Translations
St. Jerome in his study by Domenico Ghirlandaio
Today is International Translation Day.
The day was established in 1991 by the International Federation of Translators, (an international grouping of more than 100 professional associations – representing over 80 000 translators in 55 countries.)
For the record: The Federation was established in 1953 to promote professionalism, improve conditions for the profession in all countries and to uphold translators’ rights and freedom of expression.
The date – 30th September – was selected as it happens to be the feast day of St. Jerome, the son of Eusabius who is best known for his translation of the Bible into Latin, (the Vulgate), although as a writer, historian and translator, he actually wrote an awful lot of other things as well.
He retired to the desert of Chalcis, where he lived for four years as an ascetic hermit and studied Hebrew and Chaldean languages. In his own words, he had “only scorpions and wild beasts” as companions. In 386, he settled in Bethlehem, where he produced his translation of the Bible into Latin.
According to a popular legend, Jerome took a splinter from the paws of a lion, which became a loyal friend … and in many paintings he is portrayed sitting in his cell, writing, and next to him is a lion.
St Jerome died near Bethlehem, on 30th September, 420, and is now considered the patron saint of translators.
I have a lot of admiration for translators as, I have to confess, I am not particularly good at learning languages. At school I learned French, (but I was never very good at it), and for a few weeks at college, (as a Theology student), I had classes in New Testament Greek. Whenever I went abroad on holiday I always made a point of trying to learn a few phrases in the local language – but I was never fluent or confident.
These days, I find I can still read some French – unless it is technical or complicated, but I have forgotten all the Greek, (I can literally and honestly say that “it’s all Greek to me!”). I know enough Russian “to get by” … but, once again, I cannot say that I am exactly confident.
I am sometimes asked to look at translations of texts written in Russian and asked to proof read them. I don’t like doing it as I am not a translator … I don’t know Russian well enough to know the intricacies of the language. There is a lot more to translation than simply replacing a word in one language with the equivalent in another. Many words have lots of meanings and then there are questions of syntax, not to mention “fuzzy” aspects of language.
When I go to a conference, seminar or round table, there is often a simultaneous translation provided. The participants speak into a microphone and the interpreter, sitting in a booth, listens to what is said through earphones … translating it as he goes along … the other participants listening through earphones. I am often by their expertise,
When it comes to learning Kyrgyz, I have to admit that I am somewhat embarrassed in my lack of progress after eighteen years … but then I live in Bishkek where everyone speaks Russian, (… or they seem to want to practice their English). It’s actually a great help living in a Russian speaking environment and having to use the language in everyday life … it gives an immediacy that is not present in a classroom. I have no doubt that if I lived in Naryn, Issyk Kul or Talas, then I would probably have done a better job at picking up Kyrgyz.
As a teacher of Computing and Information Technology, one of the topics we had to cover was the difference between different types of translation programs: Assemblers, Compilers and Interpreters.
All three take a computer program and turns them into machine instructions on which a computer can act directly – Machine code – instructions expressed in Binary, a series of 0s and 1s. This is not exactly conducive for humans. As a result, computer programs are written in specially designed language which has aspects which resemble human natural languages.
There are literally hundreds of computer languages but they can be divided into two groups: high-level and low-level languages.
For the record: Computer languages can also be classified on other criteria.
Low level languages tend to be less abstract and tied to particular processors. High-level languages, on the other hand, are designed to be easier to use, more abstract, and more portable. Whatever language is used, they have to be translated into machine instructions … and this is where Assemblers, compilers and Interpreters come in.
The Assembler and Compiler are like the translator who has to take the text, (such as a book), and produce a version in a different language. They have to scan the text, analyze it and translate it, producing a complete new version.
The Interpreter is a program which takes a single piece of code, scanning, analyzing, translating it and executing it before moving onto the next one.
There is currently a lot of discussion about the possibility of Kyrgyz being included as a language in Google Translate. I have to admit that I find the prospect exciting but, as I said, it’s a lot more complicated than simply producing a list providing lists of equivalent words and phrases. It is quite an undertaking and I wish them luck in producing the package and eagerly await news of their progress.
Bishkek