How Does Language Variation Affect the Role of a Translator - Essay Example

How does language variation affect the role of a translator Introduction This essay unfolds important changes that have taken place amongst languagesof different origins. Several variations account for the difficulties faced by translators such as changes in the meaning and pronunciation of words, forms of expression of language that have become quite unnatural, change in spellings and grammar, structural problems in the source text and misunderstanding of figurative speech used in the language. These and other issues related are described in context with the role of a translator. In different parts of the world, we find people speaking at least one kind of language. Most people take an initiative and try to learn languages that do not belong to their own origin and go ahead with using them in their professional and everyday lives. Most of the Americans are known to speak English only, but they do keep knowledge of more than one dialect. All languages are incessantly undergoing a mode of change as we see the rise of globalization. The development of a standard language has been followed by diverse factors. Standard language can be defined as a language that calls for the use of permitted grammar and pronunciation. Our everyday language digresses from the standard language that results into a variation in the meaning and pronunciation of words. The Standard English of England is said to be derived from London English. A person is called cultivated and polite, in the United States, when he employs the use of Standard English in his language. Variation in language gives birth to expressions that are ungrammatical and substandard in nature and substance. A vocabulary change results into slang terms that keep getting worse every now and then (Eckert, 2000). Variation in language causes communication breakdown when sounds change. A person with an East Coast accent might get 'socks' upon asking for 'sacks' from a Chicago store. Variation becomes inevitable when change in language occurs. Language translation can be defined as a procedure in which two kinds of languages are involved. A source language which is provided as material that needs to surpass a communication barrier so as to be made understandable and therefore rewritten in a target language (Munday, 2001). The translation process is carried out by a professional translator. She/he is preferably a native speaker of the language that is required. After the completion of this task, the translator forwards the translated documents to an editor. The editor's job is to go through the documents thoroughly and check its content for any grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and the accuracy in the accent. The editor also holds the right to offer any suggestions; whether any changes are necessary and need to be made so that the document could become easier to read and understand. Then these documents need to be passed on for proof-reading and a process of consistent formatting (Rissamen, 1992). An ideal translation should be: Accurate, Natural and Communicative. The accuracy of a translation is meant by its ability to deliver, as closely as possible, the exact meaning that is lying in the source text. The change in language of the text should not be a hurdle for the message that is there and is waiting to be forwarded. The forms of expressions in the receptor language should be naturalistic and original in a very appropriate manner which is suitable to the type of text being translated (Holes, 1987). Lastly and most importantly, the translation should be communicative and articulate enough. It is meant to cover all the aspects of the meanings and convey the correct message that is hidden inside the text. The intended audience should not come across with any difficulty in understanding it. The people of the United States speak the language that is called American English. In England and the British Empire, British English is the language spoken by the native population. The Americans and British communicate with each other quite easily, on general terms, as they do understand each other. However, in some particular or severe situations, communication becomes a little disturbing and certain things need to be clarified before a healthy conversation could take place (Bailey et al, 1986). Notable differences have caused a variation in both the kinds of languages. There are differences seen in the spellings of some of the words. The American word color is spelled "colour" in British English. Same goes for the word "theatre" in British English language that is spelled "theater" in American English language. Most of the times, it happens that the words maybe spelled in the same way but are being pronounced in different ways. For instance, the word 'schedule' has two different pronunciations in the American and British languages (Eckert, 2000). In many cases it may be that when a past tense of a verb is used, the word while "ed" may be used in American English, "t" is common in British English. Examples: spilled and spilt; dreamed and dreamt; spelled and spelt etc. There are also a variety of difference in the grammar and vocabulary of a language. It has been observed that American English is used on a larger scale than British English. Therefore, many of the British people have begun to adapt themselves to the American style of language and are replacing some of their words with them. They have started using American nouns in their own English language. The word 'lorry' has been substituted by the word 'truck' (Wheeler, 1999). Translation involves a process of analysis of the source text which can only be performed after a thorough study of the glossary, the grammatical structure and the cultural context. The analyzing part also needs to identify the communication situation of the source language text and determine the overall 'accurate' meaning of the substance. After dealing with these specifications, it is then reconstructed in the same meaning but in the target language. The lexicon, grammar and the cultural context needs to be strictly followed so that the translation and the meaning are in accordance with the source language. Practically, a substantial variation is found in the types of translators produced by various translators. This is because some of the translators choose to work only in two languages. They find themselves proficient enough in those languages and so stick with them. There are many others who work from their first language to their second language. And others decide to work from their second to their first languages. Thus, this creates an impact on their roles and brig forth variation the results of their translation. Arab translators suffer a lot of difficulty while translating a text into English language. They create misconceptions over the source text they are made to deal with. Most of the Arabic translators have a tendency to construe the text in an erroneous fashion. An example can be quoted here to relate with the misunderstanding of the Arabic translators: The United States Secretary of States. In layman's language, it can be understood as the governing head of the state or the Prime Minister of a state. The formal expression used for it is a part of the American English language. The translator lacks this knowledge and uses different and inaccurate expression for it while translating and so the meaning becomes meticulously wrong (Holes, 1987). Then there are structural problems faced by translators. Clarity is a factor that the translators miss out when they decide to not take into account the structure of the text. Their translation is characterized by malfunctioned ideas and meanings. Impure language, imperfect understanding, a non-typical transfer of meaning and certainly not the very best convey of ideas is introduced in the text, just because of lacking important information and over-looking the structure of the substance (Divern et al, 2004). Translators who perform word for word translation cause severe errors in their work. An idiomatic expression translated word for word completely destructs the message in the text. Translators