Problems and Difficulties While
Translation
Name : Latta Baraiya
Paper : Comparative Literature and Translation Studies
Roll no : 11
Enrollment no : 3069206420200003
Email id : lattabaraiya1204@gmail.com
Batch : 2020-22
Submitted to : Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English, MKBU
Introduction
When we want to translate a particular text, we are facing many problems. This process is very important because we have to carry the message that is in the original work. Here A. K. Ramanujan raised one question that,
'How does one translate a poem from another time, another culture, another language?
The translation is not only about translating a text, it's about translating one world from source language to target language. In this time you may face many problems. So let's see what problems are there when we do translation. The term "translation process" is borrowed from the Comparative stylistics of French and English of J.P. Vinay and J. Darbelnet. In their book, they establish a classification of translation processes: the loan, the layer, the literal translation, transposition and modulation, equivalence and adaptation.
Problems and Difficulties
In this field we also have some problems. Some problems are faced by the translator or the readers. The analysis of specific translation problems of our source text begins with a brief theoretical overview of each type of translation problems, according to the model proposed by Christiane Nord. "Structural variations between languages, cultural differences, compound words… In this article we will go through both the main structural problems in translation and the main challenges of translation faced by Translators, Clients and the Industry as a whole" (TranslateDay). Now let's have a look at the problems of translation.
Language Problems
Whenever one translates any text they may face Difficulties because of language. Because from one language to another language translation becomes more difficult. All languages have their own significance of words, different vowels and consonants, sound systems, rhyme scheme. Because of that it becomes difficult to translate in another language. Laura Rebeca Stiegelbauer said in article, according to specialists, the translator works on linguistic forms:
"... the translator does not share the sense of linguistic forms but, he interprets."
The structure of sentences in English and other languages may be different. This is considered to be one of the main structural problems in translation. This is how translation becomes more difficult. The cultural practices of authors in different languages also differ from each other. In many languages, certain terms may be completely absent… This is one of the most common challenges faced by a translator on a daily basis, also one of the main reasons why translation is difficult. For example,
In English the adjective is placed before the noun, but in French the adjective comes after the noun. In Arabic and some other languages, the subject pronoun is part of the verb, and that determines the subject gender and the voice of the sentence.
Cultural Problems
The other issue in translation is to understand the culture of the target language. When the translator belongs to another culture and their translation text is from another language. The difficulties in translation are caused by the cultural disparities between the two cultures. Understanding the message necessitates the receiver's recognition and decoding of socio-cultural information in many allusions.
According to T. Cristea, language systems in which evolve the language communities face specific diversification of areas highlighted in the translation:
"The confrontation of two natural languages in the transfer of messages reveals firstly a common general structure which allows the translation and the existence of weakly idiomatic areas and also the differences that attract disturbances in the transmission of data experience." (Cristea, Teodora)
The larger the region where the language is spoken, the more the dialects there are likely to be, and the more colloquial words you are likely to find – except in technical documents translations, legal document translations, or translations of medical transcripts. For example,
The British are famous for their dry, biting sarcasm, which is their brand of humor. However, this kind of sarcasm may not be appreciated in not just a country speaking a different language, but even another country where they speak English
The difference in function between the source and target texts can also create issues, however in some circumstances, the function of the two texts can be the same since the cultural background is similar.
Textual Problems
Textuality difficulties are caused by a lack of knowledge of the source text when contrasted to intra-textual features and extra-textual references, such as textual aspects of coherence and cohesiveness. Textual coherence and textual cohesion are the last two important elements in the analysis of intra-textual factors. The coherence is directly related to the meaning and the unity of the text quality and means that the sentences should follow a logical harmony for the message to be clear and understandable.
