Difficulties of Translation

Translating from Spanish to English is much more difficult then one would think. I always thought I was good but articles like these make me second question myself.

Some challenges I faced are that I often stop and think for so long trying to figure which translation sounds best. I reread and reread it out loud to make sure it makes sense and that I don’t sound uneducated. It takes a lot of time and if the article is long I have to stop and take my mind off of it for some time. The number one priority is to make sure it sounds somewhat professional and that it flows. I often face this difficulty in English as well. In my writing I have to reread my writing and make sure it makes sense so it’s a common difficulty.

Google translate, did a decent job and I was quite surprised how it came out. I thought it would be a lot worse. When my American friends use it to translate I laugh sometimes at Google’s translation. It literally just translates the words; it is a computer so most of the time it doesn’t make sense.

I found that Google doesn’t use the correct words in many situations and it doesn’t flow as well as my translation. The only good thing about Google translate is that its free to the public and is quick. It gives a broad idea of what the writing is trying to say but you still have to fine-tune it. I do agree with David Bellos that the best way to translate is through computer-aided translation. I think if the internet wasn’t readily available to help us in translation it would make it more difficult then it already is.