Professional translating in Nuremberg: Conveying more than just words

The problem with realia and translating them professionally

When it comes to translating, realia pose a large problem. Realia are elements of the culture and day-to-day life of a specific people or country that do not have equivalents in other cultures or countries.

Thanks to the modern means of communication, it is easy to learn about parts of other cultures, but would the term “empanada” be understood by the readers of an English translation of a Mexican book? What if that is not the case? One option could be to translate the word with “ravioli” in order to accommodate the target audience.

There are two ways to handle problems regarding realia: Either the translator decides to adapt the text for the reader as much as possible, or their translation stays faithful to the author and the original text. In the former scenario, “empanada” would be substituted with "ravioli” while the realia would remain unaltered by the translator in the latter scenario. However, this creates distance between the text and the target audience and could cause difficulty understanding the text. Therefore, achieving a similar meaning should take precedence over the dream of ideal reversibility: A translation should, before anything else, align with the source text’s intention and refer to it.

That is why translating also means negotiating: It is necessary to find a compromise between different cultures, recipients and texts. Primo Levi described the task of translating as “a superhuman task with insurmountable risks and difficulties.” Creating an accurate and precise translation is indeed not only about understanding the different contexts. It is also important to pay attention to the different ways a text can be interpreted as well as the unavoidable loss of meaning and how this can be compensated for. That is the case, for example, with idioms, which are part of day-to-day life and very culturally specific. Even if there is an equivalent idiom in the target language, a loss of context is possible if the idiom is based on a play on words: If the idiom “L’abito fa il monaco” (“Clothes make the monk.”) is used in an Italian text about monks, the play on words would get lost in the English translation: “Clothes make the man.”

These idiosyncrasies, which are culturally specific and carry a particular world view, pose huge challenges to the translator. Therefore, it is important to take the assumptions and expectations of the recipient into consideration. The spectrum ranges from borrowing the unaltered term to omission or adaptation to the target culture.

Professional translations from Nuremberg with a sense for cultural nuance

You want to ensure the translations of your texts are not only linguistically flawless but also culturally poignant and specifically geared towards your target group?

Be it technical texts, legal documents, medical reports or literary contents - realia, idioms, and cultural contexts require more than just a mere word-for-word translation. They require experience, a feeling for language, and intercultural competence.

At AP Fachübersetzungen in Nuremberg, we combine linguistic precision with a deep understanding of cultural nuance - for professional translations, which remain effective in the target culture.

Contact us today - we will be happy to advise you in person in order to find the best solution for your translation request.

Bild: Lucas Oriogun, unsplash.com