There are more than 7000 languages in the world classified into 147 language families. A few of these are popular among the new language learners and many others are getting obsolete. Not everyone can speak every language. However, some people speak more than one or two languages. Translators are people who are usually proficient in more than one language. Every language has a defined set of grammar, syntax, and pronunciation. There are different attributes and features of every language. However, there could be similarities and differences based on the origin and language families. The ongoing trend of internationalization and globalization has made people aware of languages, their importance, and the need to break the language barriers to target an audience more effectively.
Italian, French, and English are three of the important and popular languages. All these languages are very popular among the new language learners as well. Moreover, these come from the same language family and also share a few common characteristics and also differ in many features. Though these languages belong to the same families, every one of these comes with certain challenges while translating from one language to another. Translation services English to French can give you a hard time too as a translator. Therefore, being prepared and ready and going through the best possible scenarios beforehand can help with a more swift translation.
Here are some of the challenges that translators often have to struggle with while doing English-to-French translation.
Text Expansion
English is one of the most precise and definite languages. French, on the other hand, is longer than English. The words have additional alphabets. This is mainly because of grammatical features such as articles, gender agreements, and compound words. Consequently, all the English sentences translated into French can be 15-20% longer.
This expansion problem often creates hurdles in the layout and its format. This especially gets challenging while translating the content for the website and working on advertising campaigns due to the limited space given. Interestingly, Italian language can also pose great challenges while working on Italian translation services because it is also longer than English in terms of word composition.
Multiple Variations of French
French is a popular language with a lot of regional variations. These may include Canadian French, Belgian, and Swiss French as well. These variations have their dialects, vocabulary with the influence of local languages in pronunciation, and grammar rules. Hence, this can come up as another factor that can make translators struggle. Translators have to be familiar with the native accent of the target region. Ideally, native speakers should be hired for the tasks so they can ensure accurate translations with the most original and natural sounds. Moreover, working on it in advance can help to get through the challenge conveniently.
Grammatical Differences
Despite belonging to same families, English and French have different grammar structures. French works with a subject-object sentence structure, whereas English has an object-verb structure. Not only this, but French has a more complex and difficult-to-understand system of verb conjugations with noun declensions. Such differences often strike great challenges for the translators. To convey the meaning accurately for the translators, it is imperative to work on the original text more vigilantly and stay updated with the grammar rules.
Level of Formality
French has a relatively more formal and nuanced register as compared to English. This implies that the translators, while working on translation services, need to select a proper and appropriate level of formality that goes with the text tone. It should be resonating with the context and language of the target audiences. Italian is also a formal language and has a formal register like its fellow language, French. It is a romance language and is similar in formal pattern to other romance languages, including Spanish and French. Therefore, professional Italian translation services and translating from English to Italian also demand a lot of consideration.
Selecting the wrong dialect or register or opting for an informal tome can make the audience feel awkward and sound unnatural, deviating away from your offerings.
Cultural Differences
English and French come with a culture that is poles apart. The French culture has its intricacies, and so does the English. This further indicates that a lot of words, phrases, and idioms get used in a cultural context that could have limited to zero alternatives in the target language. Hence, during such situations, the translators have to be culturally sensitive and need to look for creative alternatives to convey the meaning that best relates to the terms or phrases.
Technical Challenges
Depending on the niche and subject, there could be some technical challenges as part of the French translation services. Also, using machine translation can cause problems with text expansion and other factors. Machine translation can barely produce accurate translation between English and French. This is mainly due to the multiple complexities that come with both languages.
Conclusion
French, English, and Italian belong to the same language family, which is Indo-European. However, the translation of text from English to French-Italian or vice versa can get challenging due to multiple factors such as text expansion issues, multiple variations of French, grammatical differences, formal register, and cultural differences with technical challenges.