Literal translation, direct translation or word-for-word translation, is a translation of a text done by translating each word separately, without looking at how the words are used together in a phrase or sentence.[1]
The term "literal translation" often appeared in the titles of 19th-century English translations of classical, Bible and other texts.
Cribs
Word-for-word translations ("cribs," "ponies" or "trots") are sometimes prepared for a writer who is translating a work written in a language they do not know. For example, Robert Pinsky is reported to have used a literal translation in preparing his translation of Dante's Inferno (1994), as he does not know Italian.[citation needed] Similarly, Richard Pevear worked from literal translations provided by his wife, Larissa Volokhonsky, in their translations of several Russian novels.[citation needed]
Poetry to prose
Literal translation can also denote a translation that represents the precise meaning of the original text but does not attempt to convey its style, beauty, or poetry. There is, however, a great deal of difference between a literal translation of a poetic work and a prose translation. A literal translation of poetry may be in prose rather than verse, but also be error free. Charles Singleton's translation of the Divine Comedy (1975) is regarded as a prose translation.
As bad practice
"Literal" translation implies that it is probably full of errors, since the translator has made no effort to convey, for example, correct idioms or shades of meaning, but it might be also useful in seeing how words are used to convey meaning in the source language.
Examples
A literal English translation of the German word "kindergartencode: deu promoted to code: de " would be "children's garden," but also in (mainly US) English, the expression refers to the preschool institution. Literal translations in which individual components within words or compounds are translated to create new lexical items in the target language (a process also known as “loan translation”) are called calques, e.g., “beer garden” from German “biergartencode: deu promoted to code: de .”
The literal translation of the Italian sentence, "So che questo non va benecode: ita promoted to code: it " ("I know that this is not good"), produces "Know(I) that this not goes(it) well," which has English words and Italian grammar.
Machine translation
Early machine translations (as of 1962[2] at least) were notorious for this type of translation, as they simply employed a database of words and their translations. Later attempts utilized common phrases which resulted in better grammatical structure and capture of idioms, but with many words left in the original language. For translating synthetic languages, a morphosyntactic analyzer and synthesizer is required.
The best systems today use a combination of the above technologies and apply algorithms to correct the "natural" sound of the translation. In the end, though, professional translation firms that employ machine translation use it as a tool to create a rough translation that is then tweaked by a human, professional translator.
Douglas Hofstadter gave an example for the failures of a machine translation: The English sentence "In their house, everything comes in pairs. There's his car and her car, his towels and her towels, and his library and hers." is translated into French as "Dans leur maison, tout vient en paires. Il y a sa voiture et sa voiture, ses serviettes et ses serviettes, sa bibliothèque et les siennes.code: fra promoted to code: fr " That does not make sense, because the literal translation of both "his" and "hers" into French is "sacode: fra promoted to code: fr " in case of singular, and "sescode: fra promoted to code: fr " in case of plural, therefore the French version is not understandable.[3]
Pidgins
Often, first-generation immigrants create something of a literal translation in how they speak their parents' native language. This results in a mix of the two languages in something of a pidgin. Many such mixes have specific names, e.g. Spanglish or Denglisch. For example, American children of German immigrants are heard using "rockingstool" from the German word "schaukelstuhlcode: deu promoted to code: de " instead of "rocking chair".
Translator's humor
Literal translation of idioms is a source of translators' jokes and apocrypha. The following has often been told in relation to inexperienced translators or to machine translations: When the sentence, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" ("дух бодр, плоть же немощнаcode: rus promoted to code: ru ", an allusion to Mark 14:38) was translated into Russian and then back into English, the result was "The vodka is good, but the meat is rotten" ("водка хорошая, но мясо протухлоcode: rus promoted to code: ru "). This is generally believed to be an amusing apocrypha rather than a reference to an actual machine-translation error.[2]
^"LITERAL | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary". dictionary.cambridge.org. Retrieved 2019-09-21.
^ abcHutchins, John (June 1995). (PDF). MT News International (11): 17–18. Archived from the original on 3 January 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2022.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^Hofstadter, Douglas (30 January 2018). "The Shallowness of Google Translate". The Atlantic. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
Further reading
Olive Classe, Encyclopedia of literary translation into English, vol. 1, Taylor & Francis, 2000, ISBN1-884964-36-2, p. viii.
