What Is Translation?

What is the meaning of translation?


Translation does not simply find the meaning of words from the source language into the target language. Translation is not about words, but deals with what the words about. 

To translate means to transmit the written text from one language into another. It does not only relate with what the words say. Translation refers to the written language where there is an action of intepreting the meaning of a text and production of an equivalent meaning of text in its target language. Target language is the tedxt to translate, while the final product of it is called as the target language. 

Translation must not neglet the context, grammar, meaning, and discourse of both the source and target languages. It sometimes takes you an intepretation to translation a certain context, since most of word-for-word translation does not take into account context, grammar, meaning, idioms, and discourse. 

What is the most important thing in translation?

There are some points a translator must have, including subject matter knowledge. The knowledge of subject matter is not only important to translation, it is the core of translation itself. 

For instance, if a translator's expert is politics and does not have subject matter knowledge on medicince. Therefore, it is almost impossible for the translator to translate a medical text better than those possessing the knowledge of medicine. 

Translation is the only time when you have to know that a text means. 

"You can write a sentence in your native language without knowing what it means.  You can read it without knowing what it means.  But you can't translate it without knowing what it means," Eva Maria Synders says in Quora.

While Paul Denlinger in Quora says, 

It really depends on the original piece.

If it is literature and poetry, it is style. Style is difficult because it depends on different social contexts in different societies, but it is important to reach an approximation. 

If it is news and current affairs, often time is of the essence. The translation must be done speedily.

If it is legal, science, medical affairs and technology, it is precision.

If it is business, it is intent.

  

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