Others may be less obvious, as with the inclusion of archaic vocabulary, e.g., derechef, which could sound dated to certain ears. Certain signs of formality in French may be more obvious, such as the use of literary tenses, e.g., the passé simple or the plus-que-parfait du subjonctif. Is the text formal or informal? Is the language old-fashioned or hip and modern? The register of language you convey to your audience will affect your word choice. Know what register of language you are using. Once I completed a translation from a French biblical encyclopedia for a friar who was conducting theological research, which meant that I needed to be aware of encyclopedic writing as well as Christian tradition and biblical sources. If possible, read several works by an author, different encyclopedia entries, various articles for certain publications, or multiple descriptions of technological developments, depending on the text you wish to translate. The more familiar you are with an author’s works, a particular genre, or a certain body of writing, the easier it is to get a sense of the style, vocabulary, and turns of phrase that characterize the work on which you are focusing. For a technical description, specific jargon might pop up again and again, which would make other kinds of texts sound repetitive, but which is necessary for this particular type of document. A work of fiction could use flowery language or have a more minimalist tone. Remember that a legal document has a certain intent, such as the division of property among surviving family members or the donation of assets to a particular cause. Is the writing a legal document, a work of fiction, or a technical description for an engineering company? This will not only determine the vocabulary you use, but your style of writing. Tip #1īe aware of the type of writing used in the document you are translating. 8 Tips for Translating from Frenchīelow is the 8 tips to keep in mind for translating from French. Having solid resources on hand is also essential for written translations from French, which will be our focus in the following eight tips for translating. It is also important to be aware of larger historic and social contexts, stylistic devices, and images evoked by the second, third, and fourth meanings of words the author chooses. No matter what language you translate into from French, it is important to distinguish between cognates and faux amis, literal meanings and idioms, and formal and informal language. While the translation from English into French is quite simple for the above phrase, in that context, not all translations between French and English will be such a literal match, even though the two languages both have Indo-European origins. If Bob’s character had been French-speaking, the commercial could have turned out differently, although the interpreter might have said “plus d’intensité”, which is very like the English version. The characters in Sofia Coppola’s film enter an environment of advertising, the world that the director has envisioned for the commercial that is being shot. An insightful translation will not only convey the meanings of words and phrases in an original document, but reflect a particular environment created by that document. If you are interested in translating from French into another language, presumably one with which you are familiar, there are several helpful things to keep in mind. While getting across ideas differs from one language to another, the audience, along with Bob, is left wondering what has been lost in translation. After what sounds like a paragraph’s worth of directions in Japanese coming from the director of the shoot, the interpreter turns to Bob and says, “more intensity”. If you’ve ever seen Sofia Coppola’s 2003 film Lost in Translation, you might remember the scene in which Bill Murray’s character, Bob, shoots a whiskey commercial in Tokyo.
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