Re: Translation project
Keith and Andrew: Thank you so much for your replies. I am in the process of learning Spanish (the 'textbook' version they tend to teach in the US school system). In my readings I have already encountered many moments of "I know what it is saying, but what does it mean?" I lack the cultural background and ability to 'play' with words that is necessary for high-level translation. What I was actually thinking of was more along the lines of the translation of early readers (such as the Dick and Jane series) into a multitude of languages. As books of this nature are intended to have a rather limited vocabulary scope and to facilitate the learning of an individual's 'native' language, I thought these books might also be helpful if translated into multiple languages. When reading these books it would also be possible for the language learners to refer to the edition in their native language for guidance. I'm not sure that this sort of translation process would actually create something that PG would even want. Is there much interest beyond my own to see "See Spot. See Spot run...." translated into a dozen or more languages? I assumed that if there were much interest, there would already be such a project out there on the internet. There are, of course, books of this nature on the market, but they are rather limited in availability and somewhat pricey. A free archive would be nice. I agree that the majority of works of literature should be left to the experts and native speakers of both languages. Andrew's project was a fine example of a collaborative effort. I hope more people get together in small groups (or individually) to translate more works. Their efforts are appreciated. Carel -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [gutvol-d] Re: Translation project From: "Keith J. Schultz" <schultzk@uni-trier.de> Date: Wed, February 24, 2010 2:57 am To: Project Gutenberg Volunteer Discussion <gutvol-d@lists.pglaf.org> Hi Carel, Translation is a fine art. You have to be proficient in both languages and should be a nativer speaker of the language you translate into. Furthermore there is more to translation than taking the text and translating the words, systanx, and semantics. You have to do research on the author, historical research to understand the mood in which a text was written. As proof of fact just take a look at Shakespeare. I have to agree with Andrew that a collabarative approach is not good. You must have strict rules in place when a group is working together. I do not mean to discourage you, but want to make sure you understand the task of translating. regards Keith. Am 23.02.2010 um 07:00 schrieb Andrew Sly:
No particular site springs to mind. Perhaps if we knew the language you have in mind it might be easier to go searching for possibilities.
One barrier to that kind of collabarative translation is that there is usually not one "proper and correct" way to translate a given phrase. There can be different word order, differences in shades of meaning and tone, etc. If you have different people translate different parts of a text, you can end up with great lack of a consistent style.
It's not impossible though. Take this example: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/28971
It was worked on by a small group of people specifically for inclusion in PG. A couple people translated different chunks of the text from English, then after the whole thing was put together, we did a few proof-reading runs, tried to even out inconsistencies, ran a spell check, etc.
This was done through email and using a wiki.
--Andrew
On Mon, 22 Feb 2010 cmiske@ashzfall.com wrote:
I've just recently started studying a language that is foreign to me. Although I am a long way off from being able to translate anything beyond an early reader, I was wondering if there is a translation project out there that is similar to DP? I looked about the PG site, but could not find a link to anything of that nature.
Thanks; Carel
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Hi Carel, What you are forgetting that every language has its cultural idiosyncrasies and idioms. You can not take a pre-school text book and simply translate it. Furthermore, there are also cultural differences in teaching. Take your example: In German: Schau Spot. Schau Spot läuft. No German would say that to a child. Also, schau is actually look and not see. Another translation with see would be Sehe Spot. Sehe Spot laufen. This is not good German and under normal circumstances a German would never speak that way. More appropriate would be: Das ist Spot. Spot läuft. In english we have "That is Spot. Spot is running" Of course I could try "Seht Spot. Seht wie Spot läuft" In English:See Spot. See how Spot runs" As you can see completely different grammatical forms. It is not that simple. Furthermore, a German normallydoes call their dogs Spot. Or translate Dick and Jane. Well I could start with "Every dick and Jane" being Hinz und Kunze, but Hinz und Kunze are last names. It does not work that way. Sorry. regards Keith. Am 24.02.2010 um 18:51 schrieb cmiske@ashzfall.com:
Keith and Andrew: Thank you so much for your replies.
I am in the process of learning Spanish (the 'textbook' version they tend to teach in the US school system). In my readings I have already encountered many moments of "I know what it is saying, but what does it mean?" I lack the cultural background and ability to 'play' with words that is necessary for high-level translation.
What I was actually thinking of was more along the lines of the translation of early readers (such as the Dick and Jane series) into a multitude of languages. As books of this nature are intended to have a rather limited vocabulary scope and to facilitate the learning of an individual's 'native' language, I thought these books might also be helpful if translated into multiple languages. When reading these books it would also be possible for the language learners to refer to the edition in their native language for guidance. I'm not sure that this sort of translation process would actually create something that PG would even want.
Is there much interest beyond my own to see "See Spot. See Spot run...." translated into a dozen or more languages? I assumed that if there were much interest, there would already be such a project out there on the internet.
There are, of course, books of this nature on the market, but they are rather limited in availability and somewhat pricey. A free archive would be nice.
I agree that the majority of works of literature should be left to the experts and native speakers of both languages. Andrew's project was a fine example of a collaborative effort. I hope more people get together in small groups (or individually) to translate more works. Their efforts are appreciated.
participants (2)
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cmiske＠ashzfall.com -
Keith J. Schultz