The Skill of Translation

Successful translations must be accurate, well-written, and purpose-appropriate. We all know—many of us from painful experience—that they don’t always turn out this way. I have been providing high-quality Japanese-to-English translation for nearly two decades. I sometimes see myself as a translation troubleshooter, because I’m often brought in to improve or correct translations previously done by others. I can always find where the original translation went wrong—usually from poorly understood or poorly written Japanese. That’s why it pays to get it right the first time.

How, then, do so many translations go wrong? More importantly, how can you be sure a job is done right the first time?

Translation is not replacing words and encoding them in correct grammar. Instead, translation is akin to putting together a picture puzzle—with several pieces missing. The existing pieces are the parts of the source document that the translator readily understands. Fitting them together is the first step. The missing pieces are the parts the translator doesn’t understand. Without them, he or she cannot easily recreate the picture in the target language. That leads to the second, crucial step: research in general, specific questions in particular.

Constructing the missing pieces requires analytical and research skills. Especially when backed by knowledge and experience, these skills enable the translator to figure out many ambiguities and obscurities. But when (not if) these are not enough, the translator must ask questions. Experience has taught me that translation quality depends critically on whether or not a translator asks questions about doubtful passages. I personally am not satisfied with my product unless I can do this when I need to. Questions help me design the missing pieces and therefore play an essential role in my mission: producing high-quality translation.

The Translation Time Bomb
You’ve received your translation and put it to work. Unknown to you at the time, it was already a ticking time bomb. Later and without warning, it explodes, costing you time and money, and laying waste to your credibility. Valuable time goes to rewriting, responding to inquiries, and fixing problems. You have to put off other important tasks. Productivity suffers.

The translation was done by a professional; you don’t expect this. What is happening here? The answer is that the translation time bomb is easily armed.

To find out more about the “time bomb” theory, read my complete blog entry on the subject.