Like-Blog
Presenting you the most interesting translation solutions
Why Like-Blog? Now, first of all, this blog is a blog that you should like (and read regularly) – at least, if you are interested in translation. Then, the topic discussed here is one in which the meaningful likeness between a text and its translation in the language pair English-German plays a key role. On this page, I will take a close look at some interesting translation solutions that I have come across in the course of my work as a translator and translation scholar.
A translation solution is only as good as the arguments that support it. This means that any translation criticism, whether positive or negative, needs to be justified. The quality of a translation solution shows only when we compare it to other possible translation solutions in a given translation situation. Therefore, a translation critic should not only say why a translation solution is bad, but also demonstrate what a better solution might look like. I will try to stick to these principles of translation criticism. So if you have any questions regarding my line of argument or if you disagree, please, let me know your opinion by phone at +49 4171 6086525 or by e-mail to bittner@businessenglish-hamburg.de. So much for the introduction. I hope you’ll enjoy reading this blog!
Consumers, governments, and burdens (March 2022)
As in the previous months, I refer to “A Capital Manifesto” (Newsweek.com, 12 June 2009) by Fareed Zakaria. He writes: “If, in the years ahead, the American consumer remains reluctant to spend, if federal and state governments groan under their debt loads, if government-owned companies remain expensive burdens, then private-sector activity will become the only path to create jobs.”
A German translation goes: “Wenn sich amerikanische Verbraucher in den kommenden Jahren weiterhin an ihrem Geld festklammern, wenn Bundes- und Landesregierung vor lauter Schulden stöhnen und wenn staatseigene Unternehmen teure Lasten bleiben, dann wird die Tätigkeit auf dem Privatsektor der einzige Weg zur Schaffung von Arbeitsplätzen sein.”
This translation is interesting because it brings together good and not so good solutions. I will analyse them one by one.
The beginning reveals a clever translation method: when a literal translation would be more or less unacceptable (for example, because the result appears unidiomatic), negating the opposite may help. This is what happens here in an extended sense. Instead of the negative “reluctant” in combination with “spend”, we get the positive “sich festklammern an” (“cling to”) in combination with “Geld” (“money”) – a good solution.
Less satisfactory is the translation “Bundes- und Landesregierung” for “federal and state governments”. Since the sentence is about the US government and the governments of the individual US states, a translation that uses terms from the German state system is inappropriate. The word “Landesregierung” is particularly confusing, as the United States doesn’t have Bundesländer but federal states. (A similar translation solution is discussed in more detail in my July 2020 blog). Moreover, the state governments are needed in the plural.
In German, governments that are groaning with debt (“vor Schulden stöhnen”) may well convey a clear enough image; still, the expression seems a little strange because of the personification of the government and the combination with “lauter” (“vor lauter Schulden” would be something like “because of all the debts” or “faced with so much debt”). A better solution is needed here.
This also applies to the state-owned companies, which “bleiben teure Lasten” (“remain expensive burdens”) for the state. Somewhat unusual is the use of the plural, “Lasten” (“burdens”), in this figurative context; but even in the singular there is a drawback: the expression “teure Last” (“expensive burden”) is known from the Christmas carol “Es kommt ein Schiff geladen”, but there it has a completely different meaning.
The rest is well translated. Taking the above considerations into account, I propose then the following translation solution for the whole sentence: Wenn sich amerikanische Verbraucher in den kommenden Jahren weiterhin an ihrem Geld festklammern, wenn die US-Regierung und die Regierungen der einzelnen US-Staaten von ihren Schulden fast erdrückt werden, und wenn staatseigene Unternehmen nach wie vor in hohem Maße die Staatskasse belasten, dann wird die Tätigkeit auf dem Privatsektor der einzige Weg zur Schaffung von Arbeitsplätzen sein.