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Sunday, June 10, 2012

Translation Diary, Entry #1

It's interesting how easy it is, when translating, to fall, without even realizing it, into source language-isms that are barely perceptible and probably wouldn't even register as sounding wrong in the target language, but nonetheless, are ever so slightly off.

I just reflexively translated the phrase "como si apuntara un fusil" as "as if he were pointing a rifle" before catching myself and changing it to "as if he were aiming a rifle." You point a gun, but you aim a rifle, except if the euphony of the verb apuntar is already reverberating in your head. Then you point your rifle, and it's a misfire every time.

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