Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego

Wydział Humanistyczny

Instytut Neofilologii i Lingwistyki Stosowanej

Amatorskie tłumaczenia internetowe-

próba analizy

Robin Jesse

nr albumu 61163

Praca licencjacka

napisana pod kierunkiem

dr Michała Borodo

Katedra Filologii Angielskiej

Bydgoszcz 2012

Kazimierz Wielki University, Bydgoszcz

Institute of Modern Languages and Applied

Linguistics

Amateur Internet Translation:

An Attempt at Analysis

Robin Jesse

nr albumu 61163

Supervisor: Dr Michał Borodo

Department of English

Bydgoszcz 2012

Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 4

Chapter 1. User-generated translation .................................................................................. 6

1.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 6

1.2. Notion of User-generated Translation .............................................................................. 6

1.3. The development of modern User-generated Translation ................................................ 7

1.4. Crowdsourcing as an example of User-generated Translation in Web 2.0 ...................... 9

1.5. Legality and ethics of UGT ............................................................................................ 11

1.6. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 13

Chapter 2. The translation of news ....................................................................................... 14

2.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 14

2.2. History of news translation and news agencies .............................................................. 14

2.3. Globalization in modern journalism ............................................................................... 16

2.4. Trust and morality in translation and journalism ............................................................ 20

2.5. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 23

Chapter 3. The analysis of amateur translation based on Arsenal London fan

websites .................................................................................................................................... 24

3.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 24

3.2. Different approaches to the same source text by different amateur internet

translators .................................................................................................................................. 24

3.3. Mistakes made by translators and their analysis ............................................................. 28

3.4. Adjusting to the convention of the Polish language in amateur journalism. .................. 31

3.5. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 33

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 35

Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 37

4

Introduction

Gorge Borrow, a famous writer and traveller once said that “translation is at best an

echo”. What if the echo is produced by those who are not trained to deal with that issue?

The usage of amateur translation is gaining popularity especially on the Internet where

basic technical acquirement is enough to start sharing your ideas with an enormous

number of people. Amateur translation in this environment is taking a vital role.

However, lack of scholar attention made me consider discussing that branch of

translation studies which will develop together with the advancement of technology and

concepts such as Web 2.0 and crowdsourcing. I will discuss those concepts in this work

illustrating constant changes and maybe a beginning of a new turn in translation.

The first chapter will deal with User-generated translation. I will provide

information about the history and the notion of that concept. Furthermore the paper will

deal with the notion of legality in the User-generated translation which being crucial for

every amateur translator is very controversial issue. The example of crowdsourcing as a

new type of translation will also be given and localised in the environment of the Web

2.0. That interesting idea of the new generation of the Internet users who are no longer

only readers, but also creators of the space for sharing their opinions.

The translations of news is the notion discussed in the second chapter. It is hard

to talk about that concept without joining it with the history of news agencies which

were first professionally organised institutions dealing with news translation. Showing

how they developed and how the issue of globalisation is connected with the news

translation is another part of the chapter. There are also attempts of analysing the

morality and trust for those who are translating the news or are called “international

journalists” (Bielsa and Bassnett 2009, 118).

The final part of the paper will be devoted to the analyses of amateur translation

based on specific examples Arsenal Football Club fan websites. The information about

mistakes made by amateur translators, fans of football, will be given. Moreover, I will

point out different approaches to the same source text made by two different websites

5

translating the same pieces of news and try to find examples of adjusting of their

translation to the convention of Polish language.

The paper will analyse the situation of a reader to whom the information is

provided as many receivers of the target text are fully dependent only on a piece of

news translated by amateurs. I will also try to answer the question whether amateur

translation is needed in our modern society and whether the websites created by the

amateur should be treated as a trustworthy source of information.

6

Chapter 1. User-generated Translation

1.1. Introduction

It cannot be denied that the development in digital technology improved the speed of

providing information. At the same time fast translation is needed for those, who can

not use language of source text. From the audience's point of view, the rise of the digital

era has brought possibilities to access numerous pieces of information. That need,

together with the birth of localization in the early 1980s, started the new era in

translation which may be called “digital age” (O`Hagan & Ashworth 2002). Rapid

spread of the modern technologies such as the Internet opened a new chapter for

translators, who had to incorporate their work into many digital products such as

software. The concept of localization was later defined by Reinhard Schaler as “the

linguistic and cultural adaptation of digital content to the requirements and locale of a

foreign market, and the provision of services and technologies for the management of

multilingualism across the digital global information flow” (Schaler 2009, 157). The

concept of localization is often discussed by academic community, however not much

has been written on the topic of User-generated Translation which may be seen as a

mistake as amateur translation market is constantly spreading.

1.2. Notion of User-generated Translation

The term “User-generated Translation” or “UGT” was firstly used by Minako O`Hagan

who claimed that it may be defined as “a wide range of translation, carried out based on

free user participation in digital media space where translation is undertaken by

unspecified self-selected individuals”(O`Hagan 2009, 97). We may then claimed that

each speaker of foreign language can be the “User” specified by O`Hagan as:

Somebody who voluntarily acts as a „remediator‟ of a linguistically

inaccessible products and “direct producer” of Translation on the basis

o their knowledge of the given language as well as that of a particular

media content or genre spurred by their substantial interest in topic

(O`Hagan 2009, 27).

7

In that context it may be claimed that every person with basic language knowledge who

gained also awareness of specific topic may be named a translator if only one creates

and edits the translation via online platform. Taking that into consideration we may

agree with Scott Karp, editor of “Publishing 2.0” who points out that “the word user,

once defined „audience‟ but has now become an unmerited synonym for „publisher‟ (as

cited in Perrino 2009, 62).

All that together builds a concept of a User-generated Translation as the translation

created by volunteers for a wide group of receivers, who became users by reading the

translation and the possibility to interact with it. However, it is important to see the danger

of UGT as it is issue of the individual morality and knowledge of a translator, to whom the

receiver of the information needs to trust. Nevertheless considering the increasing number

of user-development translation published on the Internet and the potential gained by users

this topic should receive more attention from scholars as well as professional translators.

1.3. The development of modern User-generated Translation

It is hard to place the beginning of non-professional translation in specific time period

as for many years people who translated documents in a concept of sharing information

were not reported. What is more, the User-generated Translation in a new notion,

however the concept of translation for which the translator in not receiving salary is

much older. The first non-professional translations reported are fan-produced, animated

Japanese comic books called manga and movies known as anime. In the 1980s first fan

clubs were established who later in the 1990s, with the use of computers and

unprofessional software, translated Japanese comic books and animations and published

it in the developing Internet sharing it with an increasing numbers of user all over the

world (Cintaz and Sanchez 2006, 37). It is hard to claim that it is the only part of

development of amateur translation in the twentieth century as according to O`Hagan

many fan groups, not only those connected with Japanese culture, adopted possibilities

given by the Internet. The Web was used as a collaboration tool, showed a collective

presence and led to formatting global “fan cultures” (as cited in O`Hagan 2009, 99). As

a result, the role of people who until this moment were only receiver of the culture

changed as now they were active users named as “prosumers” (O`Hagan 2009, 99) who

at the same time are consumers and producers. The given example of Japanese anime

movies is a perfect example and can be illustrated with the following excerpt:

8

Fan translation fits well in a category of prosumers where potential

consumers of translations double as translation producers. Fan-

produced subtitles for anime, called fansubs, are circulated worldwide

in media spaces. This UGT is produced chiefly by fans for fans(

O`Hagan 2009, 99).

