French and English translations – The Challenging Aspects
May 10th, 2009Though there is a reasonable number of similarities between the French and English languages, French to English and English to French translation is not exactly a cakewalk. There are certain potential areas of pitfalls which if not taken into account can result into botched up translations.
Though they belong to the same family of languages that is the Indo-European family, French and English split long back and have over the years become quite strict about their distinct identities. The differences have largely risen from the divergent literary traditions of the two languages.
The English language frowns upon long sentences, while on the other hand it is quite common to find such sentences in French. So while translating from French into English, a language translation expert has to ensure that all such long sentences should be broken into palatable pieces for English readers. If this is not done then the translation would make for a difficult and clumsy read. However, breaking up sentences has its own peril that is one has to do away with the pace of the original content. So a translator has to manage this part very carefully to ensure that there is minimum loss in translation.
The other frequent area of problem in French English translation stems from the fact that French uses verb conjugation and noun gender while English uses conjugation only sometimes and grammatical gender never. This creates problems in the proper positioning of noun phrases and their modifiers in French to English translations.
The historic relation of French and English languages
April 30th, 2009French and English are positioned as the world’s most powerful languages and it is quite unlikely that the situation would change in the coming few years or even decades. Both languages share a very interesting history between them, awareness of which would provide French translators with a new perspective on the language.
Both French and English have descended from proto-Indo-European family of languages. However, they split from the Indo-European genealogy long back.
French once dominated England, when the Normans ruled Britain for over 300 years from the 11th century onwards. Where French was the language of preference at the royal court, English developed as the common language of the public. However, during the Norman rule English absorbed a substantial number of words from the French vocabulary, so much so that at present about 25 to 30 percent of the modern English vocabulary consists of words having French origins.
The opposite has also happened, that is English words finding their way into French especially after English became the more popularly used language. There is consequently a large body of cognate words that is words which have been directly borrowed from English to French and French to English. Examples of the former are weekend and marketing, while examples of the latter are moustache and ballet among many others.
The relation between the two languages makes French to English and English to French translation easier compared to other language pairs.
French translation is the way to go
April 20th, 2009This is both for people who require French translation for commercial expansion and those who provide language translation services or plan to get into the business. From the point of view of translation the French language provides the most profitable opportunities. Consider the following facts –
- Apart from English the most popular languages used in the corporate world include Spanish, French and Chinese. Out of these French has 265 million speakers spread across 35 countries, these countries have a continuing requirement for English to French translation.
- French is one of the most popularly spoken languages in Europe. It is also quite simple to learn which makes it a widely comprehended language. This also makes French the language of choice for both business people interested in overseas business, as well as translators targeting the European countries.
- Its popularity in Europe has influenced Global organizations like the UN and the NATO to settle for French as the language of choice over English.
- A list of 10 most influential global languages put together by Weber ranked French in the second position right after English. The list was compiled after taking into account various factors related to languages like population of first and second language speakers, economic strength of the countries using the languages and primary areas of communication in which the languages were used all over the world.
The results speak for themselves- with French and English languages being the giants among world languages, French to English and English to French translation promises golden opportunities for a long time to come.
The richness and diversity of French language
April 10th, 2009Most experienced French translators working in the area of French translation would agree with the fact that English to French translation process can stumble one with challenges that one could never have imagined. The reason behind this lies in the fact that French is spoken by a huge number of people across the world, more specifically 128 million people across 5 continents. Furthermore, it is popularly spoken in countries which are as different as chalk and cheese. Take Paris and North Africa for instance where French is a widely used second language.
So both French translation buyers, and French translators should be aware of the various French dialects as they are spoken in different parts of the world and incorporate the differences in their translations in order to make them authentic. The following are a few helpful facts-
Though most mother language speakers of French are Roman Catholics, Northern Africa where the dominant religion is Islam has a substantial population of French speakers. This is because French is the most popular second language in North Africa. Consequently the French spoken in Arabia has been significantly influenced by Arabic. Similarly French is influenced by the cultures and major languages of the countries where it has a substantial number of speakers like, Canada and Quebec. In fact French spoken in Quebec is popularly ‘Québécois’.
These are just a couple of examples from a vast repertoire of French dialects spoken around the world. Those who are working in standard French translation would do well to concentrate on the French language as spoken in Paris.
