Maxime et Hélène

THE WORK OF TRANSLATION

Last week, we met two American translators. They explained to us how to translate a text, and chose the example of Utopia written by Sir Thomas More.

This is an extract of our translation from English to French:

I one of all other without philosophy

Moi ,le seul de tous ceux sans philosophie,

Have shaped for many a philosophical city.

J'ai façonné pour beaucoup de gens une ville philosophique.

That work was very interesting because we saw how important the choice of the words was.

The most essential element in the translation is that we must translate the feelings of the writer more than the words themselves and it's not a good idea to use websites such as Google Translator.

So, when you translate something, be assured to translate things properly, not words by words, but by thinking about what the author means.