The concept of looking for proper, authentic translation from the beginning of UGT was

the original motivation for those who took part in fan translation. However, at the

beginning it was much more complicated process than nowadays as in 1980s there were

no digital recorders and all the data had to be published on VHS tapes which was both

expensive and time consuming (O`Hagan 2009, 100). Nowadays thanks to digital

production, freeware software and the Internet as the main communication environment

challenge for users is less complicated and although the technology developed the

desire of proper translations stays the same.

Although it is hard to predict the quality of fan translations, O`Hagan pointed

out that it is likely for non-professionals to produce a proper translation:

Collaboration afforded by technology allows fans to form purposeful

task groups to undertake a project and achieve a production often in a

manner comparable to professional production in terms of the

workflow process and the timeframe(O`Hagan 2009, 101)

It may be claimed that with the help of the chat rooms, dictionaries and their knowledge

on specific genre and topic users may translate culture-specific message or text in very

accurate way. What is also important- thanks to working in specific topic-connected

groups amateur translators may be very fast. Furthermore, translators taking part in non-

professional projects do not need external motivation as they “willingly undertake a

translation project without remuneration, indicating a strong motivation factor and

domain-knowledge possessed by fans may in some cases compensate for the lack of

formal translator training” (O`Hagan 2009, 102).

However important the training may be considered we must understand that

UGT is produced by amateurs and for amateurs and for many cultural groups it is the

only opportunity to take part in the culture from a foreign tradition which they admire.

9

Deeming the fact that non-professional fan translators have specific topic-related

knowledge and taking for the fact that the level of English in foreign societies is

increasing the User-generated Translation seem to be the type of translation gaining

popularity among modern users of the Internet. The main danger is the fact that it may

be impossible to verify both the authorship and the quality of translation which may

result in miscommunication which is translation biggest venture.

1.4. Crowdsourcing as an example of User-generated Translation in Web 2.0

The spread of communication networks and the more active role of user in the Internet

development of new electronic environment “one in which individuals are free to take a

more active role than was possible in the industrial information economy of the

twentieth century” (as cited in Perrino 2009, 58). In 2005 Tim O`Reilly defined that

situation as “Web 2.0” which was more interactive than before thanks to many social

portals (Facebook), online shops (Allegro), encyclopedias (Wikipedia) or websites

providing users with the opportunity to share data in an easy way which changed users`

possibilities. According to Perrino:

In the so-called Web 1.0 environment, the ability to manage online

content required a relatively high level of technical expertise, elevated

costs, and considerable time spans. Today, publishing one‟s work on

the Internet is made easy by intuitive platforms and high-speed

connections. A blog can be opened for free in a matter of minutes, and

uploading audiovisual material and pictures does not require advanced

skills. But Web 2.0 is not only about accessing and sharing

information – it is also about generating ideas and putting them into

practice in an environment that trusts collective intelligence. (Perrino

2009, 58)

It can be claimed that the term “Web 2.0” is dealing with accessing, producing and

sharing information as well as creating social networks and putting users into primary

position as their idea may now be easily shared via the Internet. Furthermore, the

environment of Web 2.0 provides the opportunity to collaborate for translators who, no

matter professionals or amateurs, can share their concepts and consult their ideas with

other users all over the world. The Internet is the most important medium of the 21st

10

century and UGT as a part of that modern medium will develop as most users not only

read and observe it, but also take active part during interactions which is claimed to be

the most important part of Web 2.0.

However controversial UGT may be when it comes to legality, there is one

specific branch which is a fully-legal amateur translation. It is called “crowdsourcing”

and according to Reinhard Schaler it is an example of “emerging localization

frameworks that are no longer focused on predominantly commercial concerns”

(Schaler 2009, 161). The concept involves outsourcing by a group of people who are

not trained to translate to take part in translating by using the form of an open call and

the name for that type of localization was proposed by the author of “Wired” magazine

Jeff Howe in 2006 (Schaler 2009, 161). The author explains that the concept is a

example of shaping our culture by dynamic spread of UGT (O`Hagan 2009, 111). One

of the first, and on the same time the biggest companies who launched crowsourcing

project was Facebook, which in 2007 let users translate selected parts of their website

into different languages, which was a evidence for those who could not imagine a UGT

made for a mass scale. Until 2008 Facebook already involved more than 30,000 users in

the project containing translation into 16 languages (O`Hagan 2009, 112). Thanks to

users` enthusiasm and possibility to evaluate the concept of crowdsourcing was both

fast and efficient as users could easily choose the best translation.

The motivation to use crowdsourcing given by Facebook was not cost saving

but possibilities for the users to choose their own environment with democratic

methods. Furthermore, the users felt more attached to the website in which translating

process they took part. As a result Facebook was localized in a culture specific way in

the concept of purposeful task at the same time widening the number of users who were

both translators and reviewers. It is also valid, that users had specific knowledge about

the website, not like professional translators who had never used Facebook before and

they could find specific, proper for each culture translations (O`Hagan 2009, 111-113).

Facebook was the first example of a huge crowdsourcing project which was

controversial from the beginning as many translators do not agree with the fact that

activists and non-professionals should take part in translating important data without

proper training. As a result, a group called “Translators against Crowdsourcing for

Commercial Bussiness” was started (O`Hagan 2009, 114). It is suggested that that

reaction was an example of lack of understanding of crowdsourcing being a part of new

technological era among professional translators (as cited in O`Hagan 2009, 114). The

11

author compares it to first rebel of many translators against Computer-assisted

Translation which was said to be threat for those translator, who were not familiar with

technology. The development of CAT suggests that crowdsourcing may shake the

profession of translator especially if users taking part in crowdsourcing projects will be

qualified and full of energy towards their work.

1.5. Legality and ethics of UGT

According to media entrepreneur, Andrew Keen the democratization of the medium is

polluting the information environment and downgrading cultural institutions as those

who are important in the specific field of translation should gain as much education and

experience as possible (Perrino 2009, 59). The author suggests that the position of those

who took proper education should not be equivalent to amateurs as an established

translation agency should provide professional translation which will be much better

than the one given by an amateur translator. Furthermore, a person who is not a scholar

and a professional does not have to keep the reputation as the Internet is a place of

nicknames and being anonymous which according to Perrino is one of the biggest

problems as “the impossibility of verifying the effective authorship of online content is

arguably one of the most criticized aspects of today‟s Internet” (Perrino 2009, 60). The

Internet is a place of free speech not only for professionals but also for experts alike and

uncertain information and untraceable sources are used at times. The situation may

cause a misunderstanding in translation or simply providing a text by an amateur who is

not knowledgeable enough to consider him as a trustworthy activist.

