Language Change and Translation Issues--Innovatran Addresses These New Dynamics

Paterson, NJ, October 10, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Languages are changing, and so has Innovatran.

As languages change, so does the concept of translation. A translator must negotiate between at least two distinct codes that are permanently in flux and transformation. New vocabulary is constantly being added to languages, and such notions as Global and Simplified English are drastically altering traditional grammar and syntax.

English, as a global language, is now used as a tool for non-native speakers to communicate with one another. Today, a Pole and a Russian are more likely to speak to each other in English than in one of their native Slavic languages. Indians and Chinese use English in international business, but it is not necessarily the language as taught in the U.K., the U.S., or elsewhere in the English-speaking world. It is a simplified form of English which allows access to individuals for whom English may be a second, third, or fourth language. Yet this notion of Simplified English is also intelligible to virtually all native speakers.

Although English is today's global language, one must recognize that other languages are in transformation. The phenomenon of Spanglish has transformed the Spanish-language context in the United States. Although this was once recognized as a language variety -- the word "dialect" can be very offensive -- of low prestige, it has now traveled far beyond the confines of the U.S. Spanglish has spread as far as Argentina and El Salvador. Part of this is due to back and forth movements of immigration. And part of it is due to English's role as the language of international technology. Hence, a lot of borrowings.

The Translator's Charter of the International Federation of Translators indeed places emphasis on the accuracy and fidelity of a translation. But it also recognizes the need for "the form, the atmosphere and deeper meaning of the work felt in another language and country." Hence, a translator must decide whether the Spanish of the Real Academia is truly appropriate for Paterson, New Jersey, where significant lexical and grammatical changes have taken place in the language. A translator must consider firstly and foremost the source and target audiences.

So many translators are purists in the language. They cringe at what they hear on the streets and sometimes in regional media. But which language will be around in 25 years, ours or theirs? All of these considerations are placing language translators at a new junction.

Whatever the answer, only a human translator can make a solid decision. A computer is hopeless and cannot discern distinctions from context to context.

Innovatran, a New Jersey-based language service, has an ongoing commitment to addressing these issues. It has developed a dymanic three-tiered translation service where a translation can 1) speak to the local community and its needs; 2) produce, when needed, a more formal, publishable translation that is international in scope, or 3) re-conceive a text cross-culturally so that the "translation" transcends the original context and is re-shaped for a new community.

There is no longer a single paradigm for translations. And Innovatran seeks to address today's language dynamics.

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