The process of translation is not as easy as it sounds. Many people might have the misconception that translation is a word to word process, and any text can be translated easily using translation dictionary. But it is not that simple. A translator needs lot of skills like, strong verbal and written communication skills and should be able to express the target text with out changing its original meaning. Let us have a quick look on the process involved in translation to have a better idea.
The major things of the translation process are the Decoding and Re-encoding. These are the crucial steps in translation. It is not only important to understand the meaning of the source text but it is equally important to convey the same in the target language.
Decoding: The process of understanding the meaning of the source text is called Decoding. To do this, the translator needs to identify the translation units that is nothing but treating the segments of the text as cognitive units. This translation unit may be a word, a phrase or a paragraph. The translator needs to analyze that unit and to understand the main idea of it. Decoding is an internal process just like reading a news paper and to understand its content. The translators can note the main points especially any idioms and expressive things. The process of decoding is followed by Re encoding.
Re-encoding: The process of reverting the decoded thing in to the target language is called Re-encoding. This step is more important in the whole process of translation, because the quality of the output depends on this step. The translator needs in depth knowledge about the target language and need to be very particular about the grammar, semantics, syntax, idioms as well as the culture of the speaker. That text should be converted in such a way that it reflects the nativity of the target language. For this reason, many translators change the texts in to their own language or their mother tongue.
This is simple yet complicated process involved in Translation.
