Some Thoughts on Translation

I've done a lot of translating in the last two weeks. I spent plenty of time being the lingual bridge between US doctors and their Peruvian patients, sometimes relying on a second Spanish-Quechua translator to complete the line of communication. Then last Wednesday I translated for the staff of PERFAL as they presented their work to a group of staff from Georgetown. Earlier in the year I translated a presentation/tour that Pd. Eddy gave to a group of students from some American Jesuit university. So translation is a topic I've been reflecting on.

The first big question of translation is: which person do I use? Do I translate someone's words directly and use the first person? Or do I use the third person?

When translating between patients and doctors, I used the third person. Instead of trying to translate word for word what people said, I focused on the relevant information. When the doctor asked how someone had hurt their back, I would just translate the answer to that question. The lengthy story the patient told me about what they had for breakfast that day, or where their field is located, was something I left out of the English translation. So much extraneous information just frustrated doctors, so it seemed best to leave it out.

But when translating for colleagues, I tend to use the first person. That's because in presenting Fe y Alegría's work, they use nosotros (we). I'm a part of that work, so I use the word “we” in my translations. I also stick closer to the specific words that the presenter says. Part of that is because the presenters are mindful to leave breaks so I can translate for them. But that's also because the listeners are there to hear the presentation. They don't have targeted questions the way the doctors do.

Translation is more than just changing the words to a different language. In general, Peruvians are not a well hydrated people. So most doctors were telling me to tell the patient “Drink plenty of water.” But I know that Peruvians don't drink water. That's an American thing. Peruvians drink tea and refresco (a catch-all word for cold drinks like juice or iced tea). So instead of telling a patient “Drink plenty of water” and potentially confusing them into drinking giardia-laced tap water, I told them “drink lots of tea and refresco.” I was making a deliberate choice not to use the doctor's exact words. I made that choice to better convey the doctor's message (you need to be more hydrated) in a way that the patient could understand and apply.*

Last thing about translation: a translator has a lot of power.

When translating for the doctors/patients, I often had control of the room. If I was working with a doctor with no Spanish, and a patient with no English, I was the only person who knew everything that was going on. The doctor trusted me to get information from the patient and the patient trusted me to communicate their pain to the doctor. The same with Pd. Eddy presenting to a group of American college students. Neither would know if I intentionally changed their statements to hide information. Of course I didn't do that, but I was the only one in the situation with the power to do that. All information had to flow through me.

*Of course I told doctors about how people get their fluids here, and I noticed that by the last few days all the doctors I worked with were telling patients to “drink plenty of tea and refresco.”