Around the globe, many translators spend at least four years of their lives studying and analyzing the depths of language and context:
- learning equivalents
- avoiding false cognates
- absorbing cultural differences
In other words, they are trying to learn how to think in a language rather than just speak or write in it. They work hard to master a language and being able to deliver nothing but perfection and most of them do!
But then, if translators go out of their way to study a language to avoid changes in meaning, why can we sometimes find awful mistakes in movie subtitles, dubbing, signs and even important documents like medical leaflets?
Believe it or not, this doesn’t always mean that the translator was not qualified for the job. Even if most of the mistranslated signs you can find on the street were not translated by professionals, many blockbuster movies, popular shows, interviews, and articles were, most definitely, translated, dubbed and subtitled by an experienced translator.
Why do these mistakes still exists?
One word to explain it all: context
In language, context is defined as the text or speech that comes immediately before and after a particular phrase or piece of text and helps to explain its meaning. And, for a translator, context means everything, since it will help him/her make important decisions when translating a document or dubbing a video, like the kind of language (formal/informal) and terms (technological, medical, judicial, etc.), to use, the tense in which to speak, the mood in which to write (imperative, indicative, optative), etc.
If a translator do not receive enough information to translate, not enough material, quality videos or background information, even if it is a single sentence or fragment, there is a big possibility that he/she will have to “take a leap of faith” and translate in a very literal way.
This results in very noticeable dubbing mistakes, like in some episodes of the famous medical drama ER, movies like Independence Day: Resurgence, and the most recent fiasco of Game of Thrones, “Sicansios”.
Then, what can I do to prevent these mistakes?
As a client:
- Make sure to provide enough documentation, pictures, and quality videos to your translators and dub artists. If they are fully aware of the context, chances are they will deliver a quality translation and voice dubbing.
- If you are on a tight deadline, make sure to provide all this information timely.
- Provide your translators and dub artists with contact information so they can communicate with you to solve any possible doubts, or to request more material if needed.
As a translator:
The solution is simple: do not be afraid!
If you want to deliver the best translation to a client and you need more context to make sure your translation is appropriate, don’t be afraid to ask your client for more information. Ask them the purpose of their translation, request graphic material, or audios and videos with better quality. The client will appreciate your effort to deliver a five-star quality translation, and, even if they can’t provide the material you are requesting, he/she would know you worked with what you could, and that any possible mistake would not just be a result of a “sloppy translation”.
So now that you know a little more about the importance of context, always remember to include enough of it when requesting a translation to make sure that they will be as close to perfect as they can!