Common pitfalls when translating from English into Scandinavian. Tess Whitty

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1 Common pitfalls when translating from English into Scandinavian Tess Whitty 1

2 Interview from WW2: My father died defending a steel plant in Stalingrad Min far dog försvarandes en stålplanta i Stalingrad HP Printer User Manual: Settings: a. Factory default b. Manual The movie Roxanne : Check the box if you like me. Kolla lådan om du gillar mig. a. Fabriksinställningar b. Användarhandbok 2

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4 Outline Examples of error categories General guidelines Prepositions and conventions Possessive pronouns Sentences beginning with To Tricky words False friends Characters Measurements Capitalization 4

5 General guidelines Sentence structure complicated long sentences in English break up reorder Rewrite! Use the possibilities of compound words and free word order 5

6 Example of free word order I det svenska språket är ordföljden relativt fri, vilket bör utnyttjas. Att ordföljden i det svenska språket är relativt fri bör utnyttjas. Något som bör utnyttjas är att ordföljden i det svenska språket är relativt fri. Ordföljden är relativt fri i det svenska språket 6

7 One word or two? 7

8 Prepositions and conventions Prepositions differ between English and Scandinavian Pay attention to the English to or on Passive form is created differently in English Was documented Plural option in English Attach the file(s) 8

9 Examples - prepositions EN SV + NO + DA In the menu På menyn I menyn From the list I listan På listan, från listan Protect from Skydda mot Beskytte mot Skydda från Beskytte fra Click OK Klicka på OK Klicka OK Add a name to the list Lägga till ett namn i listan Lägga till ett namn till listan føje sig på listen 9

10 Possessive pronouns and personification Sin, sitt och sina (dens, dens deres) is missing in English English use possessive pronouns for body parts, relatives etc. English personification of objects 10

11 Examples Eric handed over his dog to John She told her classmates a joke She sprained her ankle badly Your camera has an interchangeable lens Turn on your computer 11

12 To-sentences Common with to-sentences followed by imperative in user manuals To create a new document Conditional clauses Choose New on the File menu to create a new document 12

13 Tricky words in English Data Cannot Spend Modify Edit Skip Related Technology Please 13

14 Examples Write the data on a CD You cannot infringe on the copyright He spends his day writing Do not modify the program He wants to edit her writing Do not skip breakfast The subjects are related This is a new technology 14

15 False friends EN-SV SV-EN + NO + DA Actual faktisk Aktuell present, current Wrist - handled Vrist fotled/ankel Athlete idrottsman, idrottskvinna Atlet strong man, hunk (not DA) Beef nötkött Biff beef steak Billion miljard (oftast) Biljon trillion (oftast) Civil rights medborgerliga rättigheter Civilrätt civil law Genus släkte Eventually slutligen Genus kön Eventuellt possibly, if need be 15

16 Those #^& characters Quotation marks ( ) ( ) (" ") Placement of quotation marks En/em-dash (,, -) #, & and! Punctuation rules and commas in English Percentage, degrees, number sign (#) $, %, ºC 16

17 Examples Press the Select button His answer was Absolutely. The most likely causes are listed below you'll find information on Pilot #5 is a war film about The budget increased by 12% 17

18 Measurements Not only do we have different measurements, but the same measurements are written differently in English and Scandinavian Abbreviations and their placement Capitalization 18

19 Examples Administer 100mg/mL of XX or Placebo It is 20 C He ran 300 mts. An electric eel produces 500 Volts 19

20 Different capitalization rules Headings and titles Countries and languages Weekdays, months Titles Organizations and parties Laws and legal texts 20

21 Examples The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo The Christian Church is divided into three different churches The International Monetary Fund is an international institution The famous Dr. Smith speaks German 21

22 References SV-SE Svenska skrivregler Språkrådet Skrivregler för svenska och engelska Terminologicentrum Översättningsrekommendationer Wikipedia Myndigheternas skrivregler Regeringskansliet Lista över falska vänner mellan svenska och engelska Wikipedia Olika stilguider från kunder 22

23 References DA-DK Dansk sprogbrug from Gyldendal Nudansk Grammatik from Politiken Retskrivnings-ordbogen from Dansk Sprognævn 23

24 References NO Bokmålsordboka ( Skriveregler by Finn-Erik Vinje Språkrådet ( 24

25 Questions or comments? Download presentation: Copyright Tess Whitty