Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Translation error?

Next exemple of translation:

French version:

- Ben: Et là…patatras !
- Marco: Patatras?


English version: 

- Ben: And then... kaboom !
- Marco : Kaboom ?


Meaning of this word in french-english dictionary: 
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/french-english/patatras

patatras- indique que qqch tombe en faisant beaucoup de bruit
 -crash
Patatras ! Tout s’est effondré !
Crash! It all collapsed!

Unfortunately, the word kaboom could not be found in the same dictionary, but I found it on another website. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kaboom


"The larger version of boomBoom is just a "boom" while KAboom refers to the "WOW" effect verison of boom. Something truly boom, becomes kaboom. Meaning an even larger boom than kaboom. "




The situation is different from the previous one, but we also deal with a translation other than the rule would indicate. If the dictionary  says that the translation of the word "patatras" is "boom" or simply "crash", why the translator decided to give this expression a stronger emotional charge than the original french version? 
What's more, the word "kaboom" does not even exist in the dictionary, as the internet indicates it is a colloquial word, used in speech, probably between young people. Unfortunately, I don't have English language sensitivity, but I think that the word "kaboom" is different for English than the word "patatras" for French, and even "kaboom" simply sounds strange in this person's mouth in this situation.

Translation



Below is one example that I took from the film "Nothing to hide". On its basis, I will analyze his translation.

French version:

– Tu regardes toutes les photos ?
- Ben : Ouais. I’ai même fait un pêle- mêle.
- Marco : Un quoi ? Un pêle- mêle ?
- Ben : ouais.
- Marco : Les gars. Il a dit « pêle- mêle » ? On dit ça encore aujourd’hui ?

English version: 
 – Are you really looking at all the pictures?
- Ben : Yeah, I even made a hodge- podge.
- Marco : A what ? A « hodge- podge ? »
- Ben : Yeah.
- Marco : Did he say « hodge- podge ? » Do people still say that? 

pêle-mêle- Vieux. Mélange confus de choses ou de personnes. Un pêle-mêle d'objets sans nom.


hodge- podge- a confused mixture of different things

As you can see, word: pêle- mêle is no more use in current french. As we can read on the page below, a word "hodge-podge" is still use in current english. So why translator used this form if the context of the speech emphasized this word, which in the original is treated as obsolete? In my opinion, you can talk about a translation error here.
Assuming that I don't speak French, this statement becomes completely vague and meaningless if I receive it only through subtitles in English.

https://culinarylore.com/food-history:origin-of-hodgepodge/

"Nothing to hide"


Today I will present you last movie I watched. This is Netflix production called "Nothing to hide". 3 couples and Ben meet for dinner party. The men have known each other for decades. They were together at school.  After dinner they play a game of sharing texts, calls, e-mails etc. by placing all 7 cell phones on the table. The atmosphere of a pleasant evening changes radically. The comedy turns into a drama. Was this really a good idea? How many divorces would be if the spouses would look at their phones? Does technology facilitate betrayal? Many interesting questions will be answered by this extremely interesting film. The production is originally French, so I encourage you to look at it in the original.

In the next post I will focus on the analysis of the translation of this film into English. As you know both languages, I hope that you will be interested in this topic.


My life with a mountainbiker