The Importance of Context
I am currently editing a document which has been translated from English into Indonesian by another translation agency. My client asked me to check the translation to make sure that it’s done properly. That was actually a wise move from their side – you wouldn’t believe the mistakes I have found in the documents!
The documents are training manuals for health education and has several different topics, including motherhood and family planning. Just to give you an idea of how appalling these mistakes are, below is one of the worst examples of a translated sentence in the original English version, the Indonesian translation and the meaning of the Indonesian translation (back translated).
The context is safe motherhood. The original English sentence is: “Danger signs of complicated pregnancy or childbirth: prolonged labour (more than 12 hours)”. It was translated to: “Tanda-tanda bahaya komplikasi kehamilan atau persalinan: pekerjaan yang tertunda (lebih dari 12 jam)”. The translation basically means “Danger signs of complication in pregnancy or childbirth: delayed work (more than 12 hours)”. 
Alright, I must say I can (reluctantly) understand why they translated ‘labour’ to ‘work’, but what I don’t understand is why they don’t bother checking whether this translation makes sense, and whether it fits with the context! It gave me an impression as if the translator (whoever that person may be) didn’t really care about the document as a whole, they just want to get the translation done with, submit the translation and cash their check.
So, if you’re a translator, or want to be one, please make sure to do enough research about the topic of the document (or at least keep the context in your mind while translating) so that you can understand the context and hence are able to find a proper word that actually makes sense. Of course, that applies only if you want to nurture your relationship with your client for future involvements in projects. 
Comments
yup..and context is always helpful in reading and understanding materials without looking up dictionary every second
Yep, totally agree!
And that’s the main reason why on many occasions I prefer to buy the original books, than having to face its terrible translation into Bahasa Indonesia.
Thanks for sharing
Totally agree
I buy the original version too (of course only when it’s English – as that’s about the only foreign language I can read).
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