From English to German - Anglicisms
When I was asked to write an essay about translating from English to German, I was at first kind of embarrassed about how to start. And then I decided to start at the beginning.
My career as a translator has not been a typical one. I'd like to try to highlight some issues in the translation business that are not typical, either. The issues all began during elementary school. Right from the beginning, English was my favorite subject. I was very fond of the language. Short and yet strong expressions, no bothering about declinations and conjugations, which were so annoying in Latin and French, my other two foreign languages. I used to read a lot of English and American literature. I enjoyed every single piece.
The only part that caused some difficulty was translating into German. Both oral and written translations required by teachers and exams were impossibly difficult. Regardless of their common origin, both languages differ considerably regarding grammar and possibilities to express certain ideas. Often in English there are few words. Yet in German if you try to express the same idea, you get long sentences.
Now, almost thirty years later, I'm still struggling with the very same problem. After more than twenty years in dentistry, I decided to abandon my first profession, at least its practical aspects. I made the change from dentistry to translation in my old specialties: dentistry and medicine.
Settling into my new profession took some time. I had to reach a level where I was capable of making a living with translations. In the meantime the job works, and the struggle has become easier.
Experience tells me how to handle a variety of English source texts. For example, scientific papers, often written by experts with minimal linguistic skills, must be rewritten instead of translated. I may find some useful hints about the problem of source language differences from target language differences in other essays on this web site. The way German expresses ideas and the way English expresses ideas are very different. The differences present significant challenges to me as a translator.
In contrast, instructions for use and user guides for manuals usually have to be correct. Linguistic or stylistic aspects are secondary. For both kinds of texts, there often exists a specific terminology, based on Latin or Greek terms that are widely used and commonly understood in the medical field. With some minor changes in spelling and without any necessary translation, such terms can just be used as they are.
In between translations is the marketing material that comes across my desk: press releases, patient brochures, CEO letters from certain companies. Sometimes, the materials streamline my work.
At this point two additional issues arise: anglicisms that play an important role in German and headlines or slogans. Anglicisms convey a specific meaning in English but do not have a German equivalent. The same would be true in translation from Japanese to English. Kotatsu has no equivalent in English. Such differences between the two languages require more experience, more cultural knowledge. The question I ponder is who will read my German translation. I ask if the translation is for professionals and experts or if is it for a general audience.
The answers to the basic questions determine word choices and the answers determine the results of a successful translation. This situation is surely similar for all language combinations, not only English to German. The only difference for other combinations is perhaps the anglicisms. In Germany, people readily adopt all kinds of English terms in daily life and in the work environment. English words and expressions are in, cool, or hype - as we already say here in Germany. German translations for words such as in, cool, and hype do not exist in German. If they do exist, they are considered old fashioned and not sufficiently trendy. We in Germany readily adopt anglicisms whenever they appear without giving a thought to the possibility that we could translate or instead express such a term with the German equivalent.
Because of our German acceptance of such anglicisms, I ask what this means for professional translation. First, it's always a great temptation to just take the anglicism. However, it must be noted that an English term is not always suited for each reader and for each target group. If, for example, an advertising text for a new medical appliance praises its better compliance, I would need to be aware that the average person such as a patient may not know the meaning an anglicism such as compliance, a term commonly used among health care professionals.
Second, using anglicisms can also lead to a poor style in German. The results are often sentences that do not sound or read like German anymore. Again, identifying the target audience will help me to decide whether the anglicisms or the German is acceptable. All these issues apply to daily life, work life, and newspaper headlines and slogans. One approach is to take the arduous way and think of good, accurate, and appropriate German expressions. Doing so is always worthwhile. English slogans have conquered German television and the print advertising market. Yet I clearly remember old German television commercials and campaigns. If it were possible to decide which good German slogans from the past would be appropriate for today’s language, I wonder why we have to live with anglicisms such as real power and test the best.
In conclusion, I definitely advocate considering a very sensitive handling of anglicisms when translating from English to German. Maybe this is a very German point of view. I am well aware of the possibilities of my mother tongue to express certain thoughts and ideas. Maybe German does not feel as short and elegant when compared to English, but we too can explain what we want in order to be well understood. If we are not too lazy or dull to figure out the appropriate words, we can create a beautiful language for not only for a couple of individuals who are no longer aware of their own native German tongue but for all Germans.
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ドイツ語一口メモ
英語に比べて前置詞の数が多いことはドイツ語の特色の一つです。初学者にとってさらにやっかいな課題となるのは、英語には見られない前置詞の格支配の多様性と前置詞と冠詞が結合する縮約という現象です。ドイツ語では同一の前置詞であってもそれが支配する名詞ないし名詞相当語の格が変化することによって、前置詞の意味が微妙に変化します。また、前置詞とそれに続く名詞に付加される冠詞が結合してあたかも一つの単語のような形になります。もっともよく見られる形は、inという前置詞とdemやdasという冠詞が結合するimとかinsというものです。その他の前置詞にも同様の縮約形がありますが、これらは、それぞれの前置詞のいくつかの決まった使い方と理解すれば、さほど難しいものではありません。
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