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14:40 Mar 1, 2011
This question was closed without grading. Reason: Other
English to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting
English term or phrase:tenses
I am currently translating a bio of a deceased artist. The original text mostly uses the present tense, however in translating into english should I keep the tense as is or change it to the past tense - as generally if you are writing about someone who is deceased, the tense used is the past tense?
My main dilemma is should I stay faithful to the source text by keeping the tenses used or should my objective be making the target text as legible in english as possible?
Having said this, both present and past tense would suit in english.
Sometimes I use the present narrative for publicity texts or joke telling. And of course the present can be used when talking about generalities. But I think especially with a dead person, the past is best, unless perhaps this is a friend story-telling.
I've taken the liberty of changing this to English-English, as it's not a specific piece of French translation that you're looking for.
In my opinion you should definitely use the past tense. Other languages often use the present where we would use the past.
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
3 hrs confidence:
past tense
Explanation: If using past tense makes the Engish translation more readable, then I concur with my peers.
Saludos,
eski
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 3 hrs (2011-03-01 18:25:17 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
.. and to make the translation in a fluent and readable style according to .... "Began" is italicized if it renders an imperfect tense, in order to ... As for sequence of tenses, the translators took care to follow English ... more unexpected and unjustified to the English reader than a past tense would have been. ... www.bible-researcher.com › ... › 20th Century › NASB - Cached - Similar
John 8:58, "Before Abraham came into existence, I have been ...
Why is this translated into "I have been?" Quite simply because if we did not do this, ... where it is warranted in order to make the English more readable and clear. ... The Bible in Worldwide English translates it as "I already was. .... He used a past tense verb when describing Abraham ("before Abraham was. ...
carm.org/religious.../john-858-abraham-came-existence-i-have-been - Cached
Bulgarian language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
More examples of the yat umlaut in the literary language are: ..... This palatal approximant makes the consonant palatal through regressive assimilation. ..... The past tense of this verb – щях /ʃtʲax/ is conjugated to form the past .... These have no precise translation in English. The particles are strictly ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgarian_language - Cached - Similar
Routledge encyclopedia of translation studies - Google Books Result
Mona Baker, Kirsten Malmkjær - 1998 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 654 pages
The present tense and the historic present are substituted with the past tense, which is more frequently used in written English narrative. ...
books.google.com/books?isbn=0415093805
eski Mexico Local time: 14:50 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English, Spanish PRO pts in category: 8
The translation workplace 
