I am shocked by your remarks! But I am not surprised with them.
Whether you study translating at school or teach yourself from books, you will find that it is a necessarily detailed and highly technical subject. Non-linguists are often shocked when I show them a Baker, Newmark or Owens. So I like to think that the Bad Article is an oasis of simplicity in a desert of complications and nested problems. This is why I try to present everything in a more off-the-cuff way - if you want the full explanation, you can ask one of your teachers, or dive into a textbook. If you want a wider overview of the problem, illustrated with lots of real-life examples of it, then I'm your man. It’s not completely ‘gut instinct’, as someone once asked me, but it is verifiable information, based on years of solid examples, and also the biggest reason for my not posting more often here – I’ve got tons of notes and half-written articles, which await only the light bulb of understanding to click on over my head before I feel secure in presenting them to you, esteemed readers!
And so, after yet another long, rambling introduction in which I again try to justify my ramshackle methods, let’s get to the point of today’s post – prepositions! I’m often asked about these Smurfy little words, because there are quite a few of them and it’s not always immediately apparent or even logical as to which one to use where. After a while, it gets easier, and a lot of the corrections I make to peoples’ prepositions are in texts by less experienced translators. But beware, not even the old pros are immune to prepositional errors.
So this is clearly a topic that needs addressing, but I've never really found anything which explains it in a really good, clear way. So, I've defaulted back to the Wiki entry, which describes all the different species of preposition – time, place, la la la... So I'm proposing this: We’ll read the Wiki, then meet back here for some examples. The advantage here is that you get all the heavy lifting done by a reliable source, as well as some ‘live’ examples and a bit of analysis from Captain Colourful here. Deal?
Bad Prepositions
Numbered, with the bad ones bolded.
Numbered, with the bad ones bolded.
1) We are very pleased at this award, which justifies all our efforts so far.
2) But the programme is relevant forour company, because it aims to improve our sales.
3) This is an acknowledgement to our actions, and confirmation that we are on the right track.
4) Following a special mention ofthe International Federation, interest shot up.
5) These included the 2003 hit ofthe American artist Kelis, entitled Milkshake.
6) The critical details were either peripheral or relatively unimportant for a given incident.
7) It is impossible to specify the set of traits that put a given adult at risk for Type II insanity.
8) Children may indeed be suggestible to a degree which renders their testimony unusable for the truth-seeking process.
9) This may be of relevance forhealth experts.
10) Most of the rest of the conference was not of interest for our representatives.
11) This is the best recognition forour activity, in which we always try to be the best.
12) The book of the former journalist has sold well in many countries.
2) But the programme is relevant forour company, because it aims to improve our sales.
3) This is an acknowledgement to our actions, and confirmation that we are on the right track.
4) Following a special mention ofthe International Federation, interest shot up.
5) These included the 2003 hit ofthe American artist Kelis, entitled Milkshake.
6) The critical details were either peripheral or relatively unimportant for a given incident.
7) It is impossible to specify the set of traits that put a given adult at risk for Type II insanity.
8) Children may indeed be suggestible to a degree which renders their testimony unusable for the truth-seeking process.
9) This may be of relevance forhealth experts.
10) Most of the rest of the conference was not of interest for our representatives.
11) This is the best recognition forour activity, in which we always try to be the best.
12) The book of the former journalist has sold well in many countries.
Good Prepositions
Numbered, with the corrected ones bolded.
Numbered, with the corrected ones bolded.
1) We are very pleased with this award, which justifies all our efforts so far.
2) But the programme is relevant toour company, because it aims to improve our sales.
3) This is an acknowledgement of our actions, and confirmation that we are on the right track.
4) Following a special mention bythe International Federation, interest shot up.
5) These included the 2003 hit bythe American artist Kelis, entitled Milkshake.
6) The critical details were either peripheral or relatively unimportant to a given incident.
7) It is impossible to specify the set of traits that put a given adult at risk of Type II insanity.
