May Day - Is it May Day?

When I hear the words: "Translation is the sounding of other people's thoughts," I understand that this is not just a commonplace banality, but a phrase that was put into use by a person completely far from understanding the profession of an interpreter. Professions are complex, creative, multifaceted and, undoubtedly, in our time actual.

The other day, reviewing old magazines, stumbled upon the novel of Arthur Haley - "Airport" - a novel that sensed a couple of decades ago no less than the "Da Vinci Code" of Brown - just unless without the intervention of the clergy ... Rereading the novel again ( In translation from English) - suddenly noticed the phrase: "May day ... May day ... May day" ...- translated literally and ... completely incorrect, given its indirect significance in the aviation context. This is a cipher signal that does not require a verbatim translation from any foreign language and means "we suffer a disaster" - a kind of SOS coming from an aircraft that has fallen into an emergency situation. In its etymology the expression has nothing to do with the English language, it came from the French language even in the century before last, in the original it sounds like "Moi aidez" and means: "We need help."

I learned about such subtleties only when faced with the translation of specialized texts, as well as other expressions, many nuances related to the interpretation of meaning when translating a word or phrase from one foreign language into another, and phrases understandable by a narrow circle of specialists.

For example, one of these concepts is the literal translation of the name of the standard airplane rotation - in Russian it sounds like nonsense, an empty set of words: "crossing wind, leg" ...- in fact - this is the name of the first turn Aircraft landing. Such examples, understandable to pilots, dispatchers and other specialists - aviators, can be given a lot. That's why even the native language pilots pass a special course of conditionally "foreign language", the so-called Radio Check, associated with the use of phraseology for radio communications, performed by the controller and the pilot in flight. By the way, you can not shy away from standard phrases, no creativity, no dialect (American or Canadian, etc.) - only strict adherence to the items of special documents approved by the international organization ICAO.

The experience of working with a foreign language is of continuing importance for an interpreter, as is direct communication, because one of the main functions of the language is communicative. Language - a living organism, it develops, neologisms appear, obsolete words leave , their semantics change. Only communicating, consulting with colleagues in the shop, native speakers, will be aware of the inevitable language changes.

Of course, the sea of information can be found on the Internet, and recently I found a portal dedicated to translators and many aspects related to this profession.

Translations.web - 3. ru - a well for translators, teachers of foreign languages, and not only. For example, any of us faced the need to translate documents into a foreign language, for example, before a business trip to the countries of the European Union, it is necessary to submit a transferable version of the Labor Book. On the site you can see the samples of correct professional translation of documents.

In sections of the portal, you can find a lot of material, from the differences between the "interpreter" and "translator", and ending with the speech etiquette. By the way, "digging" in the latter, found some interesting ideas about the difference in verbal etiquette between Europe and Asia and prepared a sketch for a seminar on language culture.

If you want, you can fill in and send a CV to existing vacancies for translators, because there have passed the times when announcements of interpreter services could be seen on the subway along with announcements about buying and selling.

"Well, you, what kind of translator ...," says the unsophisticated skeptic, "now a lot of on-line translators ..." the translator Google will translate and will not take money. "

But there is no need to be seduced, if it is a question of the need for a quality, professional translation, then, as the aviators say, one can not do without a human factor.

Here is just one example, when an electronic dictionary caused a conflict.

One of the list of questions requested by the Netherlands from Israel for a seminar on the topic "Intervention of European states in the policy of the Middle East" - sounded unexpectedly, so much and curiously. The question should have been: "What, in your opinion, needs to be done regarding the Iranian threat to Israel?" ("What do you think should be done to eliminate the threat to Israel from Iran?") But it sounded quite different: "What in your opinion needs to do the opposite of the awful the Iranian of Israel." ("What do you think it is required to do against terrible Iran to Israel"). This question was accompanied by a number of others, the meaning of which was almost impossible to understand. It's funny, is not it? But neither the Foreign Ministry of the Netherlands, which made serious claims, nor the Israeli reporters could laugh at it. Despite the apologies and justifications, the journalists were too embarrassed to go to the conference.

And the fault of the incident was the electronic dictionary, which the journalist used to compensate for weak knowledge of English. Having automatically translated from Hebrew to English, he sent it by e-mail to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.

No automated translation can penetrate the linguistic structural links, coordinate them in such a way as to express clearly and clearly the main idea of the text.

Who knows what will appear earlier in the latest electronic technologies of the next decades: the ability to touch smells in the virtual space (currently being researched) - or the ability of electronic translators, like a person, to grasp the essence and depth of subtle semantic relationships and relationships of different languages ...

In the meantime, in the competition of computer technologies and "live" translators, the priority belongs to the latter.