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Good command of the target language is more important than knowledge of source language?
Thread poster: jivi (X)
Phil Hand
Phil Hand  Identity Verified
China
Local time: 23:20
Chinese to English
True up to a point Aug 9, 2014

Lincoln Hui wrote:

All problems that I encounter come from the source text, without exception.

I certainly agree with the spirit of this statement: bad reading is by far the biggest problem that I have seen in commercial translation.

I'd offer a couple of caveats. First, Lincoln, you are a very eloquent person. There are many, many folk out there who don't have your ability to express, and I think we should take seriously the possibility that some people have the reverse issue from you. Having said that, I do agree that the number is small, and in fact most problems do come in the reading phase.

Second, there are texts for which expression matters. Literature is the obvious example, but it doesn't have to be fiction or poetry. Good philosophy, criticism, history and political argument depends to a certain extent on good writing. I'm doing a lot of these genres this year, and I'm finding that it tests my English writing in whole new ways.


Dave Bindon wrote:
I’d like to begin with the term “successful translator”. What does that mean?

Another great angle on the question. Reminds me of Lawrence Venuti's question: Is the job of the translator to disappear? Do we succeed by getting our name on the front of the book, or by pretending we don't exist?
 
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Good command of the target language is more important than knowledge of source language?







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