Language translation is a very nuanced subject that takes individuals years to master. This is because languages are dynamic entities and their ability to slowly (but surely) evolve needs to be tracked, else meaning can get diluted. With language translation, this issue becomes more pronounced as there are at least two languages, the dynamic nature of which needs to be mapped with each other.
In fact, translation can be studied as a quantifiable subject and known challenges can be addressed within the course to make the art of translation more precise. For a language enthusiast, nothing is more important than that precision, since it is a quantifiable factor into how well something has been translated and how much meaning has been effectively conveyed. Let us look at some of the most important reasons why translation courses are a necessity in today’s global village.
As potent as the legacy of British colonisation is and as much as it has helped in connecting disparate people, ethnicities and nations, most of the world yet does not speak English. And among those who do claim to speak English, a far smaller minority can actually communicate in English. Considering that Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic, Spanish, French, Russian, Tamil are languages with many million speakers each, the importance of translation can be understood. Translation Courses assist in forcing a purview where an individual can be taught the tools to map one language to the other without changing meaning.
Keeping aside geopolitics for a moment and looking at the world from a solely economic perspective, effective communication (and therefore translation) are absolutely vital to keep the global economy running. The worlds’ four largest economies (USA, China, Japan & Germany) all speak different languages and must do business with each other and many other nations with their own languages or peculiar dialects of the same language. Without understanding the nuances of translation, it would be very counterproductive to try and translate. For example KFC’s slogan ‘Finger-lickin good!’ was translated as ‘Eat your fingers!’ in Mandarin. Similarly, HSBC had to shell out USD 10 Million for rebranding as their catchphrase, ‘Assume Nothing’ translated into ‘Do Nothing’ in multiple languages.
Through recorded history, the flow of ideas has only been limited by the extent of translation. Today there are much fewer languages than there were historically, and brilliant ideas and notions took very long to spread. Indian numerals took almost 300 years to get to the Middle East and then another 250 years before arriving in Europe. If this were to occur in today’s era, this information would have been disseminated globally in as little as two weeks, thanks to professional translation.
The world today is becoming more of a global village and supranational organisations are actually being vested with administrative and bureaucratic functions, we hope to head towards the creation of one singular culture to represent all of humanity. This herculean task cannot be accomplished without undertaking translation courses since culture requires the highest degree of preservation of meaning. Oftentimes culture is also intrinsically linked to a language and divesting culture of its language so that it can be adopted (in its entirety) by another language and people is akin to neurosurgery.
Linguists, translators and language students benefit tremendously from taking translation courses that assist them in effective and efficient translation while also preserving the meaning of the texts in their entirety.
Translation is the key to progress in today’s age and as such there are numerous opportunities springing up for translators, language enthusiasts and linguists alike. And considering that machine translations have different applications as compared to human translations and since machine translations also need humans in the loop, it seems that this field will also remain impervious to the miracles of AI and machine learning. So it falls upon humans and translation courses to help us integrate ourselves with each other, better.
Language Services Bureau knows of the challenges faced during translation from its many years of experience and have consequently started orientation courses in translation since 2018. These courses are based on Language Services Bureau’s accrued knowledge and from the first-hand experience of its team of translators. The course covers the following subjects
So join the Orientation Course in Translation offered by Language Services Bureau if you are a language enthusiast or a dedicated translator.
For any queries related to language translation services. Inquire at our email address below or give us a call today!
info@languageservicesbureau.com
Telephone: +91-20-24470509, +91-82370 60559
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आमच्या गेल्या महिन्यातील ब्लॉग मध्ये भाषांचे ज्ञान आवश्यक असणाऱ्या करियर क्षेत्रांची माहिती आपल्याला मिळाली. जिथे भाषेचे ज्ञान फायद्याचे ठरते असे इतर व्यवसाय आपण या महिन्यात पाहुयात.
Posted by : Language Services Bureau
The time it takes to learn a language depends on what you want to do with it– here is a great article about language learning and the kind of expectations you can set about the time required for the same!