January 13, 2023
literal, translation, confused, with, literary, translation, loan, translation, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, needs, additional, citati. Not to be confused with Literary translation or loan translation This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Literal translation news newspapers books scholar JSTOR May 2007 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article possibly contains original research Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations Statements consisting only of original research should be removed September 2007 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message Literal translation direct translation or word for word translation is a translation of a text done by translating each word separately without looking at how the words are used together in a phrase or sentence 1 In translation theory another term for literal translation is metaphrase as opposed to paraphrase for an analogous translation Literal translation leads to mistranslating of idioms which is a serious problem for machine translation 2 Contents 1 The term as used in translation studies 1 1 Usage 1 2 Cribs 1 3 Poetry to prose 2 As bad practice 2 1 Examples 2 2 Machine translation 2 3 Pidgins 3 Translator s humor 4 See also 5 References 6 Further readingThe term as used in translation studies EditUsage Edit The term literal translation often appeared in the titles of 19th century English translations of classical Bible and other texts Cribs Edit Word for word translations cribs ponies or trots are sometimes prepared for a writer who is translating a work written in a language they do not know For example Robert Pinsky is reported to have used a literal translation in preparing his translation of Dante s Inferno 1994 as he does not know Italian citation needed Similarly Richard Pevear worked from literal translations provided by his wife Larissa Volokhonsky in their translations of several Russian novels citation needed Poetry to prose Edit Literal translation can also denote a translation that represents the precise meaning of the original text but does not attempt to convey its style beauty or poetry There is however a great deal of difference between a literal translation of a poetic work and a prose translation A literal translation of poetry may be in prose rather than verse but also be error free Charles Singleton s translation of the Divine Comedy 1975 is regarded as a prose translation As bad practice Edit Literal translation implies that it is probably full of errors since the translator has made no effort to convey for example correct idioms or shades of meaning but it might be also useful in seeing how words are used to convey meaning in the source language Examples Edit A literal English translation of the German word kindergarten code deu promoted to code de would be children s garden but also in mainly US English the expression refers to the preschool institution Literal translations in which individual components within words or compounds are translated to create new lexical items in the target language a process also known as loan translation are called calques e g beer garden from German biergarten code deu promoted to code de The literal translation of the Italian sentence So che questo non va bene code ita promoted to code it I know that this is not good produces Know I that this not goes it well which has English words and Italian grammar Machine translation Edit Early machine translations as of 1962 2 at least were notorious for this type of translation as they simply employed a database of words and their translations Later attempts utilized common phrases which resulted in better grammatical structure and capture of idioms but with many words left in the original language For translating synthetic languages a morphosyntactic analyzer and synthesizer is required The best systems today use a combination of the above technologies and apply algorithms to correct the natural sound of the translation In the end though professional translation firms that employ machine translation use it as a tool to create a rough translation that is then tweaked by a human professional translator Douglas Hofstadter gave an example for the failures of a machine translation The English sentence In their house everything comes in pairs There s his car and her car his towels and her towels and his library and hers is translated into French as Dans leur maison tout vient en paires Il y a sa voiture et sa voiture ses serviettes et ses serviettes sa bibliotheque et les siennes code fra promoted to code fr That does not make sense because the literal translation of both his and hers into French is sa code fra promoted to code fr in case of singular and ses code fra promoted to code fr in case of plural therefore the French version is not understandable 3 Pidgins Edit Often first generation immigrants create something of a literal translation in how they speak their parents native language This results in a mix of the two languages in something of a pidgin Many such mixes have specific names e g Spanglish or Denglisch For example American children of German immigrants are heard using rockingstool from the German word schaukelstuhl code deu promoted to code de instead of rocking chair Translator s humor EditLiteral translation of idioms is a source of translators jokes and apocrypha The following has often been told in relation to inexperienced translators or to machine translations When the sentence The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak duh bodr plot zhe nemoshna code rus promoted to code ru an allusion to Mark 14 38 was translated into Russian and then back into English the result was The vodka is good but the meat is rotten vodka horoshaya no myaso protuhlo code rus promoted to code ru This is generally believed to be an amusing apocrypha rather than a reference to an actual machine translation error 2 See also EditAll your base are belong to us Calque Dynamic and formal equivalence Literal Standard Version Metaphrase Semantic translation Translation Transliteration Young s Literal Translation of the Bible References Edit LITERAL meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary dictionary cambridge org Retrieved 2019 09 21 a b c Hutchins John June 1995 The whisky was invisible or Persistent myths of MT PDF MT News International 11 17 18 Archived from the original on 3 January 2021 Retrieved 16 February 2022 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a CS1 maint unfit URL link Hofstadter Douglas 30 January 2018 The Shallowness of Google Translate The Atlantic Retrieved 16 February 2022 Further reading EditOlive Classe Encyclopedia of literary translation into English vol 1 Taylor amp Francis 2000 ISBN 1 884964 36 2 p viii Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Literal translation amp oldid 1130014689, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
