TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETATION SERVICES IN GOVERNMENT
6. Our First Report dealt with the immediate problem of simultaneous interpretation and the more distant but very formi- dable problem of translating all Council and Committee papers if non-English speaking members of the community were to be appointed to serve in these bodies. Our Second and Third Reports bring with them an immediate problem of translation; we con- servatively estimated that 57 additional Interpreter/Translators would be required to carry out the recommendations in these two reports. Quite apart from sheer quantity, the question of quality will surely arise. Interpretation and translation is to bridge the gap of understanding but interpretation and translation of poor quality will only create misunderstanding. Indeed, a fair propor- tion of the letters sent to us have emphasised that with the increase in the numbers of interpreters and translators, arrangements must be made to ensure that only people of the highest possible quality are engaged in these fields.
7. We feel that quality is basic to the whole problem of transla- tion and interpretation since a proliferation of poor quality inter- preters and translators would only defeat the whole purpose of our recommendations. We have not conducted completely objective tests of the quality of the interpreters and translators presently serving in Government but we are informed that their standards vary considerably, and there is no organized training given at all either immediately after their recruitment or at any stage of their
career.
8. To start with, we should like to correct a basic misconcep- tion of the art of translation. There is a widely held misconception that translation is no more than the mechanical matching of equivalent words or phrases from dictionaries. In reality, however, translation work is far more complicated; it is a form of creative work in which the translator, with the original text as the raw material and his own command of the two languages as his tool, puts across as accurately as possible his comprehension of the original text from one language into another. In this process, the translator is creating something, though within limitations. In other words, a translator applies his writing technique to re-express in
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another language, the thoughts, sentiments, style and the literary form of the original text. All such re-expressions reveal the trans- lator's own literary attainments and personality. Because of this, several pieces of translation of a single text could differ sub- stantially in style and technique, yet they can all be accurate. Consequently, a good translator should, in addition to being proficient in both the languages involved, be also fully aware of the intrinsic differences in the vocabularies, sentence construction and style of the two languages.
9. In translating from English into Chinese, for example, it would suffice for a translator to be competent and fluent in the English language but he would need to be particularly proficient in Chinese so that he could remould accurately and faithfully the original English text into Chinese so that its form, atmosphere and deeper meaning may be immediately apparent to readers who are only proficient in the Chinese language. The reverse is true in translating Chinese into English.
10. In the light of the fore-going considerations, we recommend that Government Interpreters/Translators should be divided into two separate categories; namely, one to be primarily engaged in translation from English into Chinese, and the other to be primarily engaged in translation from Chinese into English. We also recommend that as a long term objective, Government should train a class of specialist translators within each of the fore-going two categories. Such translators, before appointment, should have acquired an intimate knowledge of the technical terms and the subject matter of the specialized fields that they are to deal with. We recognize that these recommendations may necessitate a certain amount of sharing translation facilities between departments and/ or the establishment of a Central Translation Bureau.
11. In view of the proposed separation of Interpreter/ Translators, equal emphasis will have to be placed on both the Chinese and English language entry qualifications of the grade. Accordingly, we recommend that the basic qualification for direct entry to the Interpreter/Translator grade should be amended to include at least a pass at Grade C or above in either English or Chinese in a Hong Kong Certificate of Education. We endorse the present practice of granting increments to entrants with a
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