What has English to French translation got to do with globalisation?
We certainly can’t ignore globalisation
in today’s world. Whether we are looking at business,
commerce, marketing or entertainment, globalisation affects virtually
all aspects of our social, work and domestic life. This
certainly includes English to French translation.
We can look at globalisation in several ways. We can think of it in terms of travel and communication – nowadays we can either visit or contact people across the globe so much more quickly. Globalisation can also be seen as an aspect of production – nowadays it is quite common for different components of the same product to be sourced from, or manufactured in, several different parts of the world. However, most people when they think of globalisation think of brands and marketing; a “global brand” can be used to exert different kinds of influence in different cultures. This is where English to French translation comes in.
There are at least two ways in which English to French translation relates to globalisation.
Firstly, English to French translation is part of the process of globalisation. Translation brings cultures and language groups closer together and helps to make communication and understanding easier.
Secondly, globalisation has had a powerful effect on the translation industry in many different ways – some positive, some less so.
1. Need for translation
The need for English to French translators, and translation in general, has never been greater.
Many people query whether this is so. It appears in some ways as though globalisation has strengthened the role of the English language as a lingua franca. For instance, many of the big global industries are based in the United States and much of their business throughout the world is conducted in English.
However, it doesn’t take too much scrutiny to see that this simply isn’t so. There are several other prominent industrial nations, some of which are newly emerging and fighting hard for their share of the global market. Many of these, such as China, Japan and the Arab states, have a strong culture of using their own language and have no intention of yielding to English. Even in countries where English is taught as a foreign language, there are millions of people who would not understand a marketing campaign in English. With regard to English to French translation in particular, the French are extremely particular about their language and would certainly never countenance it being replaced by English.
In fact, the trend towards globalisation has provided a big boost to the translation industry. All companies with any kind of global reach now need to use translators, either in-house or outsourced, to assist their communication and marketing. The downside is that in many countries the demand for qualified translators into some languages actually exceeds supply. This has resulted in many unskilled translators being recruited This can have serious consequences for businesses, in terms of possible poor communication; for the community, in terms of cultural misunderstanding; and for the translation industry – if poor work is being produced, this gives the whole industry a bad name.
2. Change in translation process
Partly as a result of this increased demand, there seems to be a requirement from translation clients for significantly increased speed in completing English to French translation jobs. Among other methods, the aim is to achieve this increased speed through more division of labour among translators. This means different chunks of the text can be farmed out to different translators or even to different translation agencies, not necessarily in the same country. This can mean a serious loss of quality control. In addition, use of translation memory software can mean that instead of composing an English to French translation on a blank paper or screen, the translator can be presented with a hotch-potch of bits of the source text mixed up with different bits of text in the target language from different sources, and the task is more to smooth out the “joins”. This again can result in more speed, but a lot less quality.
3.“Foreignising” texts
There have usually been two main approaches to conveying different cultural concepts in English to French translation: target-oriented and source-oriented. In the target-oriented approach, the emphasis is on trying to make the foreign concept as understandable as possible to the French reader. So if a “culture-bound” word in the source text has no exact equivalent in French, a roundabout descriptive phrase in French is used instead. This has been the more common approach until recently. In the source-oriented approach, the emphasis is more on conveying to the target reader that the source culture is actually different from theirs. So if there is no close translation in the target language, the actual source-language term is retained, with or without an explanatory footnote. As communicators have taken a more global view of the world, there is an increasing tendency to use the second approach in English to French translation. The reader benefits both by gaining more fluency and flow, and by having more sense of the source culture.
4. More access to tools
The growth of the Internet has
enabled translators to have more access to online information
and tools to help them with their English to French translation
work, such as glossaries, dictionaries and encyclopedias.
5. More competition
Some believe that globalisation means that the days of the small English to French translation business are numbered, as clients can get access to translation services anywhere in the world.
This may be so, but it doesn’t seem to have happened yet. The small translation agency often has a competitive advantage. It can provide a more personal and flexible service to clients and this results in a high level of customer satisfaction. However, the small English to French translation agencies like all others will have to decide how they are going to meet the challenges of globalisation in the future. Some may go under, but many will undoubtedly thrive.
The English to French translation industry has a unique role in today’s global world. There is no other profession that is so powerfully placed to act as a bridge between languages, nations and cultures. This unique role does also bring lots of challenges and demands for new ways of working. For those who are up to the challenges, the opportunities have never been greater.
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