do understand the cultural differences amongst nations of the world. But they forget to acknowledge this fact in their work. As a result of which, they get themselves into trouble by creating unnecessary mistakes due to accidental word for word translation. This piece of factual account is applicable to a variety of translators. Apparently, the reason for such errors is their lack of knowledge about the variation in the source text and not collecting enough background information about the culture that is followed by that nation (Chambers et al, 2004). What a translator needs to do to get rid of his/her susceptibility to make such mistakes is to gather sufficient background literature about the topic of the source text. After collecting comprehensive information and getting an understanding of the material, a far more apt translation is to be expected. The target is to extract as exactly similar a text as possible with the original text so that the recipient is not left with any sort of confusion or misconception. That would be termed a perfect translation. The translator needs to bring out that comfort level from his reader that he/she should not feel that the translated documents are written by a non-native speaker of the target language. He should be convinced with the text as much as possible (Wolfram, 1998). For example, an English text needs to be examined by an English reader and he is certainly not aware that its original form was in Arabic language. Whether the translator has really done his best and worked immensely hard or not is proven and made evident when that English reader is found to remain under the impression that the text had always been in English language and that it is most definitely written by an English writer. The fluency in the sentences and grammar are perfect and the forms of expression and figures of speech are translated as accurately as could be done. A translator should find himself staying committed to the literary language. It becomes problematic when he/she decides to break this commitment and turn their attention to use of non-literary language. If a translator's job is to deliver a slightly strong meaning to the readers then perhaps he/she should think about throwing some light upon the adverbs of degree. They are usually employed where emotional and thoughtful instances need to be described or strong feelings are to be conveyed. These adverbs of degree should be of the same degree as the source text is following when they are translated (Rissanen, 1992). Getting down to translating the figures of speech is definitely not a simple task. Translators under-estimate this phenomenon and do not give much thought to it, thus, resulting into big blunders whilst choosing the path of word for word translation. Further concerns need to be thrown light upon. People who welcome the idea of performing some research into the language of literature end up with translations that are bright and which clarify the meanings in the text. Literary language is far removed from ordinary language i.e. they are not similar with each other. Ordinary language is spoken by the ordinary members of the population. A good translator is the one who chooses to get to know the kind of people he/she would be dealing with and would be presenting the translated documents. The kind of language always plays a major role in the process of translation and leaves its impacts on the role of the translator when it is ignored (Munday, 2001). A vast Language variation exists between the old English and the modern English. Old English is that which is found in the famous books of William Shakespeare and modern English is that which is spoken by the ordinary people today, language used in the newspapers and most of the authors of fiction books. A translator who chooses to perform his work perfectly should always and must take this factor into account. One should be able to recognize the differences between old and modern English; the varied grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation etc. After receiving a text, one must at once get down to working upon the identification of the kind of language that is employed in it. One should be sure about distinguishing the type that he/she considers it to be before further research could be made and the revision of the text begins. The translator must be confident about choosing his/her own approach of the most suitable and approved translation. It should be unique, indeed. A unique translation does not contain a fixed definition. It only defines the translator's choice of the best suitable method of conducting the work. Subtitling is a newly recognized phenomenon that has occurred as a result of modern day technology. A large variety of languages are dealt under subtitling. Movies are made on a global level by almost every nation of the world and therefore produced in several different languages. When the language of the movie is translated into a target language it appears on the bottom of the TV screen. They consist of the dialogues being spoken in the movie by the performing actors. This leads to a communication and inter-mingling of the talents from all corners of the world. The problem with this kind of translation is that they are likely to make the most kind of mistakes and blunders. That is because the dialogues are written in a fashion that suits the culture of the specific nation to which the movie belongs and they are most likely to be translated in a not so appropriate way leading to a wrongful understanding of the storyline (Grentzler, 2001). Translators therefore need to find answers to their queries by asking the native speakers of the country. Those who do not seek their help obviously make mistakes. The colloquial language, informal language, the accent and the pronunciation is misinterpreted. A perfect subtitling consisting of the perfect form of expressions is done when the translators makes himself/herself familiar with one of the members of the native population. The language and accent are made clearer. Knowledge about the culture and society which the movie portrays is very important in the process of writing down a subtitle (Wolfram, 1999). With the increase in globalization and scientific and digital technology that never stops from developing and growing everyday, communication around the world has become easier. Establishing a good and healthy communication system is considered to be the top-most priority of all kinds of companies and organizations around the globe. These well-established organizations want to fulfill the needs and requirements of their customers. They hire translators who fulfill the gap of communication between local and foreign customers and companies. So it is important for them, in fact extremely important for them to be an expert in their field of work. Even the slightest error in the process of translation can cause outrageous breakdown of the communication system and deep losses from both sides could occur just because of a misconception of a simple need of the customer. Word Count: 2505 References: Holes, C. (1987). Language Variation and Change in a Modernising Arab State: The Case of Bahrain, Taylor & Francis. Eckert, P. (2000). Linguistic variation as social practice: the linguistic construction of identity in Belten High. Wiley-Blackwell. Munday, J. (2001). Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications, Routledge. Wheeler, R. (1999). The workings of language: from prescriptions to perspectives. Praeger. Divern, R., et al. (2004). Cognitive exploration of language and linguistics. John Benjamins Publishing Company. Chambers, J., et al. (2004). The handbook of language variation and change. Wiley-Blackwell. Wolfram, W. (1999). Dialects in schools and communities. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Wolfram, W. (1998). American English: dialects and variation. Wiley-Blackwell. Bailey, R., et al. (1986). English as a World Language. RELC Journal. 17: 91-96 Rissanen, M. (1992). History of Englishes: New Methods and Interpretations in Historical Linguistics.Walter de Gruyter. Grentzler, E. (2001). Contemporary Translation Theories. Multilingual Matters. Read More