Translation
Translation
is the interpretation of the meaning of a text in one
language (the "source text") and the production,
in another language, of an equivalent text (the "target
text," or "translation") that communicates
the same message. Translation must take into account a
number of constraints, including context, the rules of
grammar of the two languages, their writing conventions,
their idioms and the like.
Perhaps the most common misconception
about translation is that there exists a simple "word-for-word"
relation between any two languages, and that translation
is therefore a straightforward and mechanical process. On
the contrary, historical differences between languages often
dictate differences of expression. Hence, source and target
texts may differ significantly in length. In addition, translation
is always fraught with uncertainties as well as the potential
for inadvertent "spilling over" of idioms and
usages from one language into the other, producing linguistic
hybrids, for example, "Franglais" (French-English),
"Spanglish" (Spanish-English) and "Poglish"
(Polish-English). Poglish, a portmanteau word combining
the words "Polish" and "English," designates
the product of mixing Polish and English language elements
(morphemes, words, grammatical structures, syntactic elements,
idioms, etc.) within a single speech production, or the
use of cognate words in senses that have diverged from those
of the common etymological root. |