Hebe wrote:
I think it all depends on the text you are working on.
In the case of legal documents, the best policy is to be as faithful as possible. In fact, I would even say that a literal (accurate) translation is a must in this case (because of the legal implications) : However even in such cases, one must always keeping in mind the natural trends of the target language; after all the main goal is to convey the message across in a way that it can be understood by those who rely on the translation.
CarlosRoberto wrote:
Sometimes we face obscure passages, or seemingly erroneous phrases, but it is our duty to investigate what those paragraphs mean (that's why we organize these forums, isn't it?) so that we can offer our goal reader the correct meaning of the text in his own language.
I am in complete agreement!! The objective of a translation is to give proper meaning to the document so that the reader understands as much as possible what the writer is trying to convey.
A totally literal translation means that you have simply transformed the document from one language to another without any effort to help the reader understand it...sort of like saying, "Here it is, you figure it out!"
__________________
vicente 
|