We should also discuss the notion about legality of the UGT. The development

of the UGT is very rapid and the notion is rather new but according to Cintaz and

Sanchez we may divide the moral history of UGT into two stages. According to authors

until half of 1990s many authors and companies treated amateur translation as a positive

phenomenon. We may observe that on an example of first fansubs translation. Very few

companies translated them from Japanese into English as both in Great Britain and USA

and what is more only limited titles were translated. Moreover, there were some

countries like Italy where anime were subject of censorship. Another problem was the

fact that due to violent content many materials were not translated and localized into

European languages (Cintaz and Sanchez 2006, 43-44). As a result, many anime movies

were translated into different languages by bilingual fans who took their time to

translate different materials. That process popularized anime all over the world.

12

According to Cintaz and Sanchez both copyright holders and fans were pleased by with

amateur translation as fans all over the world had access to their favorite material in

their native language. What is more, that phenomenon gave free promotion of the titles

published by amateur translators into other countries before official translation took

place. That situations was a kind of “gentleman`s agreement” (Cintaz and Sanchez

2006, 44). According to unofficial rules of translators, they stopped translating and

distributing the materials in the moment in which particular anime, program or series

had been licensed for official distribution as amateur translators knew that commercial

translated materials were both technologically and linguistically of better quality.

As popularity of anime and other user-generated content is raising for the last

years and the development of the Internet and computer technologies made user-

generated translation much easier to produce. Furthermore, more and more people

create their own translations with the enormous number of people using their language

skills and thanks to the Internet can create and publish their own translations of different

content. However, the rising popularity of user generated translation during last ten

years is said to be damaging for the owners of copyrights all over the world. According

to Cintaz and Sanchez there are several factors behind the change of that attitude. The

first is the fact that media and anime market spread and now there is a huge market of

legally translated materials in each language. Secondly, due to development of the

market the free promotion which is said to be user-generated translation is no longer

needed for publishers. What is more the black market of translation is growing as many

amateur translators and groups try to sell their amateur translated product for price

lower then translations with copyrights, however the quality of the translation is very

controversial. Moreover, as the user-generated translation is growing wider among

different genres, including films many distributors of movies find user-generated

phenomenon nothing more than illegal piracy (Cintaz and Sanchez 2006, 45).

In 2003 the first head on confrontation between amateur translators and

distributors took place as long awaited TV series titled Ninja Scroll was released. The

publication of official version should stop fan translators to translate the title. However

it did not stop as it was expected which started legal process. (Cintaz and Sanchez 2006,

45)

The problem of unlicensed User-generated Translation is very controversial as

the unclear copyrights law and different approaches of companies creates very foggy,

unclear issue. Some companies may find the fan-translated versions as a promotion, for

13

others it is violation of their rights. Being very useful, amateur translations without

buying copyrights of original version is still illegal procedure.

1.6. Conclusion

However interesting the notion of the User-generated Translation may be due to lack of

scholarly attention it cannot be considered as a mass phenomenon. But for a number of

people who devote their skills and time to translation for other users it should be

claimed as vast, important and still developing branch of translation. Amateurs who

create translations are now not only working on their own, but also join groups,

cooperate and create translations based on their topic-related knowledge. They work

without financial gain only due their satisfaction and for other fans who share the same

passion for specific topic no matter is it sport, movies or specific sub-culture. However

exciting and potentially beneficial for masses user-generated translation may be, the

artificers must keep in mind that distance between legal user-generated translation and

abusing copyrights is very small and the international rules should be passed as the

concept is rapidly developing and without specific rules the world of user-generated

translation may change into chaotic, non-informative, incomprehensive gibberish.

14

Chapter 2. The translation of news

2.1. Introduction

From the beginning of the modern media the difference between translators and

journalists started to disappear. The concept of news translation is very complicated as

on the one hand using a source text and creating a target text based on it suggests that

that process may be named as translation. However, the target text may vary on many

levels, from cultural context to language difference. It should also be remembered that a

modern journalist often uses a number of sources to create one text. While news are

nowadays everyday routine for masses, the picture of producing and translating them

still remains clouded as “very little attention has been paid to the role of translation in

this changing media landscape, despite evidence that it is having a significant impact”

(Soong 2006). In this chapter I will provide the theoretical background of news

translations and different concepts connected with this topic.

2.2. History of news translation and news agencies

According to Bielsa and Bassnett modern journalism as it is known nowadays

developed in 19th

century when everyday press started to gain regular readers. beginning

with 1836, when Emile Girardin gave rise to Le Presse, the first information-based and

non-political, newspaper with a low price on account of advertisements. However, this

newspaper may be considered as a protoplast, as only after creating Le Petit Journal

almost thirty years later, in 1863, the popular press started to gain popularity across

Paris. In 1870 Le Petit Journal printed almost 600,000 copies and in 1886 it reached one

million of issues (Bielsa and Bassnett 2009, 38). We can observe the similar

development of British cheap daily press as the market was opened to new titles such as

Daily Telegraph, The Times and Daily Mail which developed in London. The

development of press together with the need of gaining information from other

countries transformed the structure of media companies as many translation agencies

focused on translating information. According to Bielsa and Basnett “The new

15

mercantile character of factual information is nowhere more visible than in the relation

of the news agencies, commercial organizations which were set up by experienced

businessmen to gather and sell information when it became a valuable commodity”

(Bielsa and Bassnett 2009, 38). The news agencies history started in France in the 1830s

with opening of Bureau Havas.

Charles Havas opened Bureau Havas, which translated foreign

newspapers for the French media, in 1832. In 1835 his translation

agency was transformed into the first news agency, Agence Havas,

now gathering its own news as well as translating articles published

by the foreign press. From the beginning, Havas used widely the

developing telegraphic network, acquiring the monopoly of non-

governmental telegraphy in France. Its news started to appear in the

newspapers in 1853 under the title „Dépêches télégraphiques privées‟

and covered especially foreign news, although they did not become

generalized until several decades later. Meanwhile, Julius Reuter, who

worked as sub-editor in Agence Havas in 1848, started his own

agency in London in 1851(Bielsa na Bassnett 2009, 38).

One may claim that those translation agencies were first to be called news agencies as

they focused on providing information translated from other countries press. The reason

of that is the fact that readers wanted to gain information not only from their country but

also other European nations as the development of technology and telegraph all over the

world contributed to press improvement. Local newspapers could now publish news

taken from different parts of the world, especially from both British and French

colonies. Both international economics and politics were topics which had to be

translated and published in short time which is also pointed out by Bielsa and Bassnett:

The demand for fast and reliable information from all over the globe

was not only related to the need for an up to date knowledge of world

events generated by the new press of information, but also to the

political and economic developments of modern globalization (which

David Held et al. roughly situate between 1850 and 1945), a period

marked by the enormous acceleration of the spread and entrenchment

of global networks and flows, under the control of European powers

(Held et al., 1999: 421). Under the Western empires, global political

and military relations expanded and the intensity of international links

16

in areas like trade, investment and migration greatly increased. (Bielsa

and Bassnett 2009, 42).

