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Off topic: The most infuriating word to translate from your source language(s) Thread poster: Deborah do Carmo
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Hi,
I'm sure each of us have certain words that crop up time and again while we're translating that really make us want to tear our hair out.
You know, those words that "say it all so well" and seem to cover every conceivable situation in the source language but can't be rendered quite as neatly in the target language.
Thought it might be a nice distraction to list one for each of our source languages and perhaps briefly explain what makes them so infuriat... See more Hi,
I'm sure each of us have certain words that crop up time and again while we're translating that really make us want to tear our hair out.
You know, those words that "say it all so well" and seem to cover every conceivable situation in the source language but can't be rendered quite as neatly in the target language.
Thought it might be a nice distraction to list one for each of our source languages and perhaps briefly explain what makes them so infuriating.
Who knows, colleagues working in the same/related language pair(s) might have already found brilliant solutions and care to share them.
I've got a few in Dutch and Portuguese but to keep the thread going, it's perhaps best to choose one for each source language - so I'm first going to consider for a while which one to choose for each language.
Just so it's clear - not looking for the so-called "untranslatables" but rather examples that we are confronted with on a daily basis - something a colleague will look at and say "I know what s/he means - I struggle with that one every time!"
Update: Still narrowing down the list here. Tina has already mentioned a couple of candidates on the Dutch list
[Edited at 2007-07-26 07:36] ▲ Collapse
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| I know it.... | Jul 25, 2007 |
The most infuriating English term is "device"
Says it exactly in English, not so in Norwegian...
Just look it up in the dictionary
Maybe medical devices are especially infuriating
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Yaotl Altan 
Mexico
Local time: 14:04
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Lawyer-Linguist wrote:
Hi,
I'm sure each of us have certain words that crop up time and again while we're translating that really make us want to tear our hair out.
...
[Edited at 2007-07-25 23:32]
Yes:
"make-before-break"
it's a term used in the electricity field.
"malais"
It's INDISPOSICIÓN, MALESTAR in Spanish if the source is English but "malay, from Malasia" if it's French . That makes me laugh when translating a tourism brochure.
I need a Cuban cigar to relax.
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| the first that came into my mind... | Jul 26, 2007 |
...was "performance". Oh, it is so colourful and brilliant expression in English (e.g. "the new car's performance is outstanding...", "monitor's visual performance" etc.), but each of the equivalents in Latvian sounds so terribly clumsy I become absolutely desperate every time I have to translate it... So I have to figure out how to say it a bit differently without translating the "performance" directly.
Oh, and there's another one: the "experience" in particular context, for exampl... See more ...was "performance". Oh, it is so colourful and brilliant expression in English (e.g. "the new car's performance is outstanding...", "monitor's visual performance" etc.), but each of the equivalents in Latvian sounds so terribly clumsy I become absolutely desperate every time I have to translate it... So I have to figure out how to say it a bit differently without translating the "performance" directly.
Oh, and there's another one: the "experience" in particular context, for example, "unparallel visual and audio experience", "HD projector for the best multimedia experience" etc. If I translated the "experience" directly, it would sound reeaallly ridiculous:) ▲ Collapse
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Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
Local time: 13:04
Dutch to English
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| At least two Dutch buzz words | Jul 26, 2007 |
I can think of at least two Dutch buzz words that are 'in' nowadays:
1) kader - 'in het kader van', and
2) invulling - 'invulling geven aan'
Both of these give me a headache every time I encounter them, as it can be very hard to find an equivalent in English. To make matters worse, it depends on the context.
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is another headache-inducer, that's right.
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Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:04
Russian to English
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In memoriam
In Spanish: suffering from a cold.
In English & French (constipated, constipé) unable to defecate
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avsie (X)
Local time: 21:04
English to French
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I never know how to translate it in French, as it depends so much on context! It's a multi-meaning word that English writers seems to love so much! (like 'experience' and 'performance' as well )
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Kirill Semenov
Ukraine
Local time: 22:04
Member (2004)
English to Russian
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It's always a real challenge to translate this English word into Russian.
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I never seem to find a satisfying translation into Spanish for this expression.
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| Issue, concern... | Jul 26, 2007 |
I agree with Marie-Claude on the "issue" issue. I would add "concern" as well, but there are many more.
In general, what I find difficult when I translate EN, GE > ES is the fact that I sometimes need nearly an entire sentence to translate a single English or German word. My target texts grow enormously...
Best,
Eva
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Giles Watson
Italy
Local time: 21:04
Italian to English
In memoriam | We call these "Miriams"... | Jul 26, 2007 |
... or "Moderately Irritating Recurring Idioms and Mannerisms" on the IT-EN Yahoo group for Italian-English translators.
You can find a list in the Files section of the IT-EN site:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/it-en/files/
or on the web site of the lady who started the ball rolling, Miriam Hurley:
... See more ... or "Moderately Irritating Recurring Idioms and Mannerisms" on the IT-EN Yahoo group for Italian-English translators.
You can find a list in the Files section of the IT-EN site:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/it-en/files/
or on the web site of the lady who started the ball rolling, Miriam Hurley:
http://www.miriamhurley.com/miriams.html
Cheers,
Giles
[Edited at 2007-07-26 08:01] ▲ Collapse
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PAS
Local time: 21:04
Polish to English
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| English corpo-business speak | Jul 26, 2007 |
Pick a word, any word.
Empower, capacity building, networking, etc.
also some "normal" words and terms - affordability, best value for money, cost-effective...
Pawel Skalinski
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Agnieszka Zmuda (X)
Poland
Local time: 21:04
English to Polish
| "Business(es)" | Jul 26, 2007 |
Sometimes a really confusing word, especially when over-used in corporate language.
Apart from that, "performance" and "to network/networking" - as some of you have already mentioned - are a pain in the neck.
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Williamson
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:04
Flemish to English
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How would Russian translator translate the word "translator" : perivodsjik. And "interpreter"? : ...
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