Translation is the art and science of taking text or spoken word from one language and rendering it understandable in another language. Translation is not a precise science since verbatim or word for word translation is nearly impossible.
It is because of the localization of words or text and the vagaries that go with specific locations that makes it literally impossible to obtain an exact translation. In order to get the best from translating efforts, it requires that the individual doing the translation understand the cultural background of the original as well as the one the text is being translated into to avoid costly mistakes and embarrassments.
There is a very rich and lengthy history surrounding translation. In history, we see that the first viable translation took place in Sumeria about 2000 BC as the Epic of Gilgamesh was translated into languages spoken in Southwest Asia.
One of the most famous translations in history appears about 196 BC. It was commissioned at the behest of Ptolemy V in Egypt. The Rosetta Stone is inscribed with a decree in three different languages and has become the definitive example of translation. Additionally it is now considered as being a key to understanding the concept of translation.
The task of translation is not always easy. This is shown in the translation of Rosetta Stone because it took longer than twenty years to fully decipher this text that was on the stone. This took place during 1799.
The history of translation has been a rocky road in numerous cases. It is very difficult to retain the original meaning while changing the words.
There has been a lot of discussion in the form of the written word from ancient Greece, where early translation was first practiced concerning the process and methods for accomplishing it. It was in this place that literal translation, or the art of meta-phrase and paraphrase were distinguished and the entire process laid out to make certain that the critical part of translating anything into another language involved cultural truths.
Translation became much more of a science during the 1700s when writer and translator John Dryden described the process of translation as being two different modes of phrasing. He agonized over many of his translations, speaking about them in this fashion: " When words appear . . . literally graceful, it were an injury to the author that they should be changed. But since... what is beautiful in one language is often barbarous, nay sometimes nonsense, in another, it would be unreasonable to limit a translator to the narrow compass of his author's words." Modern day translation takes a great deal of instruction in word substitution from Dryden's methodology.
As the 18th century saw advances in translations, this led to less accuracy. Translators who perceived a text might be boring to the audience, they often left them out altogether, and this brought about some strange, yet unique translations.
It was during the 19th century that translation took on a whole new meaning of necessity because transportation improved and brought people from around the world together as never before. This made it much more necessary to achieve accurate translations, and therefore, new methods and styles were used to help provide benefits to the business community of people from different languages and cultures.
As we get to our modern age, we see an even greater need for translation as people are communicating through the Internet. We are no longer separate people, but are rather a piece of the larger, global picture. As a global neighborhood people are interacting daily, and goods and services are not traded across borders.
To allow for that machine translation arrived and in some cases, companies relied on inexpensive machine translation and found that it was not in their best interest. Using mechanical translation alone can provide for some hilarious results. Who doesn't remember the "All your base are belong to us." fiasco when the game Zerowing was translated poorly from the original Japanese game in the early nineties?
That's not saying that there is no room for translation software because there is a place for it. It works well when translating documents and for Internet users.
Websites and brochures are created and must be translated, giving rise to the need for a rapid, or in some cases, a nearly instant translation. Software can be a means for the translation of sites to provide for that instant -if not perfect-understanding.
These days, most of the medical, business and legal translation is performed by software that is given assistance from human translators. Combined together, this allows any problems with translation to be caught quickly. Translation from one language to another is understandable and accurate because they are double checked by humans in order to ensure that local expressions and certain words being used convey the message appropriately.
With the evolution of translation technology, the changes have been dramatic and they allow for more accuracy at a greatly reduced cost. This has done much to increase the understanding between people of the world.
It is because of the localization of words or text and the vagaries that go with specific locations that makes it literally impossible to obtain an exact translation. In order to get the best from translating efforts, it requires that the individual doing the translation understand the cultural background of the original as well as the one the text is being translated into to avoid costly mistakes and embarrassments.
There is a very rich and lengthy history surrounding translation. In history, we see that the first viable translation took place in Sumeria about 2000 BC as the Epic of Gilgamesh was translated into languages spoken in Southwest Asia.
One of the most famous translations in history appears about 196 BC. It was commissioned at the behest of Ptolemy V in Egypt. The Rosetta Stone is inscribed with a decree in three different languages and has become the definitive example of translation. Additionally it is now considered as being a key to understanding the concept of translation.
The task of translation is not always easy. This is shown in the translation of Rosetta Stone because it took longer than twenty years to fully decipher this text that was on the stone. This took place during 1799.
The history of translation has been a rocky road in numerous cases. It is very difficult to retain the original meaning while changing the words.
There has been a lot of discussion in the form of the written word from ancient Greece, where early translation was first practiced concerning the process and methods for accomplishing it. It was in this place that literal translation, or the art of meta-phrase and paraphrase were distinguished and the entire process laid out to make certain that the critical part of translating anything into another language involved cultural truths.
Translation became much more of a science during the 1700s when writer and translator John Dryden described the process of translation as being two different modes of phrasing. He agonized over many of his translations, speaking about them in this fashion: " When words appear . . . literally graceful, it were an injury to the author that they should be changed. But since... what is beautiful in one language is often barbarous, nay sometimes nonsense, in another, it would be unreasonable to limit a translator to the narrow compass of his author's words." Modern day translation takes a great deal of instruction in word substitution from Dryden's methodology.
As the 18th century saw advances in translations, this led to less accuracy. Translators who perceived a text might be boring to the audience, they often left them out altogether, and this brought about some strange, yet unique translations.
It was during the 19th century that translation took on a whole new meaning of necessity because transportation improved and brought people from around the world together as never before. This made it much more necessary to achieve accurate translations, and therefore, new methods and styles were used to help provide benefits to the business community of people from different languages and cultures.
As we get to our modern age, we see an even greater need for translation as people are communicating through the Internet. We are no longer separate people, but are rather a piece of the larger, global picture. As a global neighborhood people are interacting daily, and goods and services are not traded across borders.
To allow for that machine translation arrived and in some cases, companies relied on inexpensive machine translation and found that it was not in their best interest. Using mechanical translation alone can provide for some hilarious results. Who doesn't remember the "All your base are belong to us." fiasco when the game Zerowing was translated poorly from the original Japanese game in the early nineties?
That's not saying that there is no room for translation software because there is a place for it. It works well when translating documents and for Internet users.
Websites and brochures are created and must be translated, giving rise to the need for a rapid, or in some cases, a nearly instant translation. Software can be a means for the translation of sites to provide for that instant -if not perfect-understanding.
These days, most of the medical, business and legal translation is performed by software that is given assistance from human translators. Combined together, this allows any problems with translation to be caught quickly. Translation from one language to another is understandable and accurate because they are double checked by humans in order to ensure that local expressions and certain words being used convey the message appropriately.
With the evolution of translation technology, the changes have been dramatic and they allow for more accuracy at a greatly reduced cost. This has done much to increase the understanding between people of the world.
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