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!
Children’s books (August 2024)
On 15 September 2008, the New Yorker published an article about Babar, the Elephant, by Adam Gopnick: “Freeing the Elephants”. One passage goes: “All children’s books take as their subject disorder and order and their proper relation, beginning in order and ending there, but with disorder given its due.”
In German translation: “Alle Kinderbücher machen Unordnung und Ordnung und deren angemessenes Verhältnis zum Thema. Sie beginnen in geordnetem Zustand und enden darin, aber mit einem gebührenden Maß an Unordnung.”
Although this translation is correct as it is, it does have one weak point. This weak point consists in the fact that the second sentence can be misunderstood. In this interpretation, the due measure of disorder (“gebührenden Maß an Unordnung”) occurs not in the middle part of the children’s book (as is reasonably obvious in the source text), but gets mixed up with the orderly state at the end, forming a kind of semi-orderly state.
The problem can be solved simply by adding “dazwischen” (or a synonym) at the end of the second sentence: Sie beginnen in geordnetem Zustand und enden darin, aber mit einem gebührenden Maß an Unordnung dazwischen.