For the more subjective types of translation services, cultural appropriateness becomes absolutely critical. The fundamental tenets of a nuanced translation take into consideration multiple aspects:
- Intention and tone of the original language
- Current usage norms (including slang)
- Cultural insight
- Subject matter expertise in the field of work (e.g., market research) and product/ service category (e.g., banking, food and beverage, etc.)
- Linguistic accuracy
For content that’s more subjective, it’s the fine distinctions and variations implied, the tone, an ear for the cultural and linguistic understanding and intention of the original language in terms of feelings and values. And how that should be interpreted in the target language.
The devil is in the details.
It was probably said best by the German Jewish philosopher Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin,
“Fragments of a vessel which are to be glued together must match one another in the smallest details, although they need not be like one another.
Walter Benjamin, Illuminations: Essays and Reflections
In the same way a translation, instead of resembling the meaning of the original, must lovingly and in detail incorporate the original’s mode of signification, thus making both the original and the translation recognizable as fragments of a greater language, just as fragments are part of a vessel.”