- published: 30 Jan 2008
- views: 1769155
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh (ca. 2000 BCE) into Southwest Asian languages of the second millennium BCE.
Translators always risk inappropriate spill-over of source-language idiom and usage into the target-language translation. On the other hand, spill-overs have imported useful source-language calques and loanwords that have enriched the target languages. Indeed, translators have helped substantially to shape the languages into which they have translated.
Due to the demands of business documentation consequent to the Industrial Revolution that began in the mid-18th century, some translation specialties have become formalized, with dedicated schools and professional associations.
Because of the laboriousness of translation, since the 1940s engineers have sought to automate translation (machine translation) or to mechanically aid the human translator (computer-assisted translation). The rise of the Internet has fostered a world-wide market for translation services and has facilitated language localization.Translation studies deal with the systematic study of the theory, the description and the application of translation.
I waited all through winter
for a spring that didn't come
You said you knew a window
that always faced the sun
You showed me every season
You always were my kind
You gave me every reason
for the things I tried to hide
You gave so much so gladly
You didn't make me choose
In all the time you've taught me
I never learned to lose
But now the lesson's over
Your teachings all are done
The only thing you left me