By Sarthak Bangwal

Is translation an art or a skill? The author argues that it is an art first, and also a skill that is learned and practised. This is his view, with the reasons he gives.

Why translation is an art

The author starts from a common definition of art: "a diverse range of human activities involving creative imagination to express technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas." Translation, he says, is an art form because a translator has to carry across emotions, references and ideas. Software can be programmed for a specific task, but not for every reference, emotion or idea.

In his view, a machine can learn art but cannot understand or feel it. It can recognise a baby crying or a person begging for change, but it cannot comprehend the baby's longing for its mother, or the struggle and history behind the person begging. Art communicates pain and pleasure. It is not simple, and neither is translation.

The reader completes the work

What a person takes from a work of art depends on the observer, on what they felt and how they relate to it through their own life. The emotions art brings out differ from person to person, as much as fingerprints or faces do. One person may see the same artwork as demonic and feel fear. Another may see it as spiritual and feel peace. The author believes a computer cannot understand what "spiritual" means, because it is man-made and therefore limited.

The purpose of translation is connection

Art has had many functions through history, so its purpose is hard to reduce to one idea. The author says the purpose of translation is connection. In professional work this connection is about basic text and meaning. But translation also carries feeling, emotion and comfort, and the other party does not have to be human. As his example, he asks whether a computer would understand a person complaining to God about their worries. It would probably assume that someone else is present, or that the person is talking to himself. That, he says, is a mistranslation.

Where translation is a skill

The author also accepts that translation is a skill. You go to a school or university, learn words and grammar, practise, and get better. He compares this to learning to paint. At first you draw two mountains, an awkward river, a smiling sun and a blocky shack on crayon-green grass. Later the picture becomes realistic, with dew on the window, the heat of the sun, shadows on the grass and fish in the river. With more skill, the picture shows the painter's state of mind. When you feel the painter's heartache in front of it, the message has reached you, and in a sense you have done the translation.

Conclusion

For the author, translation depends on skill that is learned, but its core is human feeling and understanding, which is why he calls it an art.

Related reading

For another view on how technology and human translators work together, read Translation in the next 10 years.