I'm the Global Chief Editor of an international business school, and I often have to translate content into different languages for our blogs (10 markets from Ukraine to the United States). It's not easy, so your upcoming article's topic is relevant. The biggest challenges for me are: 1. Finding exact equivalents for definitions (from economic to scientific concepts). Sometimes, even professional translators fail to do this if they are not experts, for example, in narrow economic issues. 2. Understand the context of the country you are translating for. Sometimes, things that are interesting to Americans may not be valuable to the Ukrainian or Turkish market, and on the contrary. I usually contact locals to ask their advice if I have any doubts. 3. Find excellent translators/editors/proofreaders you can trust (the most challenging one to be honest). For example, I don't speak German, but we have a German website with a blog. I can't check the quality of the translation into German, but I can find a specialist I can trust. Here, I advise asking several native speakers to double-check the translation. Julia Dryn, Global Chief Editor at International Business School Laba
Certainly. The process of translating a book into different languages is very rife with challenges, and there was one instance where the balancing linguistic fittingness while safeguarding the author’s voice proved to be particularly challenging. In the context of this project, a culturally referenced rich novel that had to be translated in several languages for the international readers was needed. Other than getting the story across, it was also retaining cultural characteristics and undertones. In order to counteract this, I organized a team of translators who were not only proficient with the target language but also native speakers in terms of their respective cultures. Several collaborative meetings were held during the regular time to talk about many interpretations, context and also potential challenges. The idea was to make the story come alive without losing its cultural integrity. The second further critical aspect was the consistent terminology and style across the languages. We developed a comprehensive glossary and also style guide that promoted consistency while incorporating the linguistic pluralism. This case accentuates the need to apply collaborative and also culturally conscious approaches in the translation of novels with a global following. It illustrated the delicate balance between linguistic precision and also cultural authenticity in multilingual translation.