Translation: Science or art?

Translation is the interpretation of the meaning of the source text and the subsequent creation of an equivalent text, in other words, the transmission of communicative information in another language.

This definition is given by Wikipedia, and it seems to accurately explain the essence of this so-called science. What I particularly like about this definition is that translation is "an interpretation of the meaning of a text", because, in my opinion, this phrase reflects the true complexity of translation: on the one hand, interpreting or creating a new text — which, in fact, requires a certain freedom of thought, on the other — the need to adhere to the original, which, as a rule, restricts your freedom. The combination of the need for freedom and the need to be close to the original creates a contradiction that can turn translation into a rather difficult, difficult task.

If you are reading this article, you are most likely either a translator or an interpreter (the latter is more difficult), and you should understand this classic problem that almost every translator constantly faces: you understand the content of the source text, but you are not able to find an equivalent in your own language; you cannot change the content of the text, so you end up creating a text that sounds completely unnatural in the target language. And what am I supposed to do as a translator? Should I stick to the original or try to come up with something that will sound quite organic in the target language?

So, from my point of view, it all depends on what kind of text is in front of you. A legal document or patent must be translated with the precision of a surgeon, while commercial presentations, marketing documents, and works of art must look natural in the target language. However, the latter-the task of giving the translation a natural sound-requires a certain linguistic skill, a deep understanding of the language and its processes. Translation can hardly be called a science, it is rather the inner music of the language, a stream of phrases connected to the text, with a precise set of terminology.

Yet some still believe that translation can — and should-be treated as an exact science. They say that the main thing is professional skills and knowledge, not a subtle perception or sense of language, and that a properly trained and trained mind can easily transform one language into another-like a machine.

Such antagonistic tendencies have no name, but all the translators I have met since my introduction to translation work can be divided into two groups: those who always translate "with their head", focusing on the original, and those who do it with feeling, focusing more on the target language. Every translator falls into one of these categories once. This also applies to interpreters. As a project manager, I have come across translations of literary texts from Chinese or Japanese into European languages).

And yet, whether the result is good or not, the translation and interpretation process certainly reflects how complex the communication message can be.

And yet, if you are in doubt, remember: feelings-aside, the main thing-do not deviate from the original.

Master`s degree student I course Botakoz Yergaliyeva; Scientific adviser, professor Danat Zhanatayev,  Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty

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