonder how many times that has happened! It will certainly be an interesting research project for me.
I voted "so we need to preserve the language". I once read an article which said that in another 100 or 200 years we won't need all our various languages anymore. Everyone will just speak English. Well wouldn't that be awful! And when I hear 3 English words in an everyday Italian sentence, I get a bit worried...
In any case, I might be proven wrong after all the research is done for my dissertation! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I was missing an option for "all of the above" | Feb 25, 2010 |
I think the key is a good mixture. To preserve where possible, to innovate where necessary (especially if the English word involves a commonly known concept and the translation or rather explanation would go on and on) and at the same time watch closely how other people use language (google hits is a nice way to estimate acceptance/usage of a term....) so that we can use what has become accepted speech/language without souding weird or awkward.
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Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 19:12
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
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Birgit Gläser wrote:
I think the key is a good mixture. To preserve where possible, to innovate where necessary (especially if the English word involves a commonly known concept and the translation or rather explanation would go on and on) and at the same time watch closely how other people use language (google hits is a nice way to estimate acceptance/usage of a term....) so that we can use what has become accepted speech/language without souding weird or awkward.
| | | | Valeria Fuma
Argentina
Local time: 13:12
English to Spanish
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| options 1 and 2 | Feb 25, 2010 |
a combination of preservation and innovation
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As there are growing numbers of not-very-good translators, their efforts are increasingly helping to establish the genre of translationese (with the use of false friends, inappropriate literal translations, etc.), and the more of this there is on the internet, the greater the likelihood of it being used to justify and thus perpetuate existing dubious translations on the grounds of Ghit counts. This is something we need to guard against IMHO.
| | | | John Cutler
Spain
Local time: 18:12
Spanish to English
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Oliver Lawrence wrote:
As there are growing numbers of not-very-good translators, their efforts are increasingly helping to establish the genre of translationese (with the use of false friends, inappropriate literal translations, etc.), and the more of this there is on the internet, the greater the likelihood of it being used to justify and thus perpetuate existing dubious translations on the grounds of Ghit counts. This is something we need to guard against IMHO.
My thoughts exactly.
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Diego Carpio (X)
Argentina
Local time: 13:12
English to Spanish
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| Mostly innovate, preservation accomplishes by it self | Feb 25, 2010 |
It is my philosophy that linguists should keep and eye specially on the "evolution" of language. Well established language systems will preserve by themselves and, in time, proof ineffective by whatever reason. It is then, and only then, when innovation is needed, "and all the better when is leaded by those in the know".
| | | | Jon O (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:12
Dutch to English
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| surprising answers | Feb 25, 2010 |
I am frankly astonished to see so many translators claiming a 'yes' answer to this question, although it does seem as if some of the contributions have strayed somewhat from the original question.
The idea that we, as written translators, are agents of linguistic change is quite dubious in my view. Let's not forget, language is primarily a spoken activity, not a written one. Speech comes before writing and always has done. True linguistic change therefore happens at the level of speech. ... See more I am frankly astonished to see so many translators claiming a 'yes' answer to this question, although it does seem as if some of the contributions have strayed somewhat from the original question.
The idea that we, as written translators, are agents of linguistic change is quite dubious in my view. Let's not forget, language is primarily a spoken activity, not a written one. Speech comes before writing and always has done. True linguistic change therefore happens at the level of speech. Indeed, it happens constantly although changes may seem imperceptible over very short periods of time. These changes in speech, but not necessarily all of them, are then reflected in writing, often with some considerable time lag due to the relative conservatism of the written form.
To assert that translators themselves motors of linguistic change would seem to suggest the reverse of this scenario, namely that it is mostly changes in written language or at least the 'standard' languages which I assume most of us translate into and out of (and which are inherently more hostile and resistant to linguistic innovation) which lead to changes in speech. This is clearly not the case.
At most, we as translators may reflect linguistic change as changes in spoken language percolate with greater or lesser speed into the standard written forms we generally work in. That is as far as it goes. Let's not overestimate the significance of what we do. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Gianni Pastore
Italy
Local time: 18:12
Member (2007)
English to Italian
| I voted "no" | Feb 25, 2010 |
Jon O wrote:
At most, we as translators may reflect linguistic change as changes in spoken language percolate with greater or lesser speed into the standard written forms we generally work in. That is as far as it goes. Let's not overestimate the significance of what we do.
Agree with you. Translator's duty is to render at its best the meaning of the source text. How this should change or influence the target language escapes me, since there's hardly ground for neologism and the likes.
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