Lost in television translation?
It is an old quandary: To what extent should a translation be «faithful» to the original? Should it convey the letter or the spirit? It is difficult to provide a definite answer in the case of literary translations. When it comes to the translation of political speeches, however, the problem is somewhat easier to solve… We need analyze just one of many examples: German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s joint press conference with Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis. At one point the questions shifted to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) which I heard Schroeder refer to as «Macedonia» three times, in German of course. But I noticed a difference between what I was hearing and reading in the Greek subtitles that were systematically modifying the chancellor’s words so as not to kindle nationalist ire. Greek state channels translated Schroeder’s «Macedonia» as «FYROM» while a couple of private channels referred to «Macedonia» in quotation marks. In both cases, Schroeder was depicted as saying something entirely different from what he actually was saying. He, and most other non-Greeks, use the term «Macedonia» when refering to FYROM, as they do not share Greece’s objections to the use of the name. However, Greece’s non-German speaking viewers – due to the distortion of his words by the state channel translators – may have ended up believing that the German chancellor was «on our side…»
