Lee Eisenberg, one of our team members and Russian-to-English translators, shares a wonderful story about how he handles translation between two different cultures using the definition of “real estate” as an example, and how subject knowledge is important for a translator.

The picture of him was taken in St. Petersburg, Russia, standing on the frozen Gulf of Finland.  By walking north, one could theoretically walk all the way to Finland.

Full Story by Lee Eisenberg:

Language is the symbolic representation of culture so to produce a meaningful translation from one language to the next requires domain knowledge about the target culture.

The experience that helped me more than any other to understand the need for domain knowledge was my internship in a Moscow real estate office.  Translating Russian documents into English not only taught me the specific Russian translation to real estate (недвижимость), but also taught me how to think about real estate differently.

The word недвижимость literally translates to “immobility,” because real estate does not move once it is built.  This forces one to ask why real estate is called that in English; what does the concept of “real estate” mean?  So, I did some research and found a definition.  Most languages treat real estate as something physical, while English uses a legal definition.  There are more explanations of the words “real estate” at:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1555/why-is-it-called-real-estate

In conclusion, I would recommend practical translating experience in a specific domain in which one is translating to anyone who is entertaining a career in foreign language translation.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations is officially translated by the French as the Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme.  If we translate this word for word back into English it is The Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man.  Just men?  Are our French friends stuck in some male-chauvinist society?

Emily Frye, one of our team members and a translation student at the Monterey Institute of International Studies shares Rama Yade’s revelation of an interesting cultural nuance behind the translation.  This story provides a peek into the rich culture of the French language, revealing that being “French” is much more than long lunches, great wine and socialist medicine.

Full Article by Emily Frye

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations is officially translated by the French as the Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme.  If we translate this word for word back into English it is The Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man.  Just men?  What happened to the French Feminist movement of the 1970s?  Are our French friends stuck in some male-chauvinist society?

The answer is, most certainly not.  Any French person would agree that the “rights of man” undeniably includes women.  So why have the French kept this outwardly politically-incorrect term?  We find a possible answer deep in France’s cultural history.

Rama Yade, in her book on the subject, points to the term’s historical importance in regard to the French Revolution and its connection to the ideals fought for at that time.  These ideals would be at risk of slipping away if the term was changed.

This discussion brings to light that the interesting nuances of a culture can be revealed through its language.  And a deeper look at the French language will certainly reveal that being “French” is much more than long lunches, great wine and socialist medicine.

Reference: Yade, Rama. Les droits de l’homme expliqués aux enfants de 7 à 77 ans. Seuil 23 October 2008

There is nothing more frustrating for the linguistically-challenged than watching a film without subtitles.  At the same time, there is really nothing quite like hearing actors speak their parts in one’s native language.

But one organization has come up a creative solution.

Mozilla is sponsoring a new program, Universal Subtitles, which makes it easy for anyone, anyplace to create and view subtitles and request translations of videos:

http://www.mozilla.org/causes/subtitles/?utm_source=gsnippet&utm_content=subtitle&utm_campaign=s010410

Recognizing the power of film in fostering global community and intercultural communication, we wholeheartedly endorse this initiative.

This picture posted by one of our fans on Facebook caught our eye. The Chinese characters were displayed vertically, the way they traditionally are in Chinese.

Is this a big deal? Indeed.

Our Director of Translation, Mei-Ling Chen, once made a presentation on how to handle a translation project from English to Chinese involving marketing a product to Chinese people. The all-American audience seemed uninterested until she casually mentioned that Chinese characters can be displayed vertically. All of the sudden, everyone’s ears perked up. The entire floor turned attentive…

The story reminds us once again of the need to take cultural elements into account as part of the translation process. More than just words, translation brings worlds and peoples together.  Thanks to our fans for sharing the culturally revealing picture.

The expression ‘lost in translation’ refers to puns or cultural references that lose their significance during translation from one language to another. The expression has been used as a title in articles, literature, television, music and movies.

Our Director of Translation, Mei-Ling Chen’s article “Lost in Translation” in the ATA Chronicle illustrates how the design element of marketing ads, catalogs, and brochures are often overlooked in foreign language translation.

In motion pictures, the Oscar winning movie ‘Lost in Translation‘ (with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, directed by Sofia Coppola) vividly exemplifies the most embarrassing scenes happened in the translation/interpretation profession.  The Japanese director utters several long sentences with passion, followed by brief, inadequate translations into English from the interpreter.  The two central characters in the movie — Bob and Charlotte, both Americans — find themselves ‘lost’ in a culture that is foreign to them.

At Monterey Language Services, one of our missions is to promote communication beyond borders.  We encourage you to share your most interesting experience which arose due to cultural differences by posting your comments here.

Translation is not an easy task. It requires knowledge, experience, and cultural awareness. Machines can greatly assist humans in the process of translation, but they are still far from being able to autonomously provide accurate translations that reflect cultural differences and take into account the context of a discourse. This underscores the need to ensure that only the best translators are selected for a particular assignment, based on their experience, subject expertise, and native fluency. When the selection process is not properly carried out, anything can happen. Some examples are illustrated by this lively video we found on You Tube.

April is National Poetry Month.  At Monterey Language Services, our professional team has edited the English translation of an all time favorite Chinese poem.  See our version of translation below.

Drinking Alone under the Moon

Amongst the flowers I am alone with my pot of wine drinking by myself; then lifting my cup, I asked the moon to drink with me, its reflection and mine are in the wine cup, just the three of us; then I sigh… for the moon cannot drink, and my shadow goes emptily along with me never saying a word; with no other friends here, I have only them for company; in times of happiness, I too must be happy with all around me; I sit and sing and it is as if the moon accompanies me; then if I dance, it is my shadow that dances along with me; while sober, I am glad to befriend the moon and my shadow; but then when I have drunk too much, we remain apart; yet these are friends I can always count on; they are emotionless; I hope that one day we three will meet again, deep in the Milky Way.

The poet:

Li Po (701-762) was probably the greatest Chinese poets of pre-modern times. It is generally agreed that he and Tu Fu raised the poetry form to its highest level of power and expressiveness; later poets at times approached but never surpassed them.

Li Po’s distinction lies in the fact that he brought an unparalleled grace and eloquence to his treatment of the traditional themes, a flow and grandeur that lift his work far above of mere imitation of the past. Another characteristic of his poetry is the air of playfulness, hyperbole and outright fantasy that infuses much of it.  –from the Columbia Book of Chinese Poetry

Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry. In contrast to English verse typically characterized by meter, Japanese verse counts sound units (moras), known as “on“. The word on is often translated as “syllable”, but there are subtle differences between an “on” and an English-language “syllable”. Traditional haiku consist of 17 on, in three metrical phrases of 5, 7, and 5 on respectively.

Robert Hass, a Pulitzer Prize winning American poet, reads on TV his translations of selected haiku by Kobayashi Issa. This is part of the Poetry Everywhere project airing on public television. Produced by David Grubin Productions and WGBH Boston, in association with the Poetry Foundation. Filmed at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. For more information, visit http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/poetryeverywhere.