Translation tips

This is intended to be a short tutorial for those who would like to help out by translating some of the Arimaa publicity material, such as the instruction video "Learn to play Arimaa".

My name is Joel Thomas, a.k.a. megajester. In the real world I am a professional translator and interpreter. I work in a publishing house translating magazines and books from English to Turkish, and as a simultaneous interpreter for between 2 and 3 hours a week. I had the pleasure of translating "Learn to play Arimaa" into Turkish. I hope to be able to crystallize my training and experience into some basic guidelines for others who would like to do the same for their own language.

Misconceptions Debunked

When I was a small child I thought foreign languages just replaced each word in English with a word I didn't understand. I imagined that when you say "My name is Joel" in another language all you do is take that language's word for "my", "name" and "is", and string them together.

Of course I quickly found out that is not the case. But for years I still continued to make a similar mistake by looking for an exact equivalent for each word in my language in the language I was learning. Foreign language dictionaries do nothing to dispel this misconception. They give you the idea that there is a single, universal, one-size-fits-all equivalent for every word and expression in your language, if only you would look hard enough for it.

Let me save you years of grief. Etch this into your brain: No two words are ever exactly the same.

Let's take an example from English. If you look up the word "work" in a thesaurus it will give you "employment" as a synonym. Now, are these two words the same? Exactly the same?

Not quite, you say. Well then, what is the difference? The meaning's practically the same, the main difference is in usage. The best way to make comparisons is to think about how we use these words in normal situations. If I go up to my mother and say "I've finally found some work!" she'll say "Oh well done!", but if I say "I've finally found some employment!" she'd look at me funny. She'd understand me, yes, but it'd be the wrong word for that context. It's just too formal.

Thinking a little longer, we can see there are actually differences in meaning as well. "Employment regulations" mean the laws in a country that tell employers and employees what their rights and responsibilites are. But "work regulations" is unclear, it's much more general. It could be something to do with how you work personally.

It's the same with "equivalent" words in foreign languages. Two words are never the same. They are just two words that mean similar things most of the time.

As you can see from the example above with "work" and "employment", language is very organic, very human. It involves feelings, contexts, and purpose. You have to truly understand what you're translating. This is why, until computers are capable of human-like conscious thought, they will always be rubbish at it.

What Is Translation?

Translation is basically rephrasing something in another language. Let's say I asked you to take a text from your own language that was written 200 years ago, and rephrase it so it sounds like somebody wrote it yesterday. The way you'd approach it is exactly the same way that a good translator works. The question you're asking yourself is (in the case of English-Turkish): "If this Englishman, who wrote this document for English people, was a Turk writing for Turkish people, how would he put it?"

This makes translation a very subjective business, an art form. So another important principle is the following:
A text can be translated more than way, and those translations can all be equally good.

So what makes a translation "good"? The fundamental requirements are the following:
1. Accuracy
2. Clarity
3. Naturalness

So once you've finished your translation, you should ask yourself:
1. Have I conveyed the essential information in the source without adding or removing anything substantial? Sometimes you don't need to mention something because it's obvious. Sometimes something is obvious in English, but the audience in your language won't get it, so you have to specify it. In both cases you're translation is still accurate, because the viewer gets the same information.
2. Is it expressed clearly? Never get hung up on having the same number of sentences as in the source. Split sentences, combine sentences, do whatever you need to do to get the point across. Sometimes there is an equivalent for an English term in the target language, but if nobody's heard of it don't use it. Explain the concept.
3. Is it expressed in the same way that a native speaker would express it? Now this can be the most difficult of all. If the answer's "no" and you can't see how to make the sentence more natural, just take a step back and analyze the whole thing. Ask yourself, "If I was going to write this from scratch, where would I start? How would I put it?" Don't be scared to reorder whole paragraphs, add or take away sayings or cultural expressions.

Now you might get to the point where you say to yourself "But nobody would ever say that in my culture!" Which brings us to our next principle:
You are an ambassador, not a postman. Always stay true to the goals of the writer, and do whatever you have to to reach them.

Imagine you're the U.S. ambassador to China. The president sends you a letter instructing you to tell the Chinese government that Washington is not prepared to do this or that for them. You know the U.S. government wants to maintain good relations with China. But based on your knowledge of Chinese society and culture, you know that if you express the president's wishes in the way he stated them in the letter, they would be very offended. What should you do? Just take the letter to the Chinese and read it to them? Surely not. You get in touch with the president, and suggest a better way of putting it. Or if there's no time, you make changes in ways you're sure the president would be happy with.

