While watching the latest Bin Laden tape on CNN this evening, I found it difficult to understand the English translation with any kind of cohesiveness. I believe it was because the translator himself was foreign and was struggling to form the sentences into English. I believe a smoother translation could be had if CNN used someone who is American and understands the nuances of Bin Laden’s language.
Agree/Disagree?
Thanks
Quasi
Generally, when a translation from language X to language Y is required, a native speaker of language Y will do a better job. So yes, I agree that CNN should find a native English speaker for this sort of translation, but maybe they couldn’t find anyone with the required level of fluency?
I read two different translations of his speech – one on a website and one in the Boston Globe. The Globe translation clearly caught the true intentions and meanings. Obviously, there aren’t enough Arabic (?) translators out there to take up the slack.
I saw binLaden’s speech on three different networks last night, and all three times there was a different translator. One of them was very poorly done, and one was pretty good- I could understand what he was saying, and he managed to speak in actual coherent sentences instead of fragments like the other one did. I guess it depends on the network.