Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans

Evidence of interpreters can be seen as far back as 300 BC with the depictions of the Princes of Elephantine. The two were apparently bilingual and were integral to military operations and trade between Egypt, Nubia, and Sudan.

Alexander the Great from Ancient Greece also employed interpreters for communication with India. When Romans dominated society, it was common for them to be fluent not only in Latin, but also Greek from tutors and slaves so as to not have to rely too heavily on interpreters. Roman translations of Greek works are part of what gives us so much mythos to pull from as well.

Of course, interpretation and translation from other languages was a regular event for dealing with outside cultures. For example, in 202 BC, Scipio and Hannibal met together in the presence of interpreters, in what we might call today as a conference interpretation event.

The Bible

In 382 AD, Pope Damasus had St. Jerome translate biblical texts into what is now known as the Vulgate Bible. This was for a form of Latin that the church would use. The history of biblical translations is rich and complex, but noteworthy is Martin Luther’s German translation in the 1500s that allowed the common people to read and understand the word of God for themselves.

Columbus and Cortes

When Christopher Columbus headed to what he thought was India, he hired the interpreter Luis De Torres, who was fluent in Chaldean, Arabic, and Hebrew. However, when he landed in the Caribbean, he decided to capture native Taino people to teach them Spanish and spread Christianity.

Similarly, when Hernan Cortes began his conquest of Mexico, he acquired about twenty enslaved women, one of whom was “La Malinche” as she is known today. He chose her as his consort, and she also served as an interpreter from Nahautl into Mayan, which was interpreted into Spanish by another member of Cortes’s crew.

John Dryden’s Translation Theory

The Ancient Greeks discussed translation theory first and then in 1680, John Dryden proposed three major ideas for the modern era of translation. First was “metaphrase,” which refers to a literal translation; second was “paraphrase,” which refers to translating the meaning more than the exact wording; and lastly was “imitation,” which refers to creative translation of the text.

While these wordings are not often used today, the ideas certainly are. You might hear people talking about “literal translation,” “translation of meaning,” or “transcreation” instead.

Detour translation
Because of the differences between two languages, a direct word-for-word translation is not always possible, and translators may have to find another way around – make a translation “detour.” For example, the source language may prefer affirmative statements (like “Staff Only” in English) while in the target language it is much more natural to use a negative statement for the same idea (like闲人免进 or “Non-staff not allowed” in Chinese). This sign could of course be translated literally, but the result would be something that is not idiomatic, natural Chinese. In situations like this, translators would use the detour strategy.

Repetition
To avoid misunderstanding and make the meaning clear, translators frequently use repetition as a technique. In English, pronouns such as “he,” “she,” “it,” etc., avoid repetition by referring to things that have already been mentioned. Chinese, however, does the opposite and usually repeats the original words rather than replace them with pronouns. For example, in translating a sentence like “George put his bag on the table, which is in the middle of the room,” a translator working into Chinese would repeat the word “table” where English replaces it with “which.” Repetition can also be crucial to preserve the style of a source text in which the author repeats specific words to create a certain effect.

Addition
To make a translation acceptable in the target language, translators may need to add more information. For example, when translating “ease the tension between the two countries” into Chinese, translators need to add the word “situation” (i.e. tense situation) to make the translation complete. A proper translation is “缓解两国之间的紧张局势.” Addition is important when translating culture-specific words or expressions because additional explanation is needed to help readers who aren’t familiar with the source culture. In a case like this, a translator may even need to provide a footnote to provide additional information without cluttering up the main text.

The ultimate goal for a translator is to translate the source text’s meaning simply and clearly. The above strategies and techniques can help produce more idiomatic translations, and are a required part of every translator’s toolkit.