Translation is all about give and take. If you're translating a religious text with theological significance you have to stick very closely to the original because each word is selected and interpreted very carefully. But if you're translating a commercial, you could change the whole thing from start to finish just to make it more appealing, because the purpose is to sell a product.

Pointers for Arimaa Publicity Materials

In line with principle 3 above, especially if you're translating the rules for Arimaa for the first time ever (for example on Wikipedia), it's better to use terms that would be considered normal in your language than slavishly using the dictionary equivalent for English terms. For example, in the video it explains the rule about immobilization. If you look up "immobilization" in Turkish you either end up with "immobilizasyon", a meaningless loanword, or "hareket edemez duruma getirme" (bringing into the situation of being unable to move). That was doable for the narration but for the text overlay we needed a quick, snappy term, so I used "engelleme" from a verb meaning "to obstruct/prevent". It's also good to look up accepted chess terms and keep them in mind when selecting terms for Arimaa, so your terms will be respectable instead of obviously translated.

Now with videos you have added constraints, mainly time-related. As a general rule, a translated text is always longer than the original, no matter which languages you're translating from or to. So in videos sometimes you have to delete little colourful expressions that are nice in the original, but make the translation too long. But it's still accurate, because you haven't removed any information.

Sample Text

Below I'll give a literal back-translation of the Turkish of the "Learn to play Arimaa" video, side-by-side with the English, so you get the idea. Note how all the principles above have been adhered to. (I apologise if there are couple of slight differences.)

