Is the translator made or born?

[Omar21]

I know in advance that the question is not so easy to answer, but I want any who enters to give / write his opinion / point of view so that at the end by the help of Besho0o ( I hope to accept the invitation ). We 'll conclude what 'll be written.

Now it's my turn to start.

To be successful a translator you must have a good general education in addition to the prerequisite language skills.
A bilingual person still needs certain other skills, expertise, and personality traits to be a good translator.

from this simple introduction, the translator must have a very good education in the field of translation and has a good knowledge in every subject.

I'll come again and see what you'd write.

[Nour25]

HI,
I agree with you that the translator must have a very good education in different because they need a lot of terms which make it easy for the audience to catch their point

[Nour25]

HI,
I agree with you that the translator must have a very good education in different fields because they need a lot of terms which make it easy for the audience to catch their point. some of them are so talented, in my opinion I think the talent is play a very important role. why? Because some translators translate words literally, regardless of the effect or the meaning of the word.

thank you
have a nice day.

[Hibba]

I do thank Omar for putting forth such topic.Besides,I agree with u both,but I think that it'd be better if a translator became a specialist in a partecular subject so that he can be more successful:since everybody interested in diffirent things,knowing everything seems to be unfulfilled goal.
Thanks
waiting for a comment.

[Jamie (K)]

Translators are not born. If they were, every bilingual person could be a competent translator. If you look at many people's attempts at translation, you quickly see that that is not the case. It's a special skill to be able to translate from one language into a natural form of another language, and this requires practice, developed language skills and the ability to see the meaning of the text in spite of the words.

[Ismail22]

transulatorwho study english hard

[Gheon]

The question asked is somewhat general IMO. First, would be good to differentiate between translator, interpretor & synchronist (simultaneous interpreter), cause all of those require different levels of skills. F.e. oral speech translation (interpretation) often requires to shorten what was originally said. In its turn written translation not always admits such variations, especially when we are talking about some business-like or law-connected documentation.
One can make perfect written translations but have some problems with interpretation due to some aural or cognitive disorders.
From this we can conclude that an ideal translator must have at least: a perfect hearing, fast thinking & many other "virtues". Not to speak of a certain precognition & insight when we are talking about simultaneous interpretation apart from the ability to store (in short-term memory) & process considerable volumes of information.

If you are looking for a perfect image of the translator then look at the biography of Heinrich Schliemann in Wikipedia or here:
http://www.language-learning-tips.com/17_Schliemanns_method.htm
_________________
I find your Lack of Faith disturbing!
The Force is out there!

[Asmahaan]

Hi everybody,,

As a translation student, I believe that a combination of academic study( though student like me may not enjoy it) and art is required. Knowing many languages is not enough or else it will not be neccessary to have translation courses at college. In real life, many people know more than one language but they are unable to convey what is said in language 1 to an acceptable form in language 2, which happens a lot with us as students though we know both languages. And I said art is needed in translation because each languange has its distinctive features of expressing a specific action or idea.actually, translation is somewhat a re-writing of the text in L2.

Regards,
Asmahaan

[Sarjana]

Hello everybody,

This is Sara from Tokyo.

I am working as a translater between English and Japanese.
Sometimes I get confuse which word to use - for eg. get or obtain or gain, suspect or doubt, and so on.

If someone here knows any link to understand the difference between the words which has similar meaning, please let me know.

Also, if there is anyone who have similar job as mine, please contact me, let's share the knowledge.

Thanks in advance.

[SiameseCat]

Here's my 2 cents, I'm not sure natural talent counts for that much unless it's used and cultivated. And hard work can achieve a lot even without an inborn talent. I've come across this fact repeatedly with artists in other fields too. On the other hand, you probably do need a certain disposition.

Personally I probably don't have much talent nor any particular interest in translating, but I've been pretty much brought up having to do it/ bullied into doing it. My aunts, who don't speak English, often had me translate. I was ashamed of their excessively emotional way of putting things. So I learned early on to convey the gist of something minus the extras, which is useful.

Now this kind of situation no longer happens. I just translate back and forth between English and Spanish, around people I like talking to, and it's really enjoyable. But I'm not very communicative in nature, so it would probably not be "my kind of profession".

[Aalizzwell]

Hi everyone.:)
in my opinion, they were not born in a way that they can translate a particular language to another instantly,but they were born with a talent to be a good translator. As translation is a process of translating a meaning to meaning (thoughts from this language to the other). It's a way of communication. Everyone can speak different languages, but not everyone has the ability to give or deliver the same thoughts as what the other said. Example is the beauty pageant (miss universe, miss earth). They were from different countries, cultures and languages, yet, the judges and even us were able to understand what's happening. Well thanks to the translator.

[Florf22]

hi everyone !

I have to say that I agree with you permalink. A good translator is partly made and born; Made in the sense that you are "moulded" because you need to have not only a good command of both the SL and the TL but also a general knowledge about the world. And born in the sense that not anybody has the ability to become an expert in a foreign language and to speak it fluently, it isn't the kind of skill one can develop easily. I think a competent translator was born with the natural ability of undestanding and speaking a foreing language.

[Mr. Kyaw Min Lwin]

Most of the leaders , experts and geniuses are born to be made what they will be in the future. For example, Hitler, Einstein, Van Gogh and Mozart. It's more like bio-chemistry to me. To be a translator you first need to have enthusiasms in languages and other disiciplines. It's inborn, not made.

regards.

[Florf22]

I am a translator student of English Permalink and I can assure you that having enthusiasm for the language is not enough to be a good translator. You need to learn lots of things to become a competent one. But there is of course an innate talent that you need to have in order to understand the language easily and speak it fluently as I said before.

Kind regards.

[Mr. Kyaw Min Lwin]

I mean the mediocre are made, the genius are born. You can make the mediocre in every field. Yet, you can't make a single genius in any field.

regards.