What Is a Translator?
People conjure up a variety of images when I tell them I’m a translator. To my utter confusion, a large proportion of people think I write computer code, which is entirely unrelated to my field. A handful think I’m a transcriptionist, which could barely be considered tangential – transcriptionists write down exactly what someone says. Most people who come close to an accurate notion of what I do right off the bat think I’m an interpreter.
The root of what I do as a translator, and how it differs from what an interpreter does, are best explained together: Both translators and interpreters convert messages from one language (the source language) to another (the target language).*
The only difference: translators work with the written word (books, websites, research articles), whereas interpreters work with the spoken word (doctor’s office visits, court proceedings, international seminars). That’s a simplistic explanation, but I don’t want to get too deep in the weeds here.
A broad explanation such as that above is often followed up by, “Uh-huh. But what do you, like…do?” I think people still feel left in the dark because translation is essentially an invisible profession. By their very nature, good translations are completely unrecognizable as a translation (as opposed to something originally written in your native language).
I’ve found that people are looking for the explanation that follows, which adds a little more color to the picture:
I translate written materials from German or Japanese into my native language, English. But how do I get work?
Some of my clients fall into a category known as direct clients. They manufacture and/or sell the products all around you, but because their companies are based in a country where German or Japanese is spoken, they come to me to have their materials translated into English.
The rest of my clients are agencies, which are a middleman between me and their direct clients. Although agencies generally pay less than a direct client, they take a number of tasks off my plate: marketing to direct clients, chasing down payments, etc.
So I get the order from a direct client or agency to translate a text…and then what? I cover more about the translation process in its own right in How Does Translation Work, but in general terms, my job is to convert the source language into the target language.
It’s intricate work, often proclaimed by translation theories (yes, it’s an entire field of study) to involve a balance between being faithful to the source text yet writing something beautiful in creating the target text. In conjunction with observing this faithful-to-beautiful spectrum, I strive to accomplish some universal objectives:
Convey the meaning of the source text.
Don’t add or embellish in the target text.
Use appropriate tone in the target text (consider the difference between you’re gonna love our stuff and we are confident that you will be satisfied with our products).
Maintain the style and literary devices of the source text where possible (translating an idiom with an idiom, using short sentences if short sentences are used, etc.).
Consider culture and adapt the target text accordingly or discuss potential issues with the client (navigating offensive or polarizing terminology or statements, converting the units of numerical values, etc.).
Apply writing conventions consistently (e.g., does the client usually use a comma after e.g.?).
This list of course only scratches the surface of what translators “do.” As just one example, check out The SME Translator: Why Industry Experience Is Critical to learn more about contending with industry-standard terminology and phrasing.
And there are nuances to every item of the list – even what I’ve described about the faithful-to-beautiful spectrum is not an absolute. For instance, translation of official documents (marriage certificates, immigration documents, etc.) strictly requires a fully faithful translation. An advertisement for a major company? The transcreation team (transcreation = translation + creation) might decide that 0% faithfulness for a particular quippy phrase is best – agreement between source and target matters little if consumers aren’t enticed to make a purchase.
Regardless of industry terminology or translation theory, in working toward checking all the boxes of my list of objectives, there’s one overarching rule: context is key. What is context? Consider all the different meanings (and even parts of speech…are nightmares of English class surfacing?) of the word look, a few of which are conveyed in these examples:
Looking to launch a new line of clothing? You’ll want to put together a portfolio of complete outfits to give customers an idea of the looks they can pull off.
A doctor peeks into a hospital room and is worried about the nauseated look on a patient’s face. The doctor tells the patient that it doesn’t look like they’ve tried medication XYZ, so that’s what they’ll try next.
In the courtroom, everyone is instructed to look at Exhibit A – suddenly, things aren’t looking good for the defendant.
Although I used the word look six different ways inside of five sentences, you instantly understood what was meant by each because of context. Context is an inherent facet of translation. It’s an inherent facet of any profession involving words, but in my line of work, I’m responsible for deciphering the context of a foreign language and rendering it properly in English. After all, context essentially defines meaning (in the broadest sense). And if the translation doesn’t accurately convey the intended meaning, we’re no better off than where we started (often worse off, in fact).
And there you have it! A direct client or agency sends me a written text in German or Japanese so a product or service can be marketed in the U.S. I convey the meaning of the text in English in a way that’s faithful to the original yet sounds beautiful. And all the while, I 1) fulfill the universal objectives of translation, such as observing style and culture, 2) apply research and my experience from other fields (engineering and medical) to specialized domains, and 3) keep context at the forefront.
I bet now you’ll start looking at all the words around you in a whole new way, eh?
*A tidbit to add that almost always earns the response, “I never thought about that before!”: Translation is done into one’s native language, not the other way around (interpretation is acceptable both directions, but that explanation is outside the scope of this article). Children acquire languages, whereas adults learn them. The reason behind this is not yet understood, but we do know that learning a language as an adult will never result in that native fluency, that innate and subconscious ability to feel the language, that’s required to understand (read, listen) and formulate (write, speak) a foreign language the way a native speaker does.
While I’m imparting tidbits, here’s another: Translators who claim to work with several language pairs (i.e., multiple source and/or target languages) are almost always poor translators in all of them. A translator has deep knowledge of one or two foreign languages, plus intimate knowledge of their native language. Translators are often asked, “How many languages do you speak,” after revealing their profession. The response comprising just a language or two is often met with disappointment – but now you know why this is commendable rather than an inadequacy!
Updated: September 3, 2023