What makes a good translation?

I’ve seen a lot of translated material. Mainly translated from Portuguese to English. And most of it is pretty mediocre. In fact, most of it is beyond mediocre. It makes no sense, or worse, distorts the content’s original meaning. It’s Cocô (not Coco, which means Coconut).

Now, I’m not professionally trained or certified in the field, I’ve only just recently taken up translating more seriously and I’m sure many translators (whose work I haven’t yet stumbled upon) are amazing. And I’m sure they would agree with me on a lot of the points I’m about to make. Either way, if you are connected to the subject, I’d love to hear your opinion.

Different to many professional translators, I’m native in both languages mentioned above. I’ve been lucky enough to spend half my life in each of my home countries (UK & Brazil) and for the past 10 years, have worked on both sides of the Atlantic for big and small companies in a variety of fields. And in a way, I have been translating since I learned to speak.

“Ask your grandmother if she would like a cup of tea” — English Granny

“Vó, a Granny quer saber se você aceita um chá” (“Grandma, Granny wants to know if you’d like a cup of tea”) — Me, 3 years old

“Fala pra ela que não, obrigada, eu acabei de comer uma banana” (“Tell her no, thank you, I just had a banana”) — Brazilian Grandma

You get the picture. Going back and forth from both countries, cultures and languages has been the defining factor of my life. That’s what happens when your Brazilian mother decides to be an Au Pair in England in the 70's.

So, what have I learnt about good translations? Well, based on my experience, they depend on 3 factors:

1- Talent (bilingualism, preferably from an early age)

To do good work, you have to be proficient in both languages. This is obvious. If it were that obvious, though, there wouldn’t still be people who get simple things like plurals, prepositions and sentence structure wrong getting paid to do translation work. My guess is the clients can’t tell because they aren’t proficient enough in the language themselves. Well, this may be fine if the end readers of the material have the same level of proficiency as the client (and if neither party are interested in using this as an opportunity to develop their skills). But in many cases, this isn’t true. It’s quite likely that the receiving end can tell and is at least mildly bothered by it. At best, they probably think you did okay, for a foreigner. At worst, they completely misunderstand you or lose interest. Needless to say, neither is a great outcome.

Not trying to toot my own horn here (ok, maybe a little…) but true bilingual speakers are not that easy to come across. Among those that do exist, not all are interested in doing translations. And among those that are interested, not all of them are great linguists or good writers.

People that have taken language courses all their lives or even teach that language to others are often still unqualified to write anything official in that language. I’ve been learning French since I was 6, I’ve lived in France, worked in France and would still be uneasy at accepting any translation work into French. From French into English or Portuguese, maybe. If you can’t find anyone else. And unless it were really simple, it would take me a lot longer than a real francophone to do a decent job. And I would still want one to look it over.

This isn’t a case of fake it till you make it. Nobody can fake language skills. Except Joey from Friends. He did great.

2- Cultural and contextual understanding (experience in the field and with the end reader)

Translating is not mechanical work. Certain things (like medicine ingredients or car manuals) are technical and involve very specific vocabulary and experience. But whatever it is you’re translating, it usually requires a much broader understanding of the material than what you can pick up just from reading it, or even through research (although that can help a lot). If you haven’t spent some time living in a country, or working in a field, it’s unlikely you’ll be familiar with the slang, terminology or most common expressions used in them. And there’s no way you’ll understand the subtleties in meaning that lie beneath certain words, phrases and ideas.

Although cultural ignorance can make for hilarious mishaps, I would only recommend accepting them if your aiming to be the butt of the joke.

3- Writing and interpretation skills

Of course this has a whole other set of implications if you’re talking about literary translations. I don’t have any experience with them, but would imagine they involve very highly skilled translators with a literary and creative background as well as pure language skills. But in the contexts I’ve come across — business, sales, advertising, reports, websites — there is usually a pitch being made. Someone, somewhere, is supposed to read something and be impressed by and/or convinced of what is being said. And maybe it’s just me, but it doesn’t really scream “credibility” when things are poorly written. And, if they make no sense, it can be both confusing and highly damaging to the brand, employee or company it represents.

Often, it’s not just about the result being “correct”. Many sentences make grammatical sense and have real, properly spelled words in them and still make no sense. Or they just sound weird. They need to be turned around, fiddled with, recreated from scratch. Take this simple phrase as an example:

“Mas a teoria mais aceita é…”

If I were to quickly and literally translate it, it would read:

“But the most accepted theory is..”

And that would be correct. But even better would be:

“The most widely accepted theory, however, is…”

The term “widely accepted” is more “widely accepted” in this context among English speakers. It just sounds better. It’s more convincing, more natural and just sounds like something you might come across in a magazine article. This makes it resonate more with the end reader. Whether he or she knows it or not.

Now, onto interpretation. If you don’t know what is meant behind what is being said, how can you say it in the best possible way in a different language? Chances are, you can’t. So, if there is any ambiguity — and there is usually some — you need to find out what’s going on. Either by doing a bit of online research or better still, asking the author. They may have expressed themselves unclearly or used terms you’re unfamiliar with. Maybe they have inside info that makes it impossible for you to guess what they mean. Whatever it is, you’ll only find out by asking. Who knows, you might even contribute toward making the material better, in both languages. That’s when you know you’re #winningattranslations.

Rant over!

A couple of suggestions…

I don’t know what the solution to this is, aside from more awareness, which is why I wrote this. But I don’t like to end on a negative note, so I will say this — if you can’t find a translator that fits the above criteria, or you don’t know quite how to judge if one does, then at least try and get your material proofread by a native once in a while. Someone who will take the time to make corrections, point out mistakes and improvements. Then send it back to your supplier. Show them that you see translation as investments and as a crucial stage of the creative process that must reflect your business, yourself and your ideas in a positive and accurate light. Ask them for a discount if there are too many mistakes. Write a complaint letter. Be suspicious if they never ask any questions, demand explanations or send you back observations and suggestions. And when you do find someone good, pay them more, spread the word, value their work. Differentiate by quality. Help us all raise the bar.

And, of course, give them enough time to put in the necessary thought, research and revision into your stuff. Otherwise of course it’ll be bad. Nothing good happens past 2am, as you’ll know if you’ve watched How I Met your Mother.

Which is why I am signing off at 1:48 ;)