Can someone who knows English be a professional translator??
Most people who know English can translate well, but in reality they can't. Why so? On what basis can we say so?
Nearly everyone translator All of them enter the translation profession by accident, some people are passionate about it, others are pushed into it by life. After working in another field, people who know English because the job is not attractive enough for them, they look for another industry to satisfy them better. And the job we want to talk about is a translator.
The translator's job is translation from one language to another so that it is easy for readers to understand and can use in their work. You can know English through listening, reading and studying extensively. Translators should regularly read and watch popular media (newspapers, magazines, radio and television). This gives translators access to how language conveys meaning in everyday life.
A person who is not yet familiar with professional knowledge uses a dictionary next to or on a computer that always has Google translate enabled. So in the long run it will not help the translator much in developing himself in other specialties.
In 1540, the French humanist, Etienne Dolet[1], proposed five principles in how to translate well from one language to another for a primary translator:
1. The translator should understand the meaning of the original and clarify the obscure sentences
2. The translator should have a perfect knowledge of both the source language and the target language.
3. Translators should avoid translating word by word.
4. Translators should use spoken forms in common use.
5. Translators should select and arrange words to produce correct intonation. (Bassnett-McGuire, Translation Studies, 1980, p. 54)
You might think: Why do I need a translator? I will just use Google translate which is freely available on the Internet. Of course, you can. But it won't be good. You will get a word-by-word translation that is unrelated. Until Google translate gets better and better, plan to use quality translators.
I will give you an example: “One fine day, a woman visiting London said to her husband about buying an expensive coat: “Found a great coat and asked him if he should buy it. it's not?" "There's no such thing as overpriced," he returned.
But the telegraph operator forgot to add a comma as follows: No, the price is too high. “Messages are not just words. Remember that sentences are units of meaning, not words. Cicero[2], Horace[3] and other Roman writers argued that a translator should render textual meaning for meaning and not word for word.
I updated Dolet's guidelines to 5 steps. You can do some mental steps. You can combine others. But you can't skip any without damaging the results. These steps are:
1. Determine the purpose of the text (Expressive, descriptive or persuasive).
2. Clarify text in the original language. Provide definitions, rewrite sentences with special meanings, and spell abbreviations.
3. Generate a rough but complete translation in the target language. All meaning should be there even if its expression is awkward.
4. Make a sample form of the majors and categories that appear many times that I have done.
5. Check the effectiveness of the translation on the speakers of the translation tools. Is it clear? Do they understand?
You can translate well if you follow the 5 steps in sequence. You must define the purpose of the text. You should clarify the text in the original language. Then you should create a rough translation in the target language. From there, you create a version of the idiom in the target language.
Finally, you test the effectiveness of the translation on speakers of the target language. And my final advice for you is that good translation skills will help you a lot in the so-called "dry" translation industry. ( See the article on how to become a successful translator here)
Check out more articles about translation experience:
Tips to Improve Translation Quality in the Best Way
Global Business Document Translation Service
The Most Popular Translation Service Today
Additional References:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne_Dolet
[2] https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero
[3] https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace
Nguyen Trung Khang - Talented interpreter and translator, passionate about translation
Nguyen Trung Khang is a talented interpreter and translator, with many years of experience in the field of translation and linguistics. He graduated from Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, majoring in Linguistics in 2015.
After graduating, Mr. Khang participated in a professional interpretation and interpretation training course at the University of Foreign Languages - Hanoi National University. He achieved a high-level certificate in interpreting and interpreting, and was also awarded a master's degree in linguistics.