Translating The Translator

I am in the midst of a translation job and it is driving me nuts. The deadline's a couple more days but with the grace of God (and extended hours, plus copious mugs of steaming kopi-o), I think I should be able to get it done in time.

Let me rephrase the above statement for it is not entirely correct. I am in the midst of overhauling someone else's translation job, after which I have to proof-read the entire work - all 187 pages of them - and this is driving me bonkers.

I always end up with this sort of thing; such is my karma. This book on management has been translated - English to Bahasa Melayu - by someone else. The client isn't happy with the end result and has asked for it to be reviewed.

To be fair, they had approached me months ago to do it but I was about to leave for the Hajj, so I declined. Seems like it's my baby after all ...

What was to have been a once-over has turned out to be a complete revision of the translation, just because the erstwhile translator had committed the absolute travesty of translating - being literal.

Some samplings: "Although I did not have the benefit of working with".. came out as "walaupun saya tidak mempunyai kepentingan bekerja dengan" ....

Here's another one: "I have built on many great authors" ... became ... "saya telah bina atas usaha ramai penulis terkemuka"...

At this very moment I am taking a much needed break; I have been squinting at the laptop for the past three hours and a slight headache is developing.

Please God, don't let it be migraine. All I can take now is the garden variety kind of headache. I need all the time in the world to get this work over with.

Ask any translator worth his/her salt and he/she is likely to tell you translating any written work is no walk in the park.

Translation is part and parcel of my PR job and I have been at it for 19 years now, yet I have never started a job without trepidation.

It doesn't matter what you translate - a press release or a speech, an advertorial or an advertising copy, a financial statement or a company prospectus, or even a book (which I am doing right now), the onus is on the translator not to stray too far from the original text.

Sticking close to the original copy is the hardest part when you are on the roll. I have always preferred translating Bahasa Melayu to English than vice versa, perhaps because my comfort level with English is higher.

Above all, however, I still prefer writing - especially copywriting - because it gives one a lot of leeway to be creative with the language.

The most fun I had with copywriting was years ago when a client supplying in-flight gifts for a local airline asked me to pen words describing each and every item that they created for the airline.

The range of items was a delight to work with - silver bookmarks in the shapes of miniature wau (Terengganu kite), pending (traditional oval-shaped belt buckle), labu sayong (earthenware water jug) and kebaya nyonya, among them.

It made work seem like play then. Unfortunately, there isn't an iota of play in whatever I am doing now. But there's money to be earned, so I am not complaining.

The mind has been idle ever since returning from the Hajj that it is in danger of becoming the Devil's workshop.

Thus it is good to jolt the grey matter (whatever's left of it) back into service ..... Oh, I'm veering off-course.. time to get back to work....