Considering those aspects the use of a telegraph led to the establishment of global

infrastructure for communication After the Second World War news agencies continued

to spread over Europe as until 1971 Reuters opened new offices in Hamburg, Berlin,

Frankfurt and Bonn. In 1984 that most powerful British news agency opened television

company named Visnews renamed later, in 1992, to Reuters Television which are now

together with Associated Press Television two biggest global news producers (Bielsa na

Bassnett 2009, 49-50).

Jerry Palmer pointed that “News translation occurs primarily (but not

exclusively) at the point where news crosses national boundaries; this is because of the

traditional association linking news media with the nation state and national language”

(Palmer, 2009, 365). With the birth of different media, the increase of information

spread and transnational languages usage development there were many studies of the

language of news but most of them ignored the translator, who may have impact on

public opinion with the style of translating and interpreting of different target texts.

However, from the nineteenth century and the telegraph invention to satellite

transmission and the Internet the communication technologies developed in such a rapid

way that fast sharing and translating information was, and still is, the key to media

success. The development of the media, translation and technology made people look

for regularly updated information from all over the world. For the last twenty years the

part of providing information known as “visual news” (Bielsa and Bassnett, 2009, 53),

to which category we include television and the Internet, gained on popularity making

information spread fast and efficient as it uses both text and audio-visual

communication. The Internet is now, just like the telegraph in 19th

century,

revolutionizing the field of global news and further development of both speed and

quality of news translation may be visible in next decades.

2.3. Globalization in modern journalism

Although language takes important part in the phenomenon of globalization, the

linguistic aspect of that phenomenon did not receive as much attention as areas such as

economics or politics. Even Bielsa And Bassnett pointed out that:

17

Globalization is generally associated with the shrinking of our world

and the possibility of instant communication across the globe.

Widespread metaphors of accelerated mobility, such as those of flows

and of the information superhighway, only serve to emphasize this,

creating an image of the world as a network of highly interconnected

places in which space ceases to be significant. The present focus of

globalization theory on mobility and deterritorialization has obscured

the complexities involved in overcoming cultural and linguistic

barriers, and made the role of translation in global communications

invisible (Bielsa and Bassnett, 2009, 18).

However, because of the development of the global media international companies

nowadays rely on translators more than ever. The information from different countries

has to be translated both accurately and fast, as it usually decides on the success of one

company.

The news agencies are responding to the erosion of the distinction

between wholesale news producers and retailers introduced by the

channels of continuous information by addressing their news directly

to the public through the internet, which has become an important

medium for the integration of text and audio-visual communication

(Bielsa and Bassnett, 2009, 55).

Bielsa and Bassnett excerpt the inseparable relationship between international

information flows and news agencies as well as other institutions. From the early 1850s,

the European cable network developed and was frequently used by media. At the same

time news agencies had to respond for the demand for news from other continents. The

first to develop the net of sending was Reuters, which in 1859 started sending news

from China and India although in the beginning it took nearly two months to receive

news from Beijing to Great Britain. By 1861 Reuters had regular news bulletins from

Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Later a cooperation with United States

developed and this led to the 1862 news exchange agreement between Reuters and the

Associated Press of New York, and London. That placed Reuters in the privileged

position as the only valuable channel supplying American news to Europe. Until 1880

all British possessions in Asia and Africa were linked with London, which made it

18

informational capital city of Europe. Later offices were opened in important capitals in

news markets. Until 1861 Reuters claimed agents in most of European capitals and as

well as cities in India, Japan, Australia China, and New Zealand. The upraising agencies

evolved a global net for news gathering and distribution, which brought distant events

to newspaper in a fast and accurate way (Bielsa and Bassnett, 2009, 41-42).

Nowadays, news agencies are according to Oliver Boyd-Barrett defined as

“agents of globalization” (Boyd-Barrett 2000, 5) and therefore globalization without

them could not take place. Huge news agencies are the first to gather and interpret

information from different branches of public life from the world of economics to

culture. According to Newmark there are four universal medial issues that every news

translator should consider while translating non-literaly text which should be “a text that

is prima facie logical, factually accurate, ethically sound, and elegantly written”

(Newmark, 2003, 58). Newmark suggests that logical translation should be outside of

culture and ideology. No matter how correct this concept seems to be, many times it

may be hard to achieve as due to localization theories many journalists and translators

try to make their texts acceptable and easy-to-read for target society. Sometimes they

also change information to adopt source text which is considered to be a mistake by

Newmark who claims that “in non-literary texts, facts and events have to be

accurate”(Newmark 2003, 59). Furthermore, we can observe different concept

presented by Bielsa and Bassnett who suggest that “journalists need to view the source

text not as a finished product, but as the basis for the elaboration of a new text which

will convey the information required to new readers with maximum efficiency” (Bielsa

and Bassnett 2009, 84). This concept, even though it may be theoretically proper for

news agencies in many situations is getting less important than seeking for sensation

and manipulating facts. However, Palmer assumed that when journalism for retail media

is made, the piece of news is contextualize to be incorporated in the original

composition. According to Palmer agencies are also under pressure of client

organization:

Agency reports, however, are usually restricted to the event being

reported, intended as they are for incorporation into the reports put out

by a wide variety of client organizations. Reports produced by

commercial, transnational agencies carefully use terminology which is

as „neutral‟ as possible, as client organizations may have very

19

different cultural or political affiliations. The editorial policies of

government owned agencies, or activist organizations, as well as the

language used in their reports, commonly reflect the policy of the

controlling organization. These factors impact upon translation

strategies.(Palmer 2009, 188)

The fragment suggests that text may be manipulated and changed by agencies who work

for particular client organization which may result in publishing selective information.

According to Palmer only direct usage for what is called „retail” media, where there is

no time for manipulating and the information is given in a pure form. This may be

problematic especially in Arabic countries or China, were it is popular first to translate

local dialect into one, popularly used language which is then once again translated into

ultimate target language by second interpreter- that process may efface important part of

information (Palmer 2009, 189).

Newmark also suggests that “a valid text must first be rid of misprints, gaps,

grammatical and lexical errors, inadvertent repetitions, redundancies, uncoordinated and

ponderous paragraphs” (Newmark 2009, 59). The text translated to different media must

be accurate and informative as it is the basic concept of translating news. The

availability of changes during news translation is much smaller than while translating

fiction or poems as the translator adapts specific information given which should not be

changed. The result of inappropriate translator work may be commented by another

authors thought which points out that the material may exist in several, divergent

versions:

When President Ahmedinejad of Iran was quoted in English language

media as saying that „Israel should be wiped off the map‟, this

quotation was taken from versions of a speech published in Farsi by

the official Iranian Government news agency on 26 October 2005.

