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!
Those out there (August 2022)
As in the last blog, here comes again a quotation from “Hell’s bells! The joy of Morris Dancing” (The Independent, 21 September 2009) by Jonathan Brown: “‘They said it was too niche and on some level there is a perception that anything to do with the folk world is small scale. But there are thousands of morris dancers out there,’ says Oldham.”
The translation runs: “„Sie meinten, dies wäre eine zu kleine Marktlücke und in einem bestimmten Ausmaß gibt es die Auffassung, dass alles, was mit der Volkswelt zu tun hat, in begrenztem Rahmen gehalten werden muss. Aber es gibt tausende Morris-Tänzer da draußen“, berichtet Oldham.” This translation needs to be improved in three places, in particular.
For one, there is the translation “in einem bestimmten Ausmaß gibt es die Auffassung”, which, in this context, can be rendered more concisely; then, it is not clear what a “Volkswelt” is supposed to be; and finally, we are wondering what the thousands of morris dancers are doing “da draußen” and why they don’t come in: unlike “out there”, the German phrase merely refers to the immediate surroundings of an enclosed space.
Better would be: “„Sie meinten, dies wäre eine zu kleine Marktlücke, und einige sind der Auffassung, dass alles, was mit der Welt des Volkstanzes zu tun hat, nur im kleinen Rahmen funktioniert. Aber es gibt immerhin tausende Morris-Tänzer“, berichtet Oldham.”