In the last fifteen years technology has radically transformed the way in which translators work. Translators used to spend most of their time browsing through heavy paper dictionaries and glossaries, lose their eyesight in the small lines of a definition to look for an idiomatic phrase, and planned regular trips to the local library to research the most puzzling references.
In the 1990s dictionaries started to be published on CD. You wrote the word, it popped up. You wrote the key word of the idiom you were looking for, and there it was, highlighted in a split second. It sounds normal, today, but it must have seemed like magic, at first. This relatively recent development truly boosted translators’ productivity, while reducing anxiety, depression and frustration – not a mean feat. And that was just the beginning. When the Internet became affordable for the average translator working from home, it opened up spaces where one could research huge directories, at speeds never imagined before. Yahoo!’s directories where huge and searchable. Could it get any better than that? Of course it could. Enter Google. Fast-forward to thirteen years later, and Google is the main tool I use in my work as a translator.
If most translators would probably confirm that they use Google more than any other tool, and if the average person can easily understand why that is, fewer people would guess that Street View is a precious tool in our trade.
Google Street View is nothing short of awesome. Many people use it to show their friends where they have been on holiday, or the street where they grew up. Others like to get a feel of an area before booking a hotel or venturing out to a late-night concert. Those with a lot of spare time simply get virtually lost through the streets of an unknown foreign city. It’s a precious tool for everyday life and a bonanza for the chronically curious.
As I said, not many people would assume that Street View is an amazing tool for literary translators. When I encounter a reference to some place in a text, I immediately Google it, check out if it exists, check the Wikipedia entry for it, find a few pictures, maybe a tourism website. Tourist websites and photo galleries, though, are pretty much limited to the main attractions – not to mention that you’ll find countless pictures of Paris, but a small town in rural Texas, well… that’s another story. With this kind of tool, the translator can easily get a very precise idea of the most obscure place where a story is set.
While translating Galveston, the amazing debut by Nic Pizzolatto, I truly got lost through the dingy streets of that Texan island, I “walked” along the seaside to see what the characters where seeing. Ok, the businesses and addresses he wrote about were not really there (although countless others, of the same kind, were) but I got the feeling, the atmosphere of Galveston island. Needless to say, one can of course translate without having the vaguest idea of what a place looks like, and writers used to set their stories in exotic places without having been there, and without having seen a single picture of them. And that’s probably one of the greatest skill an author needs, the ability to imagine how a place looks, smells, sounds, feels like.
Still, being able to get at least a visual impression can make all the difference when we have to establish which one of two quasi-synonyms we need to use, and allows us to visualise the events a lot better, which certainly helps to dissipate any doubts about the setting, and therefore to produce and accurate and meaningful translation.
In his brilliant novel Everything Matters! Ron Currie, Jr. mentions heaps of bars, restaurants and shops. Much to my surprise, that time I discovered that they all exist in the real world. Whether you are a translator or just a reader, being able to stand in front of the Chicago pub where your main character is getting drunk with his drug-addled amputee friend certainly adds to the experience, and – quite simply – an enhanced reading experience will result in a better performance by the translator.
Anyone else out there using Street View to check out the locations of the story they are translating?
P.S. interestingly, I have found Google Street View much more useful in my job than the surprising but still dreadful Google Translate.
Yes! I was similarly surprised to discover a boarding school in a suburb of Bonn that I had assumed was fictional actually existed. The author’s description was quite abstract, but Street View told me what he was on about… Google images is also useful for when you’re really stuck.
Hello Ruth,
Thanks for your comment.
It’s nteresting that you had the same experience. Writers seem to do a lot of research and it appears that being accurate in depicting places is actually very trendy…
Google images is great, it’s just less unbelievably amazing than Street View!
Yes, I sometimes get property development or property purchase contracts, and I recently had a book length translation about residential estates which are on the World Heritage List, and it is very useful to check the addresses on Google Earth and look at them on Street View.
Hi, Victor, thanks for stopping by!
Interesting use for Street View, I wouldn’t have thought of that, but it makes a lot of sense!
I had a quick look at your blog. I’ll read some more when I have some time! Keep up the good work!
GMB
Giuseppe,
I just found your blog and am so glad I did! As a literary translator, too, it’s wonderful to read about your experience and learn from your tips.
I haven’t used Google street view for a literary work yet but it made me wonder why I hadn’t! I use other aspects of Google, of course, but somehow that aspect escaped me. Duh! A couple of years ago I really needed to get a sense for Tahrir Square in Cairo, before it hit the world stage, and I’m sure street view would have helped enormously.
My current project takes place in a fictional city in Spain, starting in the 1800s, so it’s not much use there. But I can’t imagine doing this work without the plethora of information available at my fingertips through the Internet.
I look forward to reading more of your posts!
Lisa 😉
Hello Lisa,
Thanks for visiting and thanks for your comment.
I’m glad to have something to contribute, every once in a while! 😉 The internet has indeed made this job a lot easier, and I will never be thankful enough…
I look forward to reading more of your comments! 😉
GMB
A frivolous reply that I can’t suppress—the notion of “historical Street View” reminds of of a series of wonderfully visual books including “Barmi” and “Lebek” (originally published in Italian, the coincidences!), where every other two-page spread shows an intricate drawing of a (fictional) city over the centuries, always from the same perspective. Another idle thought. In a couple of years, the Google Street View hardware (car- and human-mounted) might be cheap enough that citizen-artists can make indoor and outdoor, regularly-updated Views for posterity.
That would be an amazing tool for future generations, wouldn’t it? Those books sound great, by the way. I hadn’t heard about them, but I will definitely check them out…
Fascinating to find another translator who does this… I’ve wandered through remote barrios in Buenos Aires and small hamlets in southern France. I’m currently spending a lot of virtual time in Cali, Colombia. It’s such a pity there’s no historical version of Street View, so I could set it to 1932, Weimar, or 1773, Piazza San Marco
Hello Frank,
Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment… It does tend to suck you right in, doesn’t it?
It is a pity that are no historical versions. Despite the obvious lack of photographs, though, it might still happen. I was showing my holiday pictures to my sister’s boyfriend, who’s never been to Venice. He knew what the places in the photos were, and what was around them. When I asked him how, he replied that he plays a video game called Assassin’s Creed on Xbox. I checked it out, and it features amazing reconstructions of historical Venice, Florence, Jerusalem… I guess one could go wandering without necessarily assassinate anyone… 😉
GMB
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Hi, I’ve just read your piece about Google street view. I’m translating a 19th-century novel and have looked at photos of its setting, but didn’t know I could virtually walk around it. I’ve just been to Google to give it a go. Thank you for letting me know.
Hope you’re enjoying life in Brisbane. I spent the first 37 years of my life there.
Seven years later this tip is still useful. Thanks for sharing!
It is, isn’t it? 🙂 Thanks for visiting!