This will be posted in multiple parts to avoid overcrowding a single blog post. This part is about the basics of translation.

1 - What is "translating" ?

In its simplest form, it's rendering words or text from one language to another.

"Yes" = "Ja" (de)

But a translator is more than that. They act as a bridge between monolinguists trying to communicate, they are tasked to not only translate the words but also the idea carried by the words. To quote my first year professor:

A good translator has to translate thoughts and emotions, not words.

2 - Harder than it looks

The sentence in the source language (SL) has to be studied in order for its meaning to be understood before this meaning can be recreated in the target language (TL) - of course this implies a good grasp of both languages, their grammar, culture, etc.

This can be seen pretty well with idioms, which lose their meaning if translated poorly.

"To beat around the bush" -> "Frapper autour du buisson" (fr) won't mean anything, because it lacks the intended meaning in the target language.

A better translation would require to know the French idiom which carries the same meaning: "Tourner autour du pot" (to circle around the pot).

But that's going a bit far in semiology, so let's rewind back to how words have to be understood before they can be translated correctly. In Japanese, there are three ways to express the idea of "to be" ? There is the verb of existence ある, the verb of existence いる, and the copula です.

(a copula, simply put, is a linking word connecting the sentence subject to its complement, such as in “I am happy,” “am” is a copula linking the subject “I” to the description “happy”)

If having to check whether or not your "is" is a copula or not can seem tedious as it is, wait until you need to determine if the subject of the verb is considered, in Japanese culture, living or not! The subject is a person, an animal or a deity? Then you cannot use the same verb than if it was a tree, a pen or a meal!

Now I am no Japanese expert, but I am betting everything that there is at least one horror story in Japan that relies on the fine line between what is considered living and non-living. Imagine: a ghostly shadow is following you - the "is" here would be for non-living beings - and driving you mad, until you finally confront it.... and realize it is following you - switching for the living beings "is" - meaning you now have another entire new, more dangerous problem to deal with.

That would be tough to translate correctly, imo.

Similarly, the French passion for reversing words (verlan) and make them into popular slang terms can be a pain in the ass. If you may have heard of the "cimer" being the flipped version of "merci" (thank you), or of "femme" (woman) becoming "meuf" (woman, chick), are you ready for the reverse-counter-verlan of "Feumeu"?

Well now you've suffered. I do too, every time I have to witness piss-poor translation wildly available to monolinguists which undoubtedly dulls the original intended meaning and skews the understanding of the piece the text comes from. No, this is not directed at an American red&black multi-billionaire online streaming platform with original shows distributed across the world in various languages....

Yes this is so 100% directed at Netflix and their piss-poor job providing accurate French subtitles for K-Pop Demon Hunters

WHEN EVEN THE DUBBING IS MORE ACCURATE

(and heavens know I am a huge lover of subtitled shows in their original language so it can be painful to get myself to watch dubs)

3 - Let's look at a (one) shit example

There are plenty of posts on the r/BadTranslations, but in my opinion they're pretty harmless since the translation is so bad, it doesn't even sound grammatically correct in the target language. But what if, like many English speakers learning French and misunderstanding how to translate "I'm excited (to be there)" and end up saying they are very sexually aroused, we were to look at translations that miss a key element of the original message?

Like... the Corpse Party live action movie adaptation French subtitles which mischaracterizes a character by misunderstanding the deranged pervert he is? This character, upon seeing his crush... spread out in many pieces on a wall, takes a picture and as he looks at it, gets a boner (he doesn't actually but if it had been a more unhinged adaptation it would've been the case).

In the subtitles of the anime, the fact he is NOT disgusted by this sight is clearly translated. But in the live action.. the word he uses to express his arousal is translated as an expression of disgust. And that bothers me, because why won't you let this teenage boy trapped in a hellish version of his school and being tortured by missing dead kids while also being hunted by the one who killed and tortured those kids be a FREAK?? he deserves to go a lil crazy.. let him lose a screw or two, he earned it...