8) Children may indeed be suggestible to a degree which renders their testimony unusable in the truth-seeking process.
9) This may be of relevance tohealth experts.
10) Most of the rest of the conference was not of interest to our representatives.
11) This is the best recognition ofour activity, in which we always try to be the best.
12) The book by the former journalist has sold well in many countries.
2) But the programme is relevant toour company, because it aims to improve our sales.
3) This is an acknowledgement of our actions, and confirmation that we are on the right track.
4) Following a special mention bythe International Federation, interest shot up.
5) These included the 2003 hit bythe American artist Kelis, entitled Milkshake.
6) The critical details were either peripheral or relatively unimportant to a given incident.
7) It is impossible to specify the set of traits that put a given adult at risk of Type II insanity.
8) Children may indeed be suggestible to a degree which renders their testimony unusable in the truth-seeking process.
9) This may be of relevance tohealth experts.
10) Most of the rest of the conference was not of interest to our representatives.
11) This is the best recognition ofour activity, in which we always try to be the best.
12) The book by the former journalist has sold well in many countries.
Apparently, the song is some kind of metaphor for something.
Analysis
Despite the abundance of different flavours in the Bad Preposition shop, there are really only a handful that re-occur consistently in Pl>En translations. The examples here are (as usual) all lifted from things I’ve seen in my own work. This makes it easy to see that incorrect use of for, by and to are the main offenders.
Despite the abundance of different flavours in the Bad Preposition shop, there are really only a handful that re-occur consistently in Pl>En translations. The examples here are (as usual) all lifted from things I’ve seen in my own work. This makes it easy to see that incorrect use of for, by and to are the main offenders.
Bad: of importance for, of relevance for, of interest for; unimportant for, not relevant for...
Good: of importance to, of relevance to, of interest to; unimportant to, not relevant to...
Remember: X is of noun/adjective to person/group.
Good: of importance to, of relevance to, of interest to; unimportant to, not relevant to...
Remember: X is of noun/adjective to person/group.
Bad: the hit of the artist, a mention of the Federation, the book of the journalist...
Good: the hit by the artist, a mention by the Federation, the book by the journalist...
Remember: the noun by the person/group.
Good: the hit by the artist, a mention by the Federation, the book by the journalist...
Remember: the noun by the person/group.
Bad: surprised at his statement, moved at her words...
Good: surprised by his statement, moved by her words...
Remember: verb by pronoun noun
Good: surprised by his statement, moved by her words...
Remember: verb by pronoun noun
Bad: pleased at this award,
Good: pleased by this award, pleased with this award,
Bad: unusable for the final process, unsuitable to our purposes...
Good: unusable in the final process, unsuitable for our purposes...
Good: pleased by this award, pleased with this award,
Bad: unusable for the final process, unsuitable to our purposes...
Good: unusable in the final process, unsuitable for our purposes...
Remember: un(adjective, noun etc) ina task or operation, un(adjective, noun etc) for goals, aims
Now, there are some exceptions here and there, such as pleased with this award being okay, but not moved with her words, for example. Also note that a mention from someone is okay too, but not the hit from the artist. My theory is that it sometimes depends on the tense of the verb and/or the case of the sentence overall, as well as just whether or not it’s true to the idea of the original statement. For nearly every example up there, there are additional alternatives not listed (for example, one can be shocked at the response, as well as being shocked by the response. Again, it depends on case and tense).
Ultimately, I would urge you to focus on for/to, of/by and at/by, since these are the most common offenders in our translations! Nail those three suckers and you’ll be well on the way to fame and fortune.
If you’d like to shine a light on any of this, add your own examples or otherwise comment on the whole thing, remember that you can stop by our Facebook wall, email me directly, or even leave a comment below! My email address and the Facebook link are at the top of every page, and the commenting system here can be easily signed-in to with your Google details, or a bunch of other systems, all of which can be selected by clicking the “Comment As” button below the form.
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