During the following hours, three translations of this speech were

widely circulated among international and transnational media; one

was done by the Farsi section of the BBC Monitoring department, one

by correspondents of the New York Times working in Teheran, and

one by the proIsraeli, US based monitoring organization MEMRI

(Middle East Media Research Institute). The translations differed in

20

significant ways (Steele 2006) and have since been heavily contested

(Norouzi 2007). (Palmer, 2009, 189)

Palmer saw the main problem in the fact that there were several English language

translation made by Iranian news agency which was confusing as authors using English

language had to use only partial translations made by Iranian agencies and provided by

bilingual workers of local news agencies summaries (Palmer 2009, 189). Moreover, the

situation presented above may result in disinformation and communication problems for

the information recipients as well as chaos in global contacts between nations. The

translation of news nowadays became important in the conflict-ridden world.

Sometimes news translators and interpreters are crucial for information about fighting

nations or political problems. Translation is generally said to be a means of

communication in cultural understanding and many people do not realize that it may be

sometimes abused as a powerful tool. Moreover, translators and interpreters produce

translations that may be elements of conflict and manipulate them since every piece of

news depends on translators who are responsible for the translated texts which provide

our knowledge about the world and which may lead to many dangerous

misunderstandings. This problem is visible especially in modern, free of barriers

journalism, which is based on translations.

2.4. Trust and morality in translation and journalism

In the last few years news translation was based not only on translators, but also

networks of foreign correspondents, working for news agencies, stories shaped for

chosen audiences. This sometimes results in the creation of completely new texts, which

are hard to classify as it is hard to decide whether they are still translations or already

journalist texts. The domination of languages like English globally means that power in

the sociopolitical arena is possessed by international journalists. What we should do,

therefore, is to be more aware of the manipulative processes that are used to attract our

attention and to raise questions about the extent to which a translator can use his own

interpretation in another cultural context. What is more, the word „translator‟, when

referring to news translation, is not a person who works during the process of

transferring the information but also the one, who changes it, and adds some contexts.

This point of view helps to explain why journalists and translators not only have much

in common, but also are often one person, who prefers to be referred to as an

21

“international journalists” (Bielsa and Basnett 2009, 118). The process of gathering and

converting information from one culture into another cultural context may have some

elements of interlingua exchange, however, when it comes to news and reports the focus

is mainly on pure information. It is more on the transporting of information in a way

aimed to specific, target readership. Nevertheless, where there is an existing original

text situation is different than when a person is preparing one‟s own report.

One of the first theoreticians who worked on ethics of translation was French

translator Antoine Berman, who in 1984 produced “L‟épreuve de l étranger: Culture et

traduction dans l‟Allemagne romantique” later translated to English in 1992 in which he

critiqued translation of a source text based on translating on a ethnocentric and

hypertextual level. He commented on that type of translation as a one, which loses its

essential aim- proper information. He suggested that foreign reader should not be given

a translation based on his culture but he should be provided with the text showing

cultural differences and „real‟ original meaning (Inghilleri 2009, 100). A similar rule

should be implicated to translating news as according to Bielsa and Bassnett “We need

to believe in the veracity of the accounts provided by those men and women around the

world who supply us with information about the events that shape our lives, and when

such information is proven to be false, we are outraged” (Bielsa and Bassnett 2009,

117).

A most important target in the transmission of news is that it should be truthful.

The newspapers reader or a viewer of the television channel should be given honest

reports with a proper cultural background. Cultural aspect, however, creates a problem

as different countries work with different news conventions. Furthermore, even in one

country we can find different style of publishing and editing news as there are not only

different conventions operating at different terrains, but there are differences in style

and expectations from specific employer or target group. However, regardless is the

piece of news written or spoken the most important issue for translator is still to provide

a truthful communicate, as according to Weston:

In both cases the meaning of a communication is being transferred as

accurately as possible from one language to another. That being so,

and despite the different input and output media, the translation

process – what actually happens (but not necessarily either the

practical or the psychological methods whereby the process is

22

achieved) – must surely be describable in identical terms in both

cases. (Weston 2003, 142)

Many theorists claim that spreading the news is not only about what information

is given but also how it is presented. According to Montgomery the “authentic talk”

(Weston 2003, 121) in public sphere depends on gestures, the context in which the talk

is made and system of different signs used. What is interesting, according to Westons

observation “neither the authority of the speaker nor any sense of a source being

somehow „authorized‟ that will determine whether a broadcast will be perceived as

truthful, but rather it is „the nature and the manner of the talk itself that makes for

compelling testimony” (as cited in Weston 2003, 121).

The next vital issue is “theatreatricalizing the news” (Weston 2003, 122)

According to Weston many translators and journalist often manipulate responses and

reactions according to their needs, as a result the consignee may be given very

subjective form of an interview or piece of news. That is used most often in press as

translators/journalists need to add things, as mimics, tone of voice and body language

which can not be visible. According to Weston “in such cases with a real-life exchange

being written up as though it were a piece of theatre. This strategy, which is not very

common, raises important questions about the assessment of veracity.” (Weston 2003,

202) This tactics as it is considered to be less authentic and every form of a dramatic

text like this needs to be given a critical attention. Interviews written in this way can be

accompanied with additional texts to be read as a part of “play”. The given concept

illustrates another problem, as according to Weston both the translator and the journalist

should always be trustworthy as they give their opinion to the receiver of information.

What if the translator knows the piece of news is translating is false? According to

Newmark, the translator and writer should be loyal to the truth, neither to the reader, nor

to the author. However, Weston suggest that the translator is only a person who

translates and should “reproduce in the TL as accurate as possible an equivalent of the

content and form of the SL text, having regard, where legitimate choices of

nomenclature or style arise, to the function of the original” (Weston 2009, 149). He

claims that the translator has no moral right to change the author`s point of view as

translating that should not consider moral rights, but only be morally neutral and

translate “what is there” (Weston 2009, 149) as in the different way it would be

misinterpretation of a source text.

23

Moreover, Weston points out that the translator should not be a person taking

special care for the audience as “at all events, one cannot proceed on the assumption

that readers require a nanny to make sure they are not fooled or offended” (Weston

2009, 149). A situation like this may be seen as a censorship and treated as an attack for

the free media as a person who interrupts into other peoples text is said to be a censor

instead of being a translator. In news it might be true as changing the information given

from other place by a translator may start chaotic and false information spread.

The concept of theatreatricalizing the news is also mentioned by Bielsa and

Bassnett:

It is also the case that truth, appropriateness and sincerity are

culturally determined, and are therefore variable. What passes as

appropriate in one context may be deemed utterly inappropriate in

another, but it is only through translation that such disparities emerge.

(Bielsa and Bassnett 2009, 138)

The authors do not consider the concept as big danger yet, they point out

that because of cultural background or specific target group some

translations may be inappropriate and sometimes localization of the piece of

news is needed

2.5. Conclusion

The analyses of the current translation and journalism ethics research reveal the

complex nature of the problem. We perceive that trust is focused mainly on the

translator and global journalist and the reasons behind their actions. The theoretical

background shows textual ideas such as fidelity and gives prominence to the notions of

responsibility and truth. This however goes beyond the linguistic part of the text and

emphasizes the impact of the text on the social background . It is not only for a

translation to be truthful, it must also meet client‟s expectations and in many situations

still struggles with censorship. Are the ethical values and norms given by Newmark

better than those proposed by Weston? Should the translation of news be part of

translation studies or journalism? Finally, are recipients of news aware of manipulations

which take place within the media? Those questions need to be deeply analysed as

certain rules should be given and followed by those who share information with

millions all over the world.

