Often, when I get asked what I do for a living, and I reply, explaining “I’m a translator”, I just get the blankest of looks. It seems that many members of the general public simply cannot imagine what it is a translator does all day. The aim of this section is to redress this imbalance, and to inform customers of exactly what they get for their money...
Looking carefully at the pages on this site, the reader may have realised that the background picture is taken from a dictionary. To be precise, it’s the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary entry for the word “translate”. For the verb, the dictionary gives the following meaning:
2 a v.t. Turn from one language into another;
express the sense of in another language.
Also, express in other words, paraphrase. ME.
b v.i. Perform translation; make a version from one
language or form of words into another.
Also (of language, an author’s work, etc.)
admit of translation. LME.
Those explanations certainly describe the essential act of translation, but what does the process involve? Click here to find out more