TR#$%&P You!
OK. I finally wrote something about Trump and the difficulties on translating his horrible use of the English language, all thanks to Bérengère Viennot article where he stated that “For translators, Trump is an unprecedented and desolating struggle,”
WHY? Because when you translate Trumps words into Spanish or French something else comes out. Bérengère states that "the lack of vocabulary is noticed right away; when he tries to speak about something other than his victory, he desperately holds on to the words contained in the question that is asked to him, without reaching his own thought".
He builds his case on Trumps answers from an interview he had with the New York Times:
"TRUMP: I do not think so, Dean. First of all, I do not want to energize the group. I'm not looking to energize them. I do not want to energize the group, and I disavow the group. They, again, I do not know if it's reporting or whatever. Romney and McCain and I have not seen anything like this before.
But it's not a group I want to energize, and if they are energized I want to look into it and find out why."
Bérengère translates it to French, but since I do not speak French yet, I will translate this into Spanish:
"TRUMP: No lo creo, Dean. Antes que nada, no quiero animar el grupo. No estoy buscando animarlo. No quiero animar el grupo, y desapruebo al grupo. Ellos, otra vez, yo no se si reportan o lo que sea. Romney y McCain y yo no hemos visto nada como esto antes.
Pero no es un grupo que quiero animar, y si están animados quiero investigarlo y descubrir por qué."
When you read this in Spanish it sounds like he is talking about a cheerleading group that does not have the approval of the President and will probably be investigated because of its cheering activities.
Now imagine yourself as Mexican President who relies on accurate translations due to the lack of English language skills, reading Trumps answers or imagine this happening in real time during a visit to the White House.
One of the problems that may arise for this limited vocabulary and disjointed syntaxes, is that it reflects a narrow thought which can be manipulated by the convenience of the translator or misrepresented by the receptor of the translated message.
Thank you Bérengère Viennot for your article.