Why news translation requires more skills

Journalism is all about words. Short words, appropriate words; words that the common man can understand. You can write these words in your own language; or you can translate them from another language into your own language. This is why news translation is considered more difficult. You are not only translating words, but also thoughts.

There are plenty of problems you encounter when you work in an Indian language newspaper, where a key part of your job is to translate news reports from English into your language.

Here are seven tips as to what you should do:

1. Technical words
What do you do with words like computer, laptop, mobile phone or software? These are words that have no ready equivalents in Indian languages. So, whether you are translating a news report from English to Tamil or English to Hindi you transliterate these words — that is you keep the words but type them in your own language. Your reader will be thankful to you.

2. Foreign words
You also have to grapple with foreign words. One good example is glasnost. It was first used in the 1980s when the then USSR began to crumble. Few Indians were familiar with the meaning of this Russian word. Initially, copy editors explained the word so that their readers understood its import. Gradually, with repeated use, the word became a part of Indian lexicon. Today, it is used without explanation.

3. Usage
Every language has scores of words that have multiple meanings. English is no exception. A simple word like lie means to “utter falsehood” in one usage and to “rest in a horizontal position” in another usage. Another thorn is idioms. You have to have a good knowledge of English language to spot the differences. Otherwise, in news translation, you will end up mangling the meaning.

4. Writing style
You have to meet two requirements. One, you should adhere to the writing style of your newspaper. Two, you should capture the spirit of the writer while doing the translation. You goal should be to convey the meaning without losing the elegance of the original text. Fortunately, in news translation you are not constrained by rules. You have the freedom to choose words as long as the meaning and the context remains the same.

5. Direct speech
One of your most difficult tasks is to translate direct speech. What may sound striking in Hindi or Gujarati may become lusterless in English. A good example is an oft-quoted statement of Bihar politician Laloo Prasad Yadav. The Bihar strongman drew national attention in the 1980s when he commented “Hum Bihar ki sadak ko Hema Malini ke gaal ki tarha chikna kar denge …” There’s no way you can translate this in English. The best is to transliterate with an English translation in brackets.

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6. Organisation names
Another confusion is caused by names of organisations or their popular acronyms. How do you translate UNESCO or UNICEF in Hindi or Kannada? The best way is to go for phonetic transcription — that is you use the acronym in your language. However, some organisations now have a Hindi equivalent, which is popularly accepted. You therefore need not use United Nations as United Nations in your language; the right thing to do is to use its Hindi equivalent — Sanyukt Rashtra. The thumb rule should be to retain the organisation names in the source language, unless they have names that are officially recognized in the translated language.

7. Interview woes
It is not only the copy desk that struggles with translation issues; the reporters too have to battle translation blues. If you are a reporter in India there may be times when you may interview a person in English but write the news report in Hindi or you may interview a person in Malayalam and write the report in English.

So, what should you do? Should you make notes in the subject’s language or in your language? A good rule is to take notes in the subject’s language. This way you will not miss out the finer nuances of the language. You are also less likely to make mistakes while making notes.