TRANSLATION PROBLEMS

Brie Laura Mihaela

LMA, AN II, EN-FR
TABLE OF CONTENTS
 Introduction
In my research for this paper, I used mostly the internet, but also the ideas written during the
course and some of the books included in the bibliography for the course. In this paper, with the
help of the theoretical aspects read during my research, I will try to give some examples for each of
the translation problems explained by Nord. I will also try to offer, as much as possible, my own
translations for the examples.

When dealing with a translation, one of the processes included in the work is the analysis of
the ST. This analysis, called TOSTA (Translation Oriented Source Text Analysis), helps us discover
the function of the text, the target readers (with different levels of knowledge and different ages), as
well as “ST elements that need to be preserved or adapted in translation” (Nord 1991: 21). In
addition to these extratextual and intratextual elements that Christiane Nord speaks about, the
analysis helps us identify possible translation problems and develop a translation strategy to be able
to solve these problems.

According to Christiane Nord, there are four problems in translation. These problems
require specific transfer strategies; that is why they are considered the starting point in the
translation process and, consequently, have to be identified before we start working. The four
problems referred to in Nord’s Text Analysis in Translation are: pragmatic, linguistic, cultural and
text-specific.

Pragmatic problems

As described by Nord, they refer to the fact that there may be differences between the
situations in the source culture and the target culture. These differences include time, place, etc. The
receivers’ lack of orientation may give birth to this kind of problems, as well as text function. These
are always present in the translation task, no matter the direction of the translation process or the
languages involved.

In order to identify potential pragmatic problems, we need to check the extratextual factors,
for each text (the profile and intention of the text producer, the target reader, the medium of
communication, places and time of production and reception of the text).

In the following example, the translation of the sentence depends on the communicative
intention of the speaker:

(1) Can you change the settings for the AVG antivirus update manager?
When hearing this, we cannot know what sort of action is intended by the speaker. Is it a request for
action? Or is it a request for information? This might make a difference to the translation. I find
myself in a difficult situation. How do we translate it?

Poţi să schimbi setările de actualizare ale antivirusului AVG? (request for action)

Se pot schimba setările de actualizare ale antivirusului AVG? (request for information)

The next example is taken from a book, Pour la réforme de la fiscalité, written by Maurice
Allais (1990: 19).

(2) “Si la décentralisation des decisions est considérée, comme c’est généralement le
cas en Occident, et de plus en plus dans les pays communistes, comme une condition
majeure d’efficacité, vouloir assurer par des messures fiscales l’efficacité de l’économie
revient en réalité à mettre en application par une voie détournée une planification centralisée
incompatible avec cette décentralisation.”1 (I underlined the problem)

At first sight, one might say that there is no problem here. But we have to take into account
that the book was written in 1990, and in 2008 communist countries no longer exist. Therefore, we
have to find a way to translate this phrase, so that the reader gets the correct information. This is
what I suggest:

Dacă, aşa cum se întâmpla în Occident, şi apoi tot mai mult în ţările comuniste din acea
perioadă, descentralizarea deciziilor era considerată o condiţie majoră a eficienţei, dorinţa
de a asigura eficienţa economică prin măsuri fiscale s-a redus de fapt la punerea în aplicare,
pe o cale ocolită, a unei planificări centralizate, incompatibilă cu această descentralizare.

In the following example, they speak about the meeting of the main political parties to
discuss about means to adopt a reform that would lead to changing the voting system. The problem
is that they don’t mention what parties, or where they come from. They could be different parties
from different countries.

(3) Cum doresc partidele să reformeze sistemul de vot? Care este miza referendumului
din 25 noiembrie şi care vor fi efectele asupra scrutinului europarlamentar? Liderii
principalelor partide sunt invitaţi să disece subiectul.

(http://www.comunicatedepresa.ro/Uninominal_contra_uninominal~MzE3NDA)

1
If we take into account the decentralization of decisions, as it is the case in the West, and more and more in the
communist countries as a fundamental condition for efficiency, assuring the economic efficiency by fiscal measures
means, in fact, to apply a centralized plan in an indirect way, which is incompatible with this decentralization. (my
translation)
 When we have to translate this text for someone in Great Britain, for example, we should
add some information.

