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Fidelity and transparency have been sought after as the ideal in translation for ages. There is even mention of a French critic in the 17th-century who said that translations, like women, could be either faithful or beautiful, but not both at the same time. Being a female Translator, I completely disagree with that statement as “impossible” is the daily challenge in our profession.
Fidelity refers to the level to which a translation accurately presents the meaning of the source text, without adding to or subtracting from it, without intensifying or weakening any part of the meaning, and otherwise without changing or interfering with it while transparency relates to the point to which a translation appears to a native speaker of the target language to have originally been written in that language, and is consistent with the language’s grammatical, syntactic and idiomatic standards. One translation can be a “faithful translation” and another can be an “idiomatic translation” rendering transparency but the two attributes are not mutually exclusive.
Quality in translation entails high accuracy which refers to fidelity and transparency, proper translation of the terminology and attention to the target audience, considering the linguistic codes (lexicon, morphology, phonology and syntax) of both languages. This process requires thorough knowledge of the grammar, semantics, syntax, idioms, composition, form, voice, and the like of the source language, as well as the cultural contexts of its speakers. Translation is inherently a difficult activity indeed as it must take into account a number of constraints, including context, and writing conventions.
Just our conscious effort to pursue high accuracy, beautifully manifested through fidelity and transparency, will render a translation which will be considered “faithful” to the original text and “useful” to its potential readers even though acceptable translations can be as creative and original as their source texts.
Paulina Torres De Witt
www.goihata.com
