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Translations in articles
9 replies
ChrisWilliams said on August 17, 2005 22:22:
Over the last few months...
Sometimes when I read TDR, I wonder if the quotes being used are accurately translated. This one being a case in point:
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“When Per is confronted with the ’facts’ that he is not welcome at our wedding, of course he replies something cold and just enough sarcastic. How else is he supposed to react? Who wouldn’t think a situation like that is uncomfortable,” Micke comments.
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“he replies something cold and just enough sarcastic” - That statement doesn’t make a lot of sense to a native English speaker like myself, so surely it must confuse foreign fans. Saying that Per replies in a “cold” way says (to me, at least) that Micke doesn’t like Per’s attitude all that much, while “sarcastic” says (again, to me) that that he realises Per’s comment a bit of a joke.
Another case in point is the statement issued by Per on the subject. I believe I read on this forum that it was translated from Swedish into English, hence the odd “not in the cards” phrase, but why wasn’t it stated on the article that it had been translated? I’m an ABBA fan, and when things make it to ABBAMAIL’s newspage (http://www.abbamail.com) it almost always says, “Translated from Swedish to English by...”, to let readers know the authenticity of the article.
It’s more an observation than a criticism, but I’m sometimes concerned about the translations on TDR. On a journalistic site such as this, comments should be translated accurately.
With kind regards,
Chris
roxeteer (moderator) said on August 18, 2005 07:54:
I’m not sure if we need to add “translated by ...” to the articles. It’s almost always clear that the person who wrote the article also translated the quotes.
And anyway, do you ever see “translated by ...” line in the newspaper articles?
tevensso (moderator) said on August 18, 2005 08:28:
I always translate what’s in Swedish media, and sometimes I translate Per’s statements, sometimes he translates them himself. About the “in the cards,” and the other phrase; that is what I’ve been taught, I speak American English, which isn’t always the same as BE.
And yes, the original that Micke wrote said that Per indeed replied something cold, it could’ve been translated “cool,” but as cool means something totally else also, I opted for cold. Of course Micke knows Per was joking, he already said so before, and most people know that Per jokes a lot.
Hope this clears some things up. I think we have great language in our articles 99% of the time. Compared to for instance the “fanclub” we are WAY up there... :)
I have to add: why would a “translated by...” make an article more authentic?
Rich-UK said on August 18, 2005 08:57:
Here’s my opinion – just in case anyone’s interested!
I think that the standard of written English in the translations on this site is excellent, and as a humble Brit who only speaks his native language I am very impressed. OK, so very very occasionally there is a phrase that doesn’t sound quite right (e.g. “just enough sarcastic”, as pointed out by CW), but in my opinion most non-native and native English speakers should understand the point (in this case that Per could be a bit sarcastic), and only grammatical puritans will be left with something to say. The quality of Thomas’ grammatical English is clearly superior to that of the majority of native English speakers who use the site, so my verdict is case closed – and keep up the good work Thomas!
Best wishes from Rich ;-)
ally77 said on August 18, 2005 11:56:
I’m with Rich...
I wish my Swedish where as good as Thomas’s English! lol
harriej said on August 18, 2005 18:55:
In my opinion there is no problem in translation at all. All articles which have been translated are totally clear to me, even though (or maybe: because of the fact) I am not british.
so, Tevensso (and other TDR-crew who translate the articles): You are doing a good job (IMHO).
harriej said on August 21, 2005 18:53:
agree, don’t see any problem with the translations.
I am already happy it is being translated!
Jud (moderator) said on August 18, 2005 05:44:
Thanks for your comments.
MY comments on this:
I don’t think we should write “translated by..” everywhere because most of the info (specially official, so from press statements, EMI, Dimberg...) comes in in Swedish and is translated.. I think it would be an unnecessary sentence..
And regarding the cold and sarcastic: I think that’s what Micke ment. Per’s reply to Expressen were like that, at least it sounded like that and if Expressen quoted him correctly. Saying something like “what’s the name of the wife?” isn’t that happy nice sounding :)
Besides that.. I think Thomas is good with translations, and then we always have Lars editing here and there ;)