According to G. Maingueneau, the sentence is analysed as a syntactic-semantic structure and also as a support structure information within a specific textual dynamics. Cohesion relates to the organization of the text, the sequence of ideas in the text, and must observe the morphological and syntactic standards. It manifests itself locally, sentence by sentence by:
- Spatial and temporal organizers (deictic) - used to account for the cohesion of a text in time (the timeline and sequence of events);
- The connector systems - the connectors can have values: additive (and, moreover, also);
comparative (than, more);
“For instance, translation rates are higher in Germanythan in France, in France than in the United Kingdom or in Spain, in Britain than in Ireland, in Ireland than in Italy, in Italy than in Argentina, and higher in Argentina than in Cambodia or in a number of other countries."
“But the cost of living has risen in Ireland and so has the cost of translating.”
The textual problem is in the organization of structures and phrases in the target text, because they are very long in the source language. To solve the problem, we restructured and reorganized the paragraphs, using the information of compensation method. (Maingueneau, Georges).
Readjust Structure
When you work on translation we have to re-adjust the structure of the sentence or paragraph. Because there is a lack of words in the source language, you have to understand and add missing things in the target language. In some languages, certain terms may be completely absent – this has also to do with culture, as those objects may not be used by the people, or those actions or activities may not be permitted or simply not performed.
There are different verbs and their uses in different languages. In English there are several verbs that are made up of two words – usually, a combination of a verb and a preposition.
For example: break up, break down, break into, break in, break off, break apart, break away; these all mean different things, though the common verb is break.
Here the preposition which follows immediately after gives it a completely different meaning. It is highly unlikely that translating the two words into the target language will give you the same meaning!
Other Difficulties
There are several elements that we have to keep in mind while translation. They are, like
The knowledge of other languages
Meanings of the words
Knowledge of translation metaphors
Time and context in which work is written
Interpretation according to author's personality and experience
Untranslatable words
In this way we can say that there are many Difficulties that translators face during translation. How can you solve these problems ? Here we can say that, you can take help of dictionaries and ask experts for these problems. You can gain expertise on a particular language that can help you to do better translation. You have to do more research and do investigation of the language and words so you can give the proper translation word. Know more about other cultures, this can help you to understand their traditions around the language. Do not try to collect all the subjects, choose two or three and get expertise in that. You can avoid literal translation, rather than you can find a similar word that expresses the same meaning. Read again and again, this will help you to understand the meaning of that sentence or paragraph. You can take help of translation tools available on the internet, but you can't translate whole things in translation tools. Because sometimes they are not giving proper meanings. As A. K. Ramanujan rightly said that,
"The translation must not only represent, but re-present, the original."
That is why it is important to study the problems and to solve them. So doing translation is not an easy task.
Conclusion
The difficulties and problems faced during the translation enabled us to gain a better understanding of our source text, including the translation difficulties specific to the text's nature, as well as to identify our own text translation difficulties, which prompted us to broaden our translational knowledge as much as possible, both in terms of understanding and re-expression. We don't think we've come up with the perfect translation, but we believe it can always be improved. As a result, the ideal solution for the translation challenge we face is in the translator's sight, we have to do our best, and by practicing it we can become master in the field of translation.
Works Cited
Cristea, Teodora. Stratégies de la traduction, București: Editura Fundației România de mâine, 2000 p.190-197.
Maingueneau, Georges. Problèmes théoriques de la traduction, Paris : Gallimard, 1963.
Nord, Christiane, Text Analysis in Translation. Theory, Methodology and Didactic Applications of a Model of Translation-Oriented Text Analysis. Amsterdam – Atlanta: Rodopi, 1991, p.250.
Ramanujan, A.K. “On Translating a Tamil Poem.” The Collected Essays of A. K. Ramanujan, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2013, pp. 219–231.
Stiegelbauer, Laura Rebeca et al. “Translation Problems and Difficulties in Applied Translation Processes.” Studii De Ştiinţă Şi Cultură, vol. 13, Sept. 2016, pp. 51–57.
TranslateDay. “Top 10 Translation Problems and Solutions .” TranslateDay, 10 Apr. 2018, https://www.translateday.com/translation-problems-and-solutions/.
