Transcribing Across Languages
Launch library · evergreen read
An interview conducted partly or entirely in a language other than the one it will eventually be published in requires a further layer of judgement beyond ordinary transcription: how closely to preserve the original phrasing's rhythm against the demands of natural, readable prose in translation.
Literal, word for word translation can preserve accuracy while producing stilted, unnatural sentences; a more fluent translation reads better but risks drifting from the exact meaning of the original words. Neither extreme fully serves a reader on its own. A translator working under this tension has to weigh accuracy against readability sentence by sentence throughout.
Noting clearly, wherever it is not obvious, that a passage has been translated helps a reader understand they are encountering a rendering rather than the subject's exact original words, which is a basic act of transparency about the process involved. That small note of transparency respects a reader's right to understand exactly what they are encountering.