24

Chapter 3. The analysis of amateur translation based on

Arsenal London fan websites

3.1. Introduction

As it was suggested in the previous chapters despite its important role in global news,

translation is still considered as a background-positioned part of the process of

providing information and the international media. It seems, however, that because of

many international websites and the constant need of information localization the

concept of a translator who can be also treated as a journalist has changed. A translator

of a piece of news has a significant impact on the point of view of the reader which can

be presented while analyzing the same source text and two target texts. The situation

like this takes place while translating the same articles to rival newspapers, TV

programs or Internet websites writing on the same topics. Taking that into

consideration, I decided to analyze articles and news posted on www.arsenal.com

translated on two different Polish Arsenal Football Club fan websites which are

www.gunnners.com.pl and www.kanonierzy.com. There are many similarities between

these portals- both publish information descanting British football club Arsenal London

FC taken from English websites and press which are translated by amateurs- usually

young (under twenty five years) fans of this particular club. Both websites were

launched before year 2000 which makes them one of the oldest sport websites in

Poland. Together they have more than 20 thousand documented users (consumers) and

700,000 entries per month (average of November 2009-January 2011). The

www.gunners.com.pl website is reported by the editor-in-chief to be in top 5 of Google

search in the World. On the other hand the different concepts of translation are used and

that provides very interesting phenomenon to compare.

3.2. Different approaches to the same source text by different amateur internet

translators

Amateur translations are very specific as usually they are made by people fully devoted

to their mission who try to share their passion with others. However, because there are

no universal laws for all of them usually each website or translators group has its own

25

rules. Despite being trustworthily which should be most important for all translators,

different websites and translators follow different regimes which may be interesting, but

as well confusing for the readers looking for reliable information. Even portals

dedicated to football have very individual styles of translations

Starting with the article “We had the performance and not the result” posted on

arsenal.com from the beginning we can find out that translators decided not only to

translate, but also interpret it in their own way on www.kanonierzy.com the article is

titled “Pomeczowa wypowiedź Wengera” although the journalist on gunners.com.pl

website decided to title the news as “Wenger: Manchester przyjechał po 0:0”. Although,

the different heading may be seen as a way to attract the reader‟s attention the whole

translated text shows enormous differences in authors` approach. One of the first

dissimilarities is the strategies of translating- one of the Internet volunteers decided to

be as accurate and precise as possible while the other changed not only graphical side

but also the content which by many may be seen as an error especially because the

source text is a direct quotation of one person. This can be illustrated with the following

excerpts:

“It was harsh. I hoped for a second that it would be two yellows

because the game was fair. It was not very physical or a game full of

hate, it was a respectful game. Both teams were committed but I

hoped yellow and we got red.”

This passage was translated at kanonierzy.com as:

“To było zbyt surowe. Przez chwilę myślałem, że obaj piłkarze

dostaną po żółtej kartce. Nie był to jakiś bardzo fizyczny mecz, pełen

nienawiści - wręcz przeciwnie, piłkarze traktowali się z szacunkiem.

Oba zespoły grały z wielkim zaangażowaniem, więc liczyłem na żółty

kartonik, a nie od razu czerwony.”

The first problem faced by the translator is the meaning of the statement “It was harsh”-

one decided that it is related to referees reaction on a foul, while it should be applicable

to foul itself. What is more, the translator added “zbyt” which can not be found in

original text. As a result the whole paragraph changes its meaning. Despite the

26

beginning the translator decided not to publish the excerpt “(…) because the game was

fair” as it may be seen as a copy of later part- “it was a respectful game”. At

gunners.com.pl the same piece of press conference is translated as:

”To było ostre zagranie. Miałem nadzieję ze skończy się tylko na

dwóch żółtych kratkach i uważam ze byłoby to sprawiedliwe. Mecz

nie był bardzo fizyczny czy pełen nienawiści. Rywale się szanowali i

grali fair. Uważam że sędzia troszkę się pośpieszył z pokazaniem

czerwonych kartek”

We can observe the translator deciding to add his own point of view to the material

which is a direct quotation from press conference and, as a result more emotions that

were not given by the author of the words are added in last clause. That situation makes

an article implausible as translation of quotation should be translated as literal as

possible. According to the rules of the editorial staff from gunners.com.pl a situation

like this should not take place, as according to newsman code of gunners.com.pl

“Quotations of a person should be translated as literally and accurately as possible.” The

translator was against not only interior website rules but also the main concept of

translation- providing correct information. What is more we can find more mistakes like

this in the same text:

On Fabregas being frustrated…

Of course Cesc is upset because he wants to win the game. He doesn‟t

go out there to play a draw he goes out there to win and every time he

does not win I can tell you he is very frustrated. But we are all

[frustrated] tonight. I don‟t blame my team. I think I would more

encourage them to keep playing like we do and win more games than

we draw.

The quote was translated by gunners.com.pl volunteer as :

O frustracji Fabregasa po meczu:

Oczywiście Cesc może być niezadowolony, chciał dziś wygrać. Ale

wie też dobrze że nie zawsze można zdobywać trzy punkty. Dziś

wszyscy byliśmy sfrustrowani. Nie winię mojego zespołu, zagrali dziś

27

bardzo dobre spotkanie. Na pewno wyjdziemy po tym spotkaniu

bardziej podbudowani by w kolejnych meczach odnosić zwycięstwa.

Here the loose idea of translating is even more visible as once again the reader can find

the sentence which is only the translator`s belief added to quoted pronouncement. The

words: “He doesn‟t go out there to play a draw he goes out there to win and every time

he does not win I can tell you he is very frustrated.” were taken out from the text and

replaced by words: „Ale wie też dobrze że nie zawsze można zdobywać trzy punkty.”

once again we can see the translators misuse. One decided that the original quotation

was not interesting enough and he added his own opinion about the situation.

Moreover, that information is much different from the one placed in the original text

where we can find words showing frustration and disappointment while the transcribers

version is more likely to express a kind of understanding and humility to losing a game.

Again, according to the rules giving to every translator volunteering in editorial board

(“News is not and subjective article. The editor should not put his own feelings into it.”

) we can treat this part as a mistake due to the fact that there are some very subjective

words added to the content. At the same time kanonierzy.com editor posted as

following:

O frustracji Fabregasa...

Cesc był zdenerwowany, ponieważ za wszelką cenę chciał wygrać to

spotkanie. Nie jest to typ piłkarza, którego zadowala remis. Mogę

wam powiedzieć, że za każdym razem, kiedy nie zgarniamy trzech

punktów, to jest bardzo sfrustrowany. Ale nie tylko on. Nie winię

mojej drużyny za ten rezultat. Zachęcam im natomiast do dalszej

takiej gry, wtedy będziemy więcej wygrywać niż remisować.