How do political parties in Romania want to improve the voting system? What are the
stakes of the referendum that took place on the 25th of November and which will be its effect
on the European parliamentary scrutiny? The leaders of the main Romanian parties are
invited to debate on the subject. (I underlined what I added)

What I added to the translated text does not change its message in any way, or its effect on
the reader. It simply informs where the event will happen and who will take part in it.

Linguistic problems

They arise from differences of structure in the vocabulary and syntax of the SL and TL.
Some of these problems may be caused by the so called “false friends” or by situations of one-to-
many or one-to-zero equivalence, according to Christiane Nord. These problems can also be caused
by lack of grammar knowledge in the SL or the TL. We must keep in mind that according to the
domain to which the ST belongs, our translation may require different tenses, or has different
grammar rules or syntax.

Linguistic problems may appear also when we are translating texts from specific domains,
especially technical. Obviously, it is almost sure that we do not have enough knowledge therefore,
we will use a dictionary. The problem springs out when we see that one word in the SL may have
more than one meaning in the TL and they all seem to be the same. Or, it might be even worse, if
we do not have advanced dictionaries, as we might find only the most commonly used translation.
This might be a problem for us. Let’s take a look at the following example:

(4) “CAUTION: make sure the Safety Bolt (S) is tight. A loose Safety bolt will result in an
unstable installation which may result in property damage and/or personal injury.” (this
example is taken from an instruction manual to help users install a flat TV on their wall:
http://www.sanus.com/pdf/manualEN/6901-100044.pdf, p. 5)

As I looked up the word “bolt” in a general dictionary, this is what I found out: bulon,
şurub. But, when I looked it up in a technical dictionary, I found these: pivot, piron, broască,
lacăt, dorn, ax, şplint, şurub, zăvor, bolţ, bulon. For my sentence, I thought one of these was
the one I was looking for: pivot, dorn, şplint, şurub, bolţ, bulon. Because all these seem quite
the same to me, I had to look in a Romanian dictionary, to see the difference between them.
After the research I reached the conclusion that:
 - pivot = fus în formă cilindrică/conică ce se roteşte într-un lagăr la care sarcina acţionează
în direcţia axului

- dorn = unealtă de forma unei tije cilindrice sau conice, având rolul de a prinde, de a
degaja, de a deplasa o piesă

- şurub = tijă cilindrică de oţel sau lemn, cu filet, care ajută la asamblarea a două sau mai
multor piese

- bolţ = piesă de legătură între un piston şi o bielă

- bulon = tijă cilindrică, cu sau fără cap, prevăzută cu filet, care serveşte la asamblarea a
două piese

were not the words I needed. But şplint (= cui de siguranţă) was the one.

ATENŢIE: asiguraţi-vă că aţi bine înfiletat cuiul de siguranţă (S). Dacă nu este strâns,
instalaţia va fi instabilă şi ar putea produce stricăciuni şi/sau provoca răni.

We may have linguistic problems due to the different structures of the SL, compared to the
TL. For example:

(5) Le moment arrivé je serais prête2.

When the time comes, I shall be ready.

Another example would be:

(6) Young people like this music.

To translate this sentence into French, for example, we have to make some changes, in
accordance with the French grammatical structure, if we want to use a verb equivalent to “like”:

Cette musique plaît aux jeunes3.

If we use the same structure, we have to use another verb, “aimer” = to love, and it is not
the same in meaning as “to like”.

The next example is taken from Evenimentul Zilei, no. 5055 published on the 22nd of
October 2007 (http://www.evz.ro/article.php?artid=327569 )

(7) Oricum era ceva inofensiv şi chiar avea toate motivele să fie nervos. Era o chestiune de
producţie pe care, împreună cu colegii, nu o tratasem aşa cum trebuie. (I underlined)

2
Când va veni momentul, voi fi pregătită.
3
Muzica aceasta place tinerilor.
 In any case, it was something harmless, and he really did have reasons to be angry. It was a
matter of production, which I and my colleagues hadn’t dealt with in the best way.

