By Siddhi Pandit
As a translator and an engineer, I have always asked myself: is translation an art, a science, or a skill? Many people think that anyone who speaks two languages can be a translator, but that is a misconception. Being bilingual or multilingual does not make one a translator. A translator must possess multiple qualities, and knowledge of a language is just one of them.
Art, science, or something in between?
Some people believe translation is a science, like cryptography - a matter of coding and decoding. That is not true either. You cannot assume a fixed one-to-one correspondence between languages and call it translation. Every language is shaped by culture, and when you translate, knowledge of that culture is just as important as knowledge of the words. Does that make translation an art?
Well, it is more complicated than that. We cannot pigeonhole translation as an art, a science, or just another skill - it is all of the above. A single neat definition is hard to give. Webster's Dictionary says translating means changing spoken or written words into another language, but any working translator knows the reality goes far beyond that.
Novice translators and professional translators
I believe there are novice translators and then there are professional translators. Novices translate using their knowledge of a particular field alone. Professional translators, on the other hand, are applied linguists with a genuine ability to work with language and a deep understanding of it. They are dedicated to their languages and to the nations, societies, and cultures that come with them. They work constantly on understanding their source language and writing well in their target language. They recognize that translation is both an art and a skill, and they commit to deepening their knowledge of the fields they translate in. Finally, professional translators know they can always improve and polish their ability.
Professional translators may not always be necessary, but if a translation has to be accurate, professionally prepared, and well presented, an experienced translator is crucial. Bad translations cause real problems, including misunderstood texts that reflect poorly on a company or organization. If you want your car fixed, you take it to a mechanic, not a car salesman. The salesman may know a bit about cars, but not enough to address your problems properly.
Why translation alone is not enough
In a world of so many people and so many languages, translation by itself does not always cut it. Interpretation is equally important. Spoken Spanish and its idioms in Spain and Mexico are quite different, and in India we all speak Hindi, but the Hindi spoken in Mumbai differs from the Hindi spoken in Delhi. We see this most clearly with English, one of the most widely spoken languages in the world.
Translation is a demanding process that not everybody who knows two or more languages can master. A good translator loves languages and is dedicated to the job. That includes the desire to constantly improve linguistic knowledge and deepen knowledge of specialized fields. Since the majority of required translations are technical ones - in fields with their own terminology, as opposed to literary translation - every translator needs to specialize in one or more areas, such as legal, financial, medical, or IT-related texts.
A human activity at the crossroads of many sciences
Translation is ultimately a human activity that lets people exchange ideas and thoughts regardless of the languages they speak. It is a modern science at the interface of philosophy, linguistics, psychology, and sociology. Literary translation in particular touches all these sciences, as well as the audio-visual arts and cultural and intellectual studies.
In translation, the richness of vocabulary, depth of culture, and vision of the translator all leave a visible mark on the work. Another translator might produce a perfectly acceptable version of the same text that reflects a completely different background, culture, sensitivity, and temperament. Such differences take nothing away from either translator, because translation is a decidedly more difficult job than creation. All translators have to keep striving for a higher level of professionalism to bring prestige and respect to themselves and to the translation profession.
