At the beginning of every training
class, I, as the instructor, make it a point to explain to the linguists the
gravity of mistranslation, and the importance of taking the task at hand very
seriously. I tell them without
hesitation, that any translation mistake can be serious enough to sever
relations between two friendly countries, or even spark a conflict between
them. My years of experience as a senior Arabic linguist have exposed me to
many examples of such mistakes. While some of them can be humorous and benign,
others can be disastrous.
Some translation companies make the
mistake of assuming that translators do not have to be experts in the subject
matter they are translating, and assign jobs based on availability and cost
instead of background experience. They do not realize that, unless a translator
is a professional in the appropriate field (medical, legal, political, etc.),
this can be an assumption that the company might live to regret. Another bad
assumption some clients and translation companies make is that any native
linguist can understand all material written in his/her native language. Such
an assumption is especially dangerous when it comes to the Arabic language,
because spoken Arabic varies greatly in various parts of the Middle East and
from the written Arabic, known as Classical Arabic. It is not that these
companies do not assess their linguists and test their abilities.
The issue is that they do not always
appreciate the importance of having a native of a specific language, who knows
excellent English and, at the same time has good background knowledge of the
material. While it is not feasible to have translators from every background,
it is possible to produce an accurate translation job. This can be achieved by
ensuring that the finished product is proofread and edited by a native
linguist/editor. In other words, the translation company must ensure that the
resulting product is checked by a native proofreader to spot mistakes, and to
verify accuracy of and faithfulness to the source text. This, I believe, is the
stage that translation companies have been neglecting, and need to give extra
attention to.
Disastrous Outcome of Inaccurate Translation
In my career, I saw hundreds of disastrous mistakes, resulting from
poor reading abilities, limited background knowledge, carelessness or inability
to interpret the meaning from one language into another. Take this as an
example: A linguist translated an item from an Arabic blog in which the author
was describing a dream he had. In the dream, the author saw himself attending a
lecture by one of his favorite professors, who was calling for the formation of
a secret movement to wage war against a friendly nation, as "commanded by
God." Though the author made it clear that this was only a dream, the
translator overlooked this fact - more likely because he did not understand the
source text, or did not take the time to read the article carefully - and wrote
the following headline for his translated piece: "Country X Has Secret
Plans to Wage a Holy War against Country Y." Considering that these two
countries were on the verge of an escalated conflict, this piece could have
worsened the relations between the two countries, to say the least.
Fortunately, the mistake was caught before the item was published.
Translation is anything but easy. It
requires a certain degree of general knowledge in world events, leaders,
countries and much more. It also calls for excellent linguistic knowledge in
both source and target languages. A linguist, who lacks one of these basic
elements, is a risk to the company, to the client and to himself.
Sometimes, a mistranslation might
not be this serious, but it can definitely be embarrassing.
Take this example:
A part of a statement issued by an
insurgent group included a sentence that read as follows: "The jihadists
left to Ard al-Ribat [the frontiers or the outpost], refusing but to knock at
Heaven's Gates with their skulls." [Language usually used by Muslim
warriors, talking about their determination to fight until they die as
martyrs].
The linguist, who was assigned this
job, misunderstood more than one word in the original text and mistranslated it
as follows: "So, set forth to the land of ties and victory
and answer [the call] for they will strike their skulls against the gates
of insanity.' The linguist did not only display poor knowledge of
Classical Arabic, which he tried to cover up by adding words that were not in
the original text, but also showed lack of common sense and commitment to the
product, by writing a meaningless sentence and not attempting to make sense of
it.
In case one wonders how the mistakes
in the above example were made, here is what happened. The translator
interpreted the word "jinan" as "madness or insanity," as
used in his country, Egypt, whereas in Classical Arabic and in light of the
context, it meant "paradise" or "heaven." He also did not
understand the meanings of Ard al-Ribat, and the expression "Heaven's
Gates" due to his limited knowledge of Islamic expressions and Classical
Arabic. In other words, the above mistake resulted from failure on the part of
the linguist to understand the original and interpret it into the target
language. An amateur translator may make mistakes at this stage either from a
failure to understand the thinking process of the author of the source item or
from a lack of knowledge in the subject matter.
Addressing the Problem of
Mistranslation:
Unless this problem is addressed at
every level of the translation process, a company is taking the chance of
publishing a poorly translated piece. It is very difficult for a recruitment manager
or a client to determine the abilities of a linguist just by giving an
assessment test. Many linguists take the time and exert the effort to produce a
good translation piece when trying to get a job, but they fail to display the
same commitment after being hired. This suggests that extra care must be given
to hiring linguists. A general knowledge test should be part of the assessment
in at least the fields of the business in which the linguist will be working. A
good, qualified linguist is likely to produce an accurate translation. However,
my experience has proven to me over and again that even the best linguist can
make mistakes. This is where the vernacular editor comes in [a vernacular
editor is an editor who has a good command of both source and target
languages]. A capable editor should also have an inquisitive mind, like a
qualified linguist, that makes him constantly search for the best word that
gives the most accurate meaning. Otherwise, a final product can be riddled with
embarrassing mistakes.
Translation mistakes occur every
day, but their seriousness should not be underestimated. Every linguist and
project manager must aim at producing accurate translations in order to
communicate the translated material faithfully and correctly. Sometimes, when
my frustration with poor translation reaches a boiling point, I comfort myself
by promising to turn these mistakes into a humorous book when I retire. In the
meantime, I intend to include these mistakes in my training books to aid future
linguists in their pursuit to become accurate translators.
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Miranda Hirezi-Mugnier
Chief Translator/Business Owner |
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