Localization

Translation and the damage done

An article appeared today in the Liberty Times:
成年（adulthood）變通姦（adultery） 英譯太離譜

民進黨立委陳瑩昨日指出，由台灣史前文化博物館所出版的「跨越與連結－臺灣與南島文化」一書中部分英文翻譯嚴重錯誤，有侮辱原住民之嫌。（記者王敏為攝）〔記者林曉雲、黃明堂、趙靜瑜／綜合報導〕原住民的紋面是成年的標誌，有肯定、尊敬的正面意義，但由國立台灣史前文化博物館出版的「跨越與連結｜台灣與南島文化」一書，英文說明卻把成年（adulthood）錯譯成adultery（通姦），導致外國人誤認紋面是通姦的標誌；立委陳瑩、卑南族長老陳冠年及英文教授張武昌直批「太離譜」！

It is the often-told story of a translation gone bad — a poorly executed Chinese-to-English translation at that. In this case, Taiwan’s indigenous peoples are claiming damage to their cultural dignity and demanding that the offending translated book be recalled immediately.

After a bit of sleuthing (seems that the translation in question has been removed from the government site), I tracked down the following bit using Google’s cache version of previously indexed pages contain a small part of the translation:

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手所做LIMA hands

南島語中LIMA（或RIMA）代表著「手」，也是數字5的意義。Danee Hazama先生在部落的田野調查中，發現樂天知命的原住民無論是食、衣、住、行、娛樂這五個生活層面，都需藉由靈活的手，製作出所需的豐富物件。用勤奮的雙手編織著豐美的織紋與提籃，用厚實的雙手與天地博鬥，是驍勇的獵人以及大海的冒險家。

In the language of Autronesian peoples, “LIMA” or “RIMA” means “hands”. It also means “5”. In the field research, Mr. Danee Hazama found that being contated with life indigenous peoples in Taiwan used their hands to make the things they need in their daily lives. They use their hand to braid baskets with beautiful patterns and to fight with nature. They are brave hunters and adventurers fighting with oceans.

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The Liberty Times article points out outrageously incorrect word choice as the main problem with the translation. If the above sample is representative, however, the problems with the translation are greater than that. First, the translation does not fully communicate the source Chinese text, but is an abbreviated interpretation that has lost much of the original Chinese nuances. Second, the English semantic structure follows that of the Chinese too closely, rendering a noticeably non-native style. And third, the translation does not flow logically because of missing connectives. Basically, the translation seems to have been translated by a non-native English speaker who did not have the linguistic skills required to produce a full, semantically correct and culturally appropriate English translation.

The lesson to be learned here is that the same level of care needs to be given to producing the translation as that of the original content, especially for print publication projects. More precisely, this can be achieved in the following way:

Establish translation goals, standards and project glossaries before work begins. A seasoned translation project manager with translation experience is key to identifying such requirements and making sure the translation team meets them.

Engage qualified translation professionals and domain experts: Translation is best done by qualified teams. Pristine would engage 1) an experienced translator with native-level proficiency in the target language and familiarity with the subject matter; 2) an area expert who has native-level proficiency in the source language to comment (not edit!) the translation; 3) a senior translation editor (a native English speaker with proven editorial skill) to closely check the translation for accuracy and make necessary revisions as well as to polish the final text for readability and style.

© 2010 Pristine Soapbox.