Again we can see totally different way of creating translations as the translator from

kanonierzy.com decided to form his text in a very emotional way, which can be found

in changing “upset” usually translated as “smutny”, from original text into

“zdenerwowany” and using additional words like “za wszelką cenę”. The translator

also decided to leave the word “tonight”, which changes the meaning of the whole

sentence as while reading his translation it seems the person is permanently frustrated

after all the lost games, while the original text is showing only frustration after this,

28

particular match. He also decided to change the meaning of next short but vital sentence

by omitting a subject and changing word order which changes the meaning for more

mysterious and not giving particular feelings of the mentioned group.

3.3. Mistakes made by translators and their analysis

Taking into consideration another press conference clause we can find different

problems, mainly connected with lack of knowledge about English grammar rules and

vocabulary. The fragments taken from the article “Wenger: It was important to have a

response” show how vital the knowledge of English grammar rules are for every

translator. Moreover, we can find another problem than that given earlier. Here, the

translator is giving word-to-word translation, which often makes the text very hard to

read for Polish recipient. This may be exceplified with the following excerpt:

We have lost Van Persie so for Bendtner and Chamakh to score is

very important, they now have a level of confidence that we need to

be successful in the big games. You need your strikers to take any

chance and tonight Bendtner did that very well.

The above was translated and posted on www.gunners.com.pl as:

Straciliśmy Van Persiego, więc Bendtner i Chamakh są ważni, aby

zdobywać bramki, mają teraz poziom zaufania i musimy odnosić

sukcesy w wielkich meczach. Potrzebujesz napastnika aby próbował

swoich szans i dziś Bendtner wykorzystał to znakomicie.

The translator seems to be overwhelmed by the complexity of that short paragraph and

as a result he made mistakes in some of crucial parts of the text. Foremost of

problematic terms is the part “(…)they now have a level of confidence that we need to

be successful in the big games”, where confidence should be translated as “pewność

siebie” instead of “zaufanie”. What is more, the term “that we need” is translated as

“musimy odnosić zaufanie” which makes the whole sentence totally different from the

English version. The last sentence is also very difficult to follow because of the lack of

localization into Polish. The two sentences may be translated in more clear and

29

communicative way, without so many mistakes in the most important parts of the text.

It may be translated as follows:

“Straciliśmy Robina Van Persie, więc bramki zdobywane przez Bendtnera i

Chamakha są bardzo ważne. Obydwaj prezentują obecnie taki poziom pewności siebie,

jaki będzie nam potrzebny by odnosić sukcesy w wielkich meczach. Wymagasz od

napastnika by wykorzystywał wszystkie sytuacje i dziś Bendtner robił to bardzo

dobrze.”

There are numerous mistakes like this in whole translated article which can be found in

piece of quotation where Arsenal manager reports about the opponent team quality:

I give them credit for always trying to play, I said that to their

manager. They tried to play football and they did that in a very

positive way. They are on a long unbeaten run in League One as well,

so overall they have done very well.

The above was interpretered as:

Zawsze daję im kredyt, aby mogli spróbować pograć, powiedziałem

ich menadżerowi. Próbowali grać piłkę i robili to w bardzo dobrym

stylu. Są najdłużej niepokonanym zespołem w League One, tak więc

ogólnie sprawili dobre wrażenie.

From the beginning we can see how one vital linguistic unit can change the meaning of

words given by somebody. The improper translation of word credit (the meaning should

be a reputation of good quality, a source of honor and respect instead of just Polish

“kredyt”) makes the meaning different and suggesting giving some more possibilities

for the opposite team and not playing fully concentrated, we can even claim that it is

suggesting dishonoring the challengers and showing superiority. Furthermore, the last

clause includes the Polish interpreter ideas which, even if true, should be characterized

by additional information usually used by editors for example Polish “przyp. red. –

przypis redakcji” as without it must be considered as a mistake and abuse. Taking into

30

consideration all the mistranslated parts it may be claimed that proper translation should

be as follows:

Szanuję ich za to, że zawsze starają się grać i przekazałem to ich trenerowi. Próbowali

grać w piłkę i robili to w bardzo dobrym stylu. W League One (angielski odpowiednik

polskiej drugiej ligi- przyp. red.) również mają długą passę bez porażki tak więc

podsumowując- sprawili się bardzo dobrze.

Another problem very often observed on translated internet sites is the problem with

English grammatical forms. This, as well as the lack of vocabulary knowledge may

result in various mistranslations of a text, a perfect example of which may be seen in

following two fragments:

We need Chamakh with the games we have in front of us. He had a

great start to the season until the end of November and after he had a

little bit of burn-out. Now he looks, even in training, to be coming

back. For a while he looked very tired but now it is good for him he

has scored.

Potrzebujemy Chamakha w grach, które są przed nami. Miał dobry

początek sezonu do końca listopada, a potem troszkę się wypalił.

Teraz wygląda, nawet na treningach, że powrócił do formy. Na chwile

wydaje się być zmęczony, lecz teraz dobrze mu to zrobi na strzelanie

bramek.

The last line seems to be a perfect example of misunderstanding that resultes from the

lack of grammar knowledge- using bad time reference made the quotation meaningless.

Looking at the translation one might suggest that it was made by a machine because it is

word-to-word translation without taking into consideration the basic grammar rules and

logical view. We may claim that the proper translation could be: “Przez pewien okres

wyglądał na zmęczonego lecz to, że strzelił bramkę jest dla niego kolejnym plusem”.

Another quotation with similar problems is found several lines later:

31

He has played four or five games in the Premier League since the start

of the season, that‟s why I took him off after 60 minutes. For me he

looked sharp on the ball, had good acceleration and power.

Rozegrał cztery, pięć gier w Premier League przed początkiem

sezonu, to dlatego go zdjąłem po 60 minutach. Szukał piłki, miał

dobre przyspieszenie i siłę.

We can see how bad translation of the word “since” decided on the context of the whole

clause. The translator used since as a form suggesting time before some point in the past

(The start of Premier League) while it should put pressure at a subsequent time and due

to that mistake the sense of the whole paragraph is disordered. We may claim that the

translator`s deficiency of knowledge about the language could not be compensated by

the knowledge about football, as in every translation the knowledge about the specific

topic is important, but the knowledge of even the most banal rules may be the key to

proper translation.

