Drawbacks of English to German Translation
Practically everyone who has ever worked as a professional translator knows that English and German share many similarities when it comes to vocabulary. German Translation students usually find this to be a blessing and a curse.
Many Anglophones learning in German translation studies should be aware of this fact. However, unfortunately, many early learners of German or English don’t understand that things are not always what they may seem. “False friends,” which exist in many languages, are cognates that are false, and having nothing in common with the words you would expect them to mean. The translation profession regularly deals with the challenge of avoiding falling prey to false cognates. As stated before, these words look like a familiar word but actually have nothing in common with it. Incorrectly using false cognates can cause embarrassment at best and lawsuits in the worst case scenario.
When it comes to translating from German to English or vice versa, there are numerous false friends because the languages are in the same family. Any student of German or English knows that there are numerous similarities between many words in the two languages. There are many examples of true cognates, including: father / Vater, cat / Katze, hair / Haar, is / ist, and many, many others. German and English have countless true cognates, but be careful not to assume that a given word is a true cognate.
Whether you are an English-native speaker translating from German or a German language native translating from English, the use of true cognates makes texts more readable and makes the translation process go much faster. However, false cognates can present stumbling blocks regardless of whether you are translating from German to English or from English to German. Regardless of what you call them: “falsche Freunde,” “false friends,” or false cognatesby any name can present problems if translation service providers are not careful.
The objective (Objektiv) act (Akt) of translation should be done after (After) review of the document. This sentence shows how the German words in parentheses can be misinterpreted because of their nature as false cognates. In German, the word “After” is defined as “rectum, the German word “Akt” is defined as “nude” painting, and the German word “Objektiv” is defined as “camera lens”. Medical Translation Services are also full of false friends, such as “Krank”, which really means “ill” or “sick”. True professional medical translators are wary of false cognates like “kosten”, which means to taste.
False friends are also quite common in legal translations, with words like “Jura,” which means “law,” and not “Jury” and many other words which could be mistaken to have a different meaning. Legal Translation may also include other words which you might think to be legal terms, but which really are not.
And these are only a small number of the long list of false cognates that plague the English and German languages. A “Drogerei” is like a drugstore, but lacks the drugs. In other words, a “Drogerei” is a small shop that typically carries shampoo, soap and other personal hygiene items, but does not carry prescription medications. Germans know they must go to the Apotheke to get their prescription medications. To get your prescription filled at the “Apotheke,” don’t forget to take your “Rezept,” but if you need a receipt, you should ask for a “Quittung.”In the end, this article seeks to simply remind professional translators that there are many pitfalls of translation, and that when translating from German to English or vice versa, one must be highly cognizant of the presence of false cognates. Mistakenly using false cognates always results in gross errors that reflect poorly on the German translator, the German translation and on the organization or person who uses the translation for official purposes.
Related posts:
- Professional German Translators To Support International Trade Strategies As common knowledge, most people understand that the largest number...
- Can You Speak To Give A Speech To Arabic Translation Specialists? As a small business owner and consultant in international trade...
Tagged as: German Translation · Legal Translation · Medical Translation
