{"id":15376,"date":"2023-04-13T18:44:59","date_gmt":"2023-04-13T16:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/?p=15376"},"modified":"2023-04-13T18:45:04","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T16:45:04","slug":"101-things-a-translator-needs-to-know-60","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/en\/101-things-a-translator-needs-to-know-60\/","title":{"rendered":"101 things a translator needs to know \u2013 #60"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The sound of music<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translation is a constant tug between the twin imperatives of meaning and music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what is it that makes a translation sing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s finding the right voice – and it’s precisely this nebulous notion of voice that is often overlooked because it’s so hard to articulate, measure, and thus pin down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We agonise over nuances of meaning, turn sleuth to track down a word’s multiple connotations, and carefully craft sentences to ensure we’ve conveyed the precise sense of the source text. But there’s another vital stage: making sure that the translation has rhythm, its own heartbeat, a coherent voice. Translators of poetry know this, but translators of prose also need to pay attention to music and rhythm.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This is something very close to my heart that I try to impart to my students, too, even if it is really hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Especially this sentence “We agonise over nuances of meaning, turn sleuth to track down a word’s multiple connotations, and carefully craft sentences to ensure we’ve conveyed the precise sense of the source text<\/em>” is what makes me enjoy my work so much. I really love words and language and digging deep into meaning – and then transporting that into another language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, this may not be absolutely necessary for every single text, but more often than not, it makes a world of difference to the end product. (This incidentally is also one reason why AI is still a looooong way from making human translators obsolete, but this is a discussion for another day.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how do you make your translations sing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is number 60 of the “101 things a translator needs to know<\/a>” compiled by WLF Think Tank. If you haven\u2019t heard of it, go to the website and check it out. I got my copy from Chris Durban herself at a translator\u2019s conference in Berlin a few years ago. It is full of useful, often funny, sometimes familiar, but always sound advice both for beginners and seasoned translators.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image from freeimages.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The sound of music Translation is a constant tug between the twin imperatives of meaning and music. So what is it that makes a translation sing? It’s finding the right voice – and it’s precisely this nebulous notion of voice that is often overlooked because it’s so hard to articulate, measure, and thus pin down. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":false,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2416,956,2253,966,1184],"tags":[2411,287,437,166],"class_list":["post-15376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-101-things-a-translator-needs-to-know","category-english","category-music-2","category-professional-translation","category-translation-2","tag-101-things-a-translator-needs-to-know","tag-englisch","tag-music","tag-translation","entry","has-media"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t