literal translation

Information about literal translation

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Literal translation is the rendering of text from one language to another "word-for-word" (Latin: verbum pro verbo), rather than conveying the sense of the original. Literal translations thus commonly mis-translate idioms. Also, in the context of translating an analytic language (such as English) to an agglutinative languages, it renders even the grammar unintelligible.

A literal English translation of the German word "Kindergarten" would be "garden of children," but in English the expression refers to the school year between pre-school and first grade.

If one translates literally the Italian sentence, "So che questa non va bene" ("I know that this is not good"), one gets "Know-I that this not go-it well," a of English words and Italian grammar.

Early machine translations were notorious for this type of translation, and machine translation still has a long way to go.

Often, first-generation immigrants create something of a literal translation in how they speak their parents' native language. This results in a mix of the two languages in something of a pidgin. Many such mixes have specific names, e.g. Spanglish or Germish. For example, American children of German immigrants are heard using "rockingstool" for "rocking chair" instead of the correct German "Schaukelstuhl."

Literal translation of idioms is a source of numerous translators' jokes and apocrypha. The following famous example has often been told both in the context of newbie translators and that of machine translation: when the sentence "The spirit is strong, but the flesh is weak" was translated into Russian and then back to English, the result was "The vodka is good, but the meat is rotten." This is generally believed to be simply an amusing story, and not actually a factual reference to an actual machine translation error [1].

Similarly, a literal translation of the sentence, "What’s up?" (from English to French and back to English) resulted in "Towards the top of that which is?"

Literal translation can also denote a translation that represents the precise meaning of the original text but does not attempt to convey its style, beauty, or poetry. Charles Singleton's translation of The Divine Comedy (1975) is regarded as a literal translation.

Literal translations are sometimes prepared for a writer who is translating a work written in a language he does not know. For example, Robert Pinsky is reported to have used a literal translation in preparing his translation of Dante's Inferno (1994), as he does not know Italian. Similarly, Richard Pevear works from literal translations provided by his wife, Larissa Volokhonsky, in their translations of several Russian novels.

See also

References

Latin}}} 
Official status
Official language of: Vatican City
Used for official purposes, but not spoken in everyday speech
Regulated by: Opus Fundatum Latinitas
Roman Catholic Church
Language codes
ISO 639-1: la
ISO 639-2: lat
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An idiom is an expression (i.e., term or phrase) whose meaning cannot be deduced from the literal definitions and the arrangement of its parts, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only through common use.
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Please [improve the article] or discuss this issue on the talk page. This article has been tagged since April 2007.
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An agglutinative language is a language that uses agglutination extensively: most words are formed by joining morphemes together. This term was introduced by Wilhelm von Humboldt in 1836 to classify languages from a morphological point of view.
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English}}} 
Writing system: Latin (English variant) 
Official status
Official language of: 53 countries
Regulated by: no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: en
ISO 639-2: eng
ISO 639-3: eng  
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German language (Deutsch, ] (help info ) ) is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages.
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Italian}}} 
Official status
Official language of:  European Union
 European Union
 Switzerland
 San Marino
Vatican City
Sovereign Military Order of Malta

The template is . Please use instead.

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Machine translation, sometimes referred to by the acronym MT, is a sub-field of computational linguistics that investigates the use of computer software to translate text or speech from one natural language to another.
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pidgin is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups who do not share a common language, in situations such as trade. Pidgins are not the native language of any speech community, but are instead learned as second languages.
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For the James L.

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Anthem
"Das Lied der Deutschen" (third stanza)
also called "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit"
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An idiom is an expression (i.e., term or phrase) whose meaning cannot be deduced from the literal definitions and the arrangement of its parts, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only through common use.
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Apocrypha (from the Greek word ἀπόκρυφα, meaning "those having been hidden away"[1]) are texts of uncertain authenticity or writings where the authorship is questioned.
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Newbie is a slang term for a newcomer to online gaming or an Internet activity. It can also be used for any other activity in whose context a somewhat clueless newcomer could exist.
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Machine translation, sometimes referred to by the acronym MT, is a sub-field of computational linguistics that investigates the use of computer software to translate text or speech from one natural language to another.
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Russian}}} 
Writing system: Cyrillic (Russian variant)  
Official status
Official language of:  Abkhazia (Georgia)
 Belarus
 Commonwealth of Independent States (working)
 Crimea (de facto; Ukraine)
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English}}} 
Writing system: Latin (English variant) 
Official status
Official language of: 53 countries
Regulated by: no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: en
ISO 639-2: eng
ISO 639-3: eng  
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French (français, pronounced [fʁɑ̃ˈsɛ]) is a Romance language originally spoken in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, and today by about 300 million people around the world as either
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The Divine Comedy (Italian: Commedia, later christened "Divina" by Giovanni Boccaccio), written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321, is widely considered the central epic poem of Italian
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Robert Pinsky

Robert Pinsky (b. 1940), at a 2005 event.
Born: 20 September 1940 (1940--) (age 67).
Long Branch, New Jersey (U.S.
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DANTE (Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe) is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various National Research and Education Networks in Europe and surrounding regions.
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Inferno generally refers to a large fire or hell.

Inferno or Infernus may also refer to:
  • Inferno (operating system), an operating system for creating and supporting distributed services
  • Infernus

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Richard Pevear is an American-born poet and translator who frequently collaborates with his Russian-born wife, Larissa Volokhonsky, on translations of works mainly in Russian, but also French, Italian and Greek.
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Larissa Volokhonsky is a Russian-born translator who frequently collaborates with her American-born husband, Richard Pevear, on translations of works mainly in Russian, but also French, Italian, and Greek.
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Dynamic equivalence and formal equivalence are two approaches to translation. The former (also known as functional equivalence) attempts to convey the thought expressed in a source text (at the expense of literalness, original word order, the source text's
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In linguistics, a calque (pronounced /kælk/) or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal, "word-for-word" (Latin: "verbum pro verbo") or root-for-root translation.
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Young's Literal Translation

Full name: Young's Literal Translation of the Holy Bible

Abbreviation: YLT

Complete Bible published: 1862

Translation type: extremely literal

Copyright status: Public domain
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The Bible is
  • Part of
(see The Hebrew Bible below)
  • Part of a series on Christianity
(see The New Testament below)


Bible
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