Completely Lost In Translation

Petite confession: je suis linguiste, je fais de la traduction et de l'interprétation.

Tout ça pour vous expliquer que mon appréciation de la merde dans laquelle se trouvent actuellement les États-Unis est fondée sur une analyse scientifique et professionnelle des facteurs en cause et non pas sur ma profonde antipathie de M. Dubya. [Yeah, right].

Le fait est que l'étude, la connaissance et l'usage de langues autres que sa langue maternelle développent l'intelligence d'une personne. Les recherches ont montré que, comparés aux unilingues, les multilingues non seulement obtiennent de meilleurs résultats dans des tests de calcul ou de logique, mais qu'ils sont également plus intuitifs et plus aptes à capter les nuances dans les conversations ou à interpréter correctement les signes gestuels et le langage corporel de leurs interlocuteurs.

Un article récent du Christian Science Monitor (http://csmonitor.com/2004/0916/p09s01-coop.html) explique les problèmes que l'insuffisance de traducteurs arabes compétents entraîne pour le gouvernement américain dans son occupation de l'Iraq, et aussi pour les Américains d'origine arabe aux États-Unis.

«Arabic is a difficult language, even for native speakers like me who have studied it for years.

There are many Arabics. Classical Arabic is derived from Islam's holy book, the Koran, and Islamic studies. It is written but rarely spoken. Modern Standard Arabic, although not spoken by the masses, is the language of modern journalism, used in newspapers and news reports. Then there is colloquial Arabic, spoken differently in each of the 22 Middle Eastern countries.

Meanwhile, within these nations there are dozens of regional dialects that add or subtract letters, words, and accents, with a sprinkling of other languages mixed in as well.

It doesn't take much to mistranslate words, because many Arabic words use the exact same letters. Arabic does not have vowel letters. Vowels appear as short lines or symbols above or below each letter, indicating pronunciation. These markings can change the meaning of the words. Often in official or handwritten documents, these vowel marks are not shown. Thus, the reader must derive the word's meaning.

Meanwhile, when spoken, many words sound alike, but have various definitions. For example, the word meaning "appear" sounds like bada. The word meaning "start" sounds like badaa, with a slight guttural inflection. When pronounced quickly in news reports or in conversations, these two words sound almost identical. But there is a big difference in saying, "He appeared to shoot," and "He started to shoot." It could mean the difference between an
acquittal and a conviction.»

I guess I have much more respect now for my colleagues in the Arabic section. Uh...that didn't come out right... It's not that I didn't respect them before! It's just that .. Uh.. Look, English is not my mother tongue, OK? OK? Sheesh!