Why I don't translate into French (or Spanish, or Portuguese)

But I thought you were fluent in French, Spanish and Portuguese?

When I talk to people not familiar with the translation industry (most people, then!), it's usually assumed that in I translate from English into French, Spanish or Portuguese. Or both ways.

⛔ 𝗪𝗥𝗢𝗡𝗚! ⛔

I don't. And neither do most other English mother tongue translators. If they're professional translators in the UK, at least.

Although I may be fluent in French, Spanish and Portuguese, those languages are not the ones I grew up with.

So why not?

☑️ Wouldn't you want your best work translated by someone who knows the target language inside out?

☑️ A linguist who has been immersed in that language their whole lives, and who therefore has an intuitive sense of what sounds 'right'?

☑️Someone who has their finger on the pulse when it comes to changes in language tone and nuance, and who therefore understands what works for a specific audience?

I wrote the English copy for my own website myself (with help from copywriters), but even though I 𝘤𝘢𝘯 write in French, I wanted the French translation done by a professional translator whose mother tongue is...French.

Risk potential

It's mostly about quality assurance. If I'd just done the translations myself, I wouldn't have had that instinctive knowledge of whether it hit the right note. The risk of miscommunication and embarrassment was too high.

There are some exceptions. There are those rare translators whose life circumstances have kept them fully immersed in two different languages and cultures on a more or less equal footing. When I studied linguistics at university, true bilingualism was endlessly fascinating to me. But for most of us, there's one dominant language in our brains.

Another key reason why I translate only into English is subject-matter expertise. For me that's international development and the third sector. Staying up-to-date with sector terminology and news means reading widely in those fields in the language that I translate/write in.

For me, that language is English.

A lifetime of living and breathing English means I can catch every subtle shift in meaning and deliver translations that feel natural and just ‘right’.