Like-Blog
Presenting you the most interesting translation solutions
Why Like-Blog? Now, first of all, this blog is a blog that you should like (and read regularly) – at least, if you are interested in translation. Then, the topic discussed here is one in which the meaningful likeness between a text and its translation in the language pair English-German plays a key role. On this page, I will take a close look at some interesting translation solutions that I have come across in the course of my work as a translator and translation scholar.
A translation solution is only as good as the arguments that support it. This means that any translation criticism, whether positive or negative, needs to be justified. The quality of a translation solution shows only when we compare it to other possible translation solutions in a given translation situation. Therefore, a translation critic should not only say why a translation solution is bad, but also demonstrate what a better solution might look like. I will try to stick to these principles of translation criticism. So if you have any questions regarding my line of argument or if you disagree, please, let me know your opinion by phone at +49 4171 6086525 or by e-mail to bittner@businessenglish-hamburg.de. So much for the introduction. I hope you’ll enjoy reading this blog!
Redundancy (April 2025)
In Sally Williams’ article “Green Gold” (telegraph.co.uk, 27 October 2007), we find the following sentence: “‘You’ve got donkey-loads of groups out there now making all kinds of wild claims,’ says Greg Valerio, an early ethical pioneer with Cred, the jewellery company he founded in 1996.”
This was translated as: “„Derzeit gibt es Unmengen von Gruppen dort draußen, die alle möglichen wilden Behauptungen aufstellen“, sagt Greg Valerio, ein früher ethischer Pionier mit Cred, dem Juweliergeschäft, das er 1996 gegründet hat.”
The most obvious problem is the translation of “with Cred”. Greg Valerio is “ein Pionier bei Cred”. However, the suggested translation below demonstrates that “mit Cred” still remains a viable option.
The topic of this blog post, redundancy, refers to two elements that are superfluous in both the original and the translation. On the one hand, there is the rather colloquial expression “out there”, meaning “in the world”, whereas “dort draußen”, as used in this translation, has primarily a local, specific deictic meaning. However, the information “out there” offers no added value, because if the location of the donkey-loads of groups making all kinds of wild claims is not specified, it is implied that these groups are to be found somewhere in the world. On the other hand, we have the adjective “early”, which is not needed before “pioneer” because its meaning is already contained in the noun.
Redundancies are not always useless, though. While they should be avoided in a technical or academic text, they can certainly serve as a stylistic device in a journalistic or literary text. In the English original, “out there” is a stylistic device that emphasises the orality of direct speech – in addition to being, of course, part of a quotation. In German, I would use “dort draußen” in the general sense of “out there” only with an explicit collocation as in “die Welt dort draußen” or in a context which defines the reference for the adverb “dort” – such as the question “Gibt es Leben dort draußen?” in a text about the universe. In the present translation, the question whether “out there” should remain untranslated in the target text or be rendered by a suitable expression such as “überall auf der Welt” is a matter of individual preference. After all, the translation strategy should be based on the assumption that the reader of the German target text does not want to understand the source text, but wants to experience what he or she reads as if it were a German original.
Noun phrases such as “an early pioneer” in English and “ein früher Pionier” in German can definitely be found in some texts. The adjectives have at best a reinforcing effect here, but are unnecessary both in terms of meaning and in terms of style. The fact that the German translation “ein früher ethischer Pionier” (an early ethical pioneer) stands out unfavourably is mainly due to the adjective “ethisch”, which in German is only used in certain cases before a noun denoting a person. For example, there is the “ethischer Hacker” (ethical hacker), a hacker who behaves ethically in his or her hacking activities. The English “ethical” is somewhat more flexible in its meaning than the related German term; so, in English, a reference to people is not unusual.
My suggestion for improving the above translation is: „Derzeit gibt es Unmengen von Gruppen, die alle möglichen wilden Behauptungen aufstellen“, sagt Greg Valerio, der mit Cred – einem Juweliergeschäft, das er 1996 gegründet hat – zu den Pionieren für ethischen Schmuck zählt.