Someone who doesn’t know that the word “nervos” in this context must be translated by
“angry”, will certainly use the word “nervous”, which has a completely different meaning.

Cultural problems

According to Nord, are the result of the differences in norms and conventions that guide
verbal and non-verbal behavior in the two cultures involved, as every culture has its own habits and
conventions.

The first example is taken from a recipe book, Bucătărie englezească& irlandeză, galeză,
scoţiană.

(8) “Se curăţă varza şi se spală bine în apă cu sare, apoi se scurge. Se fierbe într-o oală
mare cu apă sărată până când este bine fiartă.”

When translating this phrase in English, we must remember (or search for!) rules /
conventions in writing recipes:

Wash the cabbage in salted water, then drain it. Boil the cabbage in a big pot with salted
water, until it is well done. (my translation)

I had a translation about traditional costumes in Romania. Fortunately, the SL was English
and the TL was Romanian, and this helped me a lot, because I know a lot more about Romanian
traditions and costumes than about English ones. The text was very easy to translate also because it
had pictures for each costume, and I even had the Romanian name in brackets:

(9) Lambskin vest (Pieptar) – warn over the shirt, consisting of two forms: closed in the
front (with a black background and red feathers), and open in the front (with buttons and
flowers in the front, white background with large silken tassels).

If I had to translate in the other direction (Romanian as SL and English as TL) it would have
been a bit more difficult.

Text-specific problems

They are the ones that can not be included in any of the other three categories. They refer to
specific situations of communication that are unique and depend on a certain context.

The first example is from Dicţionar de proverbe Român-Englez, by Virgil Lefter (1978: 79)

(10) Nici o boală nu-i mai rea, ca dorul şi dragostea.

 He translates it as follows:

No herb will cure love.

Obviously, he found himself in the situation to translate “dor” which has no equivalent in
other languages.

And there are many examples in Ion Creangă’s books.

(11) Iar sătenii duc pe leneş la locul cuvenit şi-i fac felul. Şi iaca aşa au scăpat şi leneşul
acela de săteni, şi sătenii aceia de dânsul. Mai poftească de-acum şi alţi leneşi în satul acela,
dacă le dă mâna şi-i ţine cureaua. (Povestea unui om leneş,
4
http://www.neamt.ro/cmj/Creanga/Povestea_lenesului.html )

Creangă’s texts are indeed very difficult to translate, but not impossible. Here is my
translation for the text above; I had to admit it was quite a challenge.

And the peasants take the lazy man to the place he deserves and do away with him. And this
is how they got rid of the lazy man and how the lazy man got rid of them. Other lazy people
are welcomed to that village, if they can put up with the situation.

Conclusion

After these few pages of short research, I can really see now why theory is good in
translation and why it is necessary to discover the problems in translations and how I can deal with
them. Being still a student and that means I don’t have much experience at the moment, I found it
difficult to find examples for these problems. I am sure that after years of experience I will find it
easier to think of texts and examples for all kinds of situations.

4
Text reprodus după volumul Ion Creangă, Poveşti şi povestiri, 1987, Bucureşti, Editura Minerva
Bibliography:

1. Nord, C (1991) Text Analysis in Translation. Theory. Methodology and Didactic

Application of a Model for Translation – Oriented Text Analaysis: Amsterdamer
Publikationen zur Sprache & Literatur, Amsterdam/Atlanta, Ga.: Rodopi

2. Allais, M. (1990) Pour la réforme de la fiscalité, ???

3. Lefter, Virgil (1978) Dicţionar de proverbe roman-englez, Bucureşti, EDP

4. http://www.comunicatedepresa.ro/Uninominal_contra_uninominal~MzE3NDA

5. http://www.sanus.com/pdf/manualEN/6901-100044.pdf

6. http://www.evz.ro/article.php?artid=327569

7. http://www.neamt.ro/cmj/Creanga/Povestea_lenesului.html

8. http://www.dictionarenglezroman.ro/

9. Cincu, C; Cismaş, I; Croitoru, M. (2004) Dicţionar tehnic englez-român, Bucureşti, editura

Tehnică