3.4. Adjusting to the convention of the Polish language in amateur journalism.

Another crucial aspect for journalists who translate information from foreign news

bulletins is localization. In the translation of an article titled “Arshavin- Criticism

dented my confidence” posted on the Polish website www.gunners.com.pl we can find

paragraph from the original version which is as follows: ”Andrey Arshavin puts his

mid-season dip down to two factors: a loss of form and media criticism”. This was

translated as: “Andriej Arszawin podał dwie przyczyny wyraźnego "dołka"

przeżywanego w połowie bieżącego sezonu: słabszą formę sportową i ostrą krytykę

mediów”. The given topic sentence, which summarizes the article, is informative and

supplements with the main concept of the whole content, which is extremely valid due

to the way of presentation of the piece of news as the website graphical concept

determines to show the title and one sentence of each piece of news. If the reader wants

to read more, one ought to enter the subsite. Due to that, the first sentence should be the

most informative part of the article. However, the writer decided to transform the main

idea into his own abstract. It appears as quoted: “Andriej Arszawin jest pogodzony z

sytuacją walki o swoje miejsce w pierwszym składzie oraz uważa, że krytyka mediów

wzmaga w nim lepszą grę.” One thought about other rule provided by

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www.gunners.com.pl editors which states that “It is suggested that a writer should use

own creativity when it comes to introducing the topic.” Regrettably, this creativity made

the main concept of the article different than it should be as the article is mainly

dedicated to the reasons of player`s worse sport form than results of described situation,

as suggested in www.gunners.com.pl topic sentence. Also the translation of a quotation

is mistranslated as:

I think it was a combination, my form and they [the media] chased me

a little bit as well," said Arshavin. "Normally everyone expects

something more from me and that is good to hear, because only from

good players does someone expects something.

The above excerpt was transcribed into Polish as” Media trochę mnie krytykowały,

moją grę – powiedział piłkarz. Każdy oczekiwał czegoś więcej ode mnie. To jest dobre

dla piłkarzy. To nas motywuje.” That shows enormous compression as the original

quotation has 43 words while the Polish equivalent only 22. Because of that one of two

reasons given by the interviewed person is not translated and again the translator

concept changed the meaning of original words which should not take place according

to rules found in the newsman code.

Another interesting issue is the spelling of a Russian footballer`s name- Andriey

Arshavin (originally- Андрей Аршавин written in Cyrillic). The representatives of both

websites decided to change the spelling to Polish one- the decision made due to fact that

Russian is a Slavic language similar when it comes to pronunciation to Polish, and

English spelling is made only to make non-English surname easier for English language

users. Although it is controversial, both editors decided that the similarities of Russian

and Polish languages make it more natural to use Polish equivalent than using English

spelling of Russian name on Polish website. It is a perfect example of localizing proper

nouns which makes the text more familiar to Polish reader. That type of localization is

popular and used on many surnames for example Bulgarian Dymitar Berbatov- in

English (Bulgarian origin- Димитър Бербатов) and Dymityr Berbatow (in Polish),

Andrey Schevchenkho or Shevcenko (in English) and Andriej Szewczenko ( in Polish),

names for example Mikael Essien (French) and Micheal Essien (English) or places-

Stadio Olimpico (Italian) and Olimpic Stadium (English).

33

We can also find some problems with cultural background in some translations,

for example in the news “Fabregas - The creative king of Europe” we may find a

fragment:

“Opta revealed this week that the Gunners captain creates a chance

from open play on average every 29 minutes. That's the best rate from

any player in the continent's leading five divisions.”

Which can be found on Polish websites as:

“Według statystyk, kapitan Arsenalu jest najbardziej kreatywnym

piłkarzem w Europie. Taki właśnie zaszczytny tytuł został przyznany

Ceskowi Fabregasowi przez Opta. Warto wspomnieć, że

konkurentami Hiszpana byli wszyscy środkowi pomocnicy z pięciu

najsilniejszych europejskich lig. Nasz maestro środka pola otwiera

swoim kolegom drogę do bramki średnio co 29 minut, co jest

najlepszym wynikiem na starym kontynencie.”

As a fan website www.gunners.com.pl decided to not only inform, but also praise

Fabregas, which is reasonable. Unfortunately Opta as a organization well-known in

Great Britain is not as popular among Polish football fans, which results in the news

being useless without additional information about the aims and activities of Opta. A

note with important information about that organization gathering and broadcasting

sport information and statistics to clubs and sponsors should be added so that readers

need not to find it on their own which may be problematic at times.

3.5 Conclusion

All things considered expose exactly how the translator`s persuasion and style of

translating may influence target text and, as a result, receivers judgments. A situation

like this may hit especially readers who can not use source text language. As a result,

they may be not only confused by different information taken from the same source but

also start to think about the translator and the websites on which ones text is published

as untrustworthy. What is more the translator`s deficiency of knowledge about the

language itself can not be compensated by the knowledge about particular topic, as in

every translation the knowledge about the given topic is important, but the knowledge

34

of even the most basic rules may be the key to proper translation. Translating even short

simple piece of news is liable labor, as the original words are given to a translator and

one should do everything not to change their meaning as the Internet became a place of

seeking for information for many people who depend on proper translations.

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Conclusion

Contemporary translation scholars have started to discuss to the issue of news

translation as well as amateur translation, which for some years had been an unenviable

subject in translation studies. Due to the fact that I observe numerous mistakes on

amateur websites, I decided to discuss the notion of the amateur Internet translation and

try to analyse this notion. I gave the example of Arsenal London Football Club as an

English club, whose fan I am, due to the fact it is one of the most recognisable clubs

with few different fan websites.

I tried to show the development of amateur translation from mangas and fansubs

which were the beginning of that notion to User-generated Translation and present

different concepts which are part of this constantly developing subject. Along with that,

I presented how news translation is shaping our perspective and how the information

flow changed from sending the first international piece of news until the era of the

Internet translation. I gave examples of popular websites and problems they must face

in the era devoted to seeking for fast and trustworthy information.

Translation is a pivotal player in struggles for fast information and despite its

vital role international journalism or simply news translation is still underestimated

among scholars and those who receive the final information via different media, which

are now fully dependent on translators` work. Despite the importance of internet and

amateur translation which are constantly spreading both of those did not receive

attention from scholars. Maybe because many scholars see translation purely in

commercial terms? Those who use an amateur Internet translation as a source of

knowledge should be curious as due to possibilities of modern technology the Internet

in full of pseudo-translators who despite their knowledge about a particular topic and

passion to what they try to do are lacking knowledge about the basic rules of the

language which leads to disinformation. Finally, as it was presented in the given

examples one should remember that the fact that website is popular does not need to

mean that the quality of the translation is the best as because of advertisement even

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those websites which are not translated adequately be promoted and popular among

users.

The topic of Amateur Internet Translation is very vast and scholars should

consider analyzing it and trying to establish some rules for those, who translate content

for readers, known also as user in the Web 2.0 concept, as nowadays the Internet is a

basic source of information for most of people all over the world. Amateur translators

should do whatever they can to propose the best possible translations as the information

provided is the most important part of translators` labour. Bill Gates said that “the

Internet is becoming town square for the global village of tomorrow” and in this

concept one may find amateur Internet translation as a volunteers in the middle of that

town square. If they are helpful and well prepared they are useful, but if not they can

cause disorientation among the narrow paths of the Internet.

37

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13) www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/fabregas-the-creative-king-of-europe

14) www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/37287/wenger-reaction

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18) www.kanonierzy.com/shownews_id-19331,page-8.shtml

19) www.kanonierzy.com/shownews_id-20005_Arszawin--Wrocic-do-pierwszego-

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20) www.kanonierzy.com/shownews_id-20008_Wenger-o-nagrodzie-dla-

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