English	Turkish back-translation	Turkish
Arimaa is an abstract strategy game with a $10,000 programming challenge and a yearly man vs machine match. It was designed in 2002 to show that humans can still outssmart computers, and so far the humans are still dominating.	Arimaa is an abstract strategy game and in a match played every year between humans and computers a 10,000 dollar reward is offered to programmers. The purpose of the one who invented it in 2002 was to prove the superiority of humans over computers and until now in Arimaa humans are still giving computers what for.	Arimaa, bir soyut strateji oyunudur ve her yıl insanlarla bilgisayarların oynadığı bir maçta programcılara 10.000 dolarlık bir ödül sunuluyor. Onu 2002 yılında icat edenin amacı insanın bilgisayara göre üstünlüğünü kanıtlamaktı ve şimdiye dek Arimaa'da insanlar hâlâ bilgisayarın canına okuyor.
If you have a chess set at home, you already have the equipment to play Arimaa. Although it's more fun with a Z-Man Games' Arimaa set.	If you have a chess set you can use that as well, but it's more fun if you play with Z-Man Games' Arimaa set, of course.	Bir satranç takımınız varsa onu da kullanabilirsiniz, fakat Z-Man Games'in Arimaa takımıyla oynarsanız daha zevkli tabii.
The Gold player and the Silver player each have sixteen pieces: one elephant, one camel, two horses, two dogs, two cats, and eight rabbits.	The two players have 16 pieces each; each player has, in order of strength, one elephant, one camel, two horses, two dogs, two cats and eight rabbits.	İki oyuncunun 16'şar taşı var; her oyuncunun güç sırasıyla bir fili, bir devesi, iki atı, iki köpeği, iki kedisi ve sekiz tane tavşanı var.
All the pieces move the same way, by orthogonal steps, but the stronger pieces can bully the weaker ones by pushing, pulling, and freezing them.	All pieces move in the four directions. Stronger pieces can push, pull and freeze weaker ones.	Taşların hepsi dört yöne doğru hareket eder. Güçlü taşlar daha zayıf olanları itebilir, çekebilir, ve dondurabilir.
A player gets four orthogonal steps on every turn.  The object of the game is to advance any one of your weakest pieces, a rabbit, to the opponent's home rank.	In each move you have four step rights. The purpose of the game is to get one of your weakest pieces, meaning a rabbit, to the back row of your rival.	Her hamlenizde dört adım atma hakkınız var. Oyunun amacı en zayıf taşlarınızdan birini, yani bir tavşanı rakibin arka sırasına ulaştırmaktır.
The board has four trap squares.  A piece can only be captured if it is standing on a trap square, or if it is pushed or pulled onto one.  On any other square, a piece can't die.	There are four trap squares on the board. A piece can only be removed from the game if it is standing on a trap or brought on top of one. Apart from that, pieces can't capture each other.	Tahtada dört tuzak karesi var. Taş ancak tuzağın üstünde duruyorsa ya da bir tuzağın üstüne getirilirse oyundan kaldırılabilir. Bunun dışında taşlar birbirini yiyemez.
Gold begins the game by setting up his pieces however he likes on his two home ranks.  All sixty-four million possible setups are legal. There are no restrictions... and no memorized openings.	The Gold player lines up his pieces however he likes on his own back two ranks. In fact there are more than 64 million starting positions! There are no restrictions, no opening moves to memorize.	Altın oyuncusu taşlarını kendi arka sıralarına dilediği gibi yerleştirir. Aslında 64 milyondan fazla başlangıç pozisyonu var! Kısıtlama yok, ezberlenecek açılış hamleleri de yok.
After Silver sees Gold's setup, she sets up her pieces on her home two ranks. Her ability to react in the setup compensates Silver for Gold having the first move.	The Silver player now looks at Gold's pieces and lines up her own pieces accordingly. In this way the Silver player has an advantage in compensation for Gold making the first move.	Gümüş oyuncusu şimdi Altın'ın taşlarına bakarak kendi taşlarını dizer. Böylece Gümüş'ün, Altın'ın ilk hamle yapmasına karşılık bir avantajı vardır.
After the setup, players take turns moving.  They try to force captures on trap squares and ultimately get a rabbit across the board.	After the pieces have been lined up the players start with the moves. They try to make each other's pieces fall into traps and, in the end, make a rabbit reach the other side.	Taşlar dizildikten sonra oyuncular hamlelere başlar. Birbirinin taşlarını tuzak karelerine düşürmeye ve sonunda bir tavşanı karşı tarafa ulaştırmaya çalışırlar.
Now that we've seen the basics, let's look at the rules more closely. All pieces move by stepping one square left, right, forward or backward, except rabbits, which can't step backwards. Rabbits can only step left, right, or forward.	After some general information let's now look at the game more closely. All pieces move one square left, right, forward or backward. Only rabbits can't go backward, they can only go left, right or forward.	Genel bir bilgiden sonra, şimdi oyuna daha yakından bakalım. Tüm taşlar bir kare sola, sağa, öne ya da arkaya doğru adım atarlar. Bir tek tavşanlar arkaya adım atamaz; sadece sola, sağa ya da öne gidebilirler.
No piece can move diagonally; in fact diagonals never count in Arimaa. That's why the board isn't checkered!	No piece can move diagonally, in Arimaa there's no such thing as "diagonal". Besides, that's why the board isn't checkered!	Hiçbir taş çapraz hareket edemez, Arimaa'da çapraz diye bir şey yok. Zaten o yüzden tahta damalı değil!
You may make up to four steps per turn.  You don't have to use all four of your steps, but you must change the position.  You may use all four steps on the same piece, divide them between four different pieces, or anything in between.	You can make as many as four steps on your move. You don't have to make as many steps as is your right, however it is mandatory to change the existent position. The steps can be used in any way. One piece can move four times, four can move once each. All combinations are valid.	Hamlenizde dört kadar adım atabilirsiniz. Hakkınız kadar adım atmak zorunda değilsiniz, fakat mevcut pozisyonu değiştirmeniz şart. Adımlar her şekilde kullanılabilir. Bir taş dört defa, dört taş birer defa adım atabilir. Her kombinasyon geçerlidir.
