On Wed, 24 Jan 2007, Björn Persson wrote:
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|"[. . .] If translations are                                         |
|bad it's because the translators aren't good enough at what they do."|
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Not always. Languages differ significantly, such that faithful 
translations can be awkward.

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|"I                                                                          |
|don't know about Russian translators but good Swedish translators do exist."|
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So? If we translate "The 21st integer is good." to Swedish and if we 
properly translate "The 21st century is good." then we get two sentences 
which differ by strictly one word. But persons who speak Swedish are 
innumerate so they miscount the 21st century to supposedly be the 20th 
century. So an interpreter may dumb it down for them by producing a 
sentence which differs by 2 words instead of by strictly 1, whereas a 
translator will not. Persons who speak Swedish avoid conjugating in 
Swedish (and fail occasionally to conjugate in English). Persons who speak 
Swedish say “äger” when they mean “besitter”. So a translator suffers a 
tricky Catch-22 job!

Consider
"YOU KNOW YOU'VE BEEN IN SWEDEN TOO LONG WHEN...
408 reasons and going strong!
[. . .]
51. You accept that 80 degrees C in a sauna is chilly, but 20 degrees C 
outside is freaking hot.
[. . .]
64. You think nothing of paying $50 for a bottle of 'cheap' spirits at 
systembolaget
[. . .]
88. You have an uncontrollable urge to mail this list and point out the 
numbering is incorrect!
[. . .]
141. "It's 5 degrees outside" does not necessarily mean PLUS 5, it could 
mean minus 5.

142. You talk of 10C as "10 degrees cold", when in Australia +10C would 
be considered cold. And who else calls +1C, "one degree warm"!
[. . .]
248. England, Scotland and Wales can all be called England.
[. . .]
269. You use the word "or" as a question.
[. . .]
355. And paying $800,000 for a 3 room (living room, 2 bedrooms, 2 
bathrooms, kitchen) house in a suburb of Stockholm seems cheap.>
[. . .]
© 1996 to 2010 Australians Abroad - Aussies in Sweden"
said
HTTP://WWW.AustraliansAbroad.com/sweden/youknow.html