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Real life Examples: See for Yourself Whether a Professional Translation Is Worth It
Real life Examples: See for Yourself Whether a Professional Translation Is Worth It
Some of these mistakes might not seem like a big deal, but imagine an entire book full of them. It's death by a thousand papercuts. These "papercuts" add up quickly, becoming a constant distraction for your readers.
THE ORIGINAL
THE ORIGINAL
Si udì l’ennesimo, ma ormai flebile, crack del povero biscotto scivolato dalle mani di Cathy.
OTHER TRANSLATION
OTHER TRANSLATION
Yet I heard another, but now faint, crack sound of the poor cookie slipped from Cathy’s hands.
MY TRANSLATION
MY TRANSLATION
There was yet another, now faint, crack of the poor cookie that had slipped out of Cathy’s hands.
previous example
Comments:
"Was heard" would be more correct than "I heard" for "si udì." But, since a crack is a sound, an even more natural way to convey this in English is to simply say "there was." Using "could be heard" would also be a natural way to express this. However, given the length of this sentence with its various descriptors ("yet another," "faint") and clauses ("of the poor cookie," "that had slipped out," "of Cathy's hands"), adding a "could be heard" to this sentence makes it too convoluted for English. A good human translator is not just looking for words and phrases that are both correct and natural, but also looking at entire sentences and paragraphs holistically. Words and phrases that may sound great in other contexts simply will not work in others.
Technically "biscotto scivolato" means "cookie slipped," but in English this construction requires a relative pronoun followed by the verb in past perfect to show that the slipping had taken place previously. The first sentence sounds so odd that many English speakers would probably have to read the sentence 2 or 3 times to figure out what it means.
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