My sweetheart sent me a link to an article some time ago which was about the ten words which are the most difficult to translate. It made me think about words I found difficult to translate during my previous years of translating.
There have been quite a few words, especially in my children's stories about Miro the Dragon, that gave me headaches. Sometimes, I had no other chance than to slightly rewrite the sentence in order to make it work in another language.
What makes some words more difficult to translate than others?
First of all, it is due to the different cultural backgrounds. If a concept does not exist in the target language, it is difficult to translate that concept. You need to catch the essense and rewrite the sentence to get as close to the essense as possible in the target language.
Another reason is the difference in common idioms from language to language. Sometimes, it is hard to recognise an idiom at first glance since it is so rooted in our everyday language that we don't notice it normally; once you have recognised it, you need to find the equivalent in the target language. You can easily spot bad translations by word-by-word translations of idioms.
Tricks for Translating Difficult Words
In a first step, I always translate carefully from the source text into the target language. Whenever I come across a difficult word or phrase, I look up possible translations in various dictionaries and try to find the one with the closest meaning. I often cross-check the possible translations to see if they really fit the context in my case.
In a second step, then, I put away the source text and basically edit the translation. My goal is to produce a text that can't be spotted as translation at all.
A common rule among translators is: As close to the source text as possible, as far away from it as necessary. In other words, I try to translate close to the source text but change phrases or sentences when I have to in order to convey the meaning or because it would sound awkward in the target language.
Language ... the bridge of communication, the magic creator of worlds, the brush and paint of authors. Language is magic. It gives us power. It is something you just have to love.
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