A piece that is next to a stronger opposing piece is frozen, and can't move, unless it has an orthogonally adjacent friendly piece. Friends don't let friends get frozen!  A frozen piece can freeze a yet weaker piece.  Equal pieces do not freeze each other.	If a piece is next to a stronger rival and it has no friends next to it it's frozen, it can't move. However if it has a friend next to it it's saved from being frozen. A frozen piece can still freeze other pieces. If two pieces are of equal strength they can't freeze each other.	Bir taş kendinden daha güçlü bir rakibin yanındaysa ve yanında bir arkadaşı yoksa donmuştur, hareket edemez. Fakat yanında arkadaşı varsa donmaktan kurtulur. Donmuş bir taş yine daha başka taşları dondurabilir. İki taşın gücü eşitse birbirini dondurmazlar.
For the cost of two steps, a piece can push a weaker opposing piece. First, the weaker piece is moved to an adjacent empty square. Second, the pushing piece moves to where the opposing piece started.  Equal pieces can't push each other.  If there is no empty square adjacent, the piece can't be pushed.	By using two of your step rights you can push a weaker rival piece. First the weak piece is moved over to a neighbouring empty square. Then the pushing piece moves into the rival piece's old place. Two pieces of equal strength can't push each other. If there is no empty square next to the piece you want to push, you can't push it.	İki adım hakkınızı kullanarak daha zayıf bir rakip taşı "itebilirsiniz". Önce zayıf taş yandaki boş bir kareye geçirilir. Ardından iten taş, rakip taşın başladığı yere geçer. Gücü eşit olan iki taş birbirini itemez. İteceğiniz taşın hemen yanında boş bir kare yoksa onu itemezsiniz.
Also for the cost of two steps, a piece can pull a weaker opposing piece.  First, the stronger piece is moved to an adjacent empty square, and then the weaker piece moves where the stronger piece came from.  Equal pieces can't pull each other.	Again by using two of your step rights, you can pull a weaker rival piece. First the strong piece moves into a neighbouring empty square, following which the weak piece is moves into the strong piece's old place. Pieces of equal strength can't pull each other.	Yine iki adım hakkınızı kullanarak, daha zayıf bir rakip taşı "çekebilirsiniz". İlk önce güçlü taş yanındaki boş bir kareye geçer, ardından zayıf taş güçlü taşın eski yerine geçirilir. Gücü eşit olan taşlar birbirini çekemez.
Note that a rabbit can be pushed backward even though it can't move backward voluntarily. Four steps may be used to push and pull consecutively, but a piece can't push and pull at the same time.	Even though rabbits can't step backwards they can be pushed or pulled backwards. The same piece can be used to make consecutive pushing and pulling actions, but it can't push and pull at the same time.	Tavşanlar geri adım atamasa da geriye itilebilir ya da çekilebilirler. Aynı taş dört adımla üst üste çekme ve itme hareketleri yapabilir, fakat aynı anda hem çekip hem itemez.
Capturing is simple.  A piece on a trap square with no adjacent friends is immediately removed from the board. Friends don't let friends get captured.  This means a piece can be captured four ways: 1) stepping onto an unprotected trap.  Oops! 2) being on a trap when its friends move away. D'oh! 3) being on a trap when its friends are pushed or pulled away, or 4) being pushed or pulled onto an undefended trap.	Taking a rival piece is easy. If the piece is on a trap square and has no friends next to it it's taken away that moment. But if it has a friend next to the trap, it's protected. This means there are four ways to lose a piece. The first is to move onto an unprotected trap. Oops! The second is for friends to move away while it's on an unprotected trap. My condolences to you on your loss. The third is for friends to be moved to another place while it's on the trap square, and the fourth is to be brought on top of a trap with no friends next to it.	Rakibin taşını almak kolay. Taş, tuzak karesi üstündeyse ve yanında arkadaşı yoksa anında alınır. Fakat tuzağın yanında bir arkadaşı varsa korunur. Bu demektir ki, taş kaybetmenin dört yolu vardır. Birincisi, korumasız bir tuzağa girmek. Ups! İkincisi, tuzak karesi üstündeyken arkadaşların uzaklaşması. Başınız sağ olsun. Üçüncüsü, tuzak karesindeyken arkadaşlarının başka yere geçirilmesi ve dördüncüsü, yanında bir arkadaşın bulunmadığı bir tuzağın üstüne geçirilmek.
Apart from getting a rabbit across the board, there are two other ways to win, although they are less common.  Taking the opponent's last rabbit wins the game, even if you sacrifice your last rabbit to do it. Also, depriving the opponent of any legal move wins the game, although you can't sacrifice your last rabbit to win this way.	Apart from getting a rabbit to the other side there are two more ways to win the game. You can win by capturing your rival's last rabbit, even if you sacrifice your last rabbit in this way. Also getting your rival to a position where he can't move wins the game, but in this situation if you sacrifice your last rabbit you lose.	Karşı tarafa tavşan ulaştırmaktan başka oyunu kazanmanın iki yolu daha var. Rakibinizin son tavşanını alarak yenebilirsiniz, bu şekilde son tavşanınızı feda etseniz bile. Ayrıca rakibinizi hareket edemez duruma getirerek yenebilirsiniz, ancak bu durumda son tavşanınızı feda ederseniz siz yenilirsiniz.
To prevent draws, it is illegal to cause a position to occur for the third time, with the same player to move.  Although this prevents all sorts of wacky repetitions, mostly it just means you can't keep undoing your opponent's move.	To prevent a draw it is forbidden to cause the same situation to arise where the same player is to move for the third time. Of course this rule is applicable in various situations, but basically it means you cant keep taking back your opponent's last move.	Berabere kalmayı önlemek için, aynı kişinin hamle yapacağı aynı durumun üçüncü kez oluşmasına sebep olmak yasaktır. Tabii bu kural farklı durumlarda geçerli ama esas olarak, rakibinizin son hamlesini durmadan geri alamazsınız demektir.
That's all you need to know. You are ready to play Arimaa!	These are all you need to know. Come on, let's play a game of Arimaa!	Bilmeniz gerekenler bu kadar. Haydi, bir oyun Arimaa oynayalım!