Does translation notes makes it feel not professional?

[FlagOnce]

If, inside a text, you see some notes from the editor or from the translator to explains a concept, or something, do you find the text looking more like professional, or less professional-looking?
The thing is translated text should always look as natural as possible, to the extent it doesn't affect the meaning of what you translate. That's, in my opinion, the limit. And when you hit words or cultural differences, you are tempted to do many things at an hard to fix problem.

A way to go is the notes I'm talking about. The problem is that they usage may look like amateurism because you should succeed without that "weapon".

[anna3101]

Actually, when I read a book and there are notes about certain concepts, I love that. It makes my experience reading the text so much richer. Take Wodehouse's books, for example. I've read most of them in Russian translation. If it were not for the translator's comments about the origin of various quotes Jeeves makes, the word play (often untranslatable into Russian) or some cultural references from that time, I'd lose a whole lot of meaning from the book. Sure, it would still be fun to read - but much poorer. A translator is not omnipotent, and I really appreciate it when he/she can admit that certain things are impossible to translate properly and give us, readers, a chance to look at the original word or literal translation.

[宇崎ちゃん]

If you use MS Word, I know you can add notes which is only visible in the DOC(X) document (so it won't be printed or exported to PDF for example).
I don't remember exactly how, I only used this feature to pass my MOS (Microsoft Office Services) certification and that happened more than 5 years ago.

I shouldn't make notes in the document itself.
But if you don't know how to use that feature, a workaround would be to either make a separate file with the translation notes, or you could use the same document and make notes on a separate page (tip: use "CTRL" + "Enter" to create a new page).

[Rosenii]

I agree that adding translation notes really enhances my experiences as a reader. Personally, I love reading about the context of a certain item or practice, or even a pun that's popular in a language that just can't be translated over. I think there's a difference between translation, and localisation.

[Lingua Franca]

Sometimes it's unavoidable. If you have to translate a text with a cultural practice that is simply summed up in one word in the language that you are translating from, it is a wise idea to give a brief description of this practice into the language you are translating too, if it's a concept that you feel the reader will be completely unfamiliar with. A good example of this is the practice that Australian aborigines have of doing a walkabout. If you simply did the translation of this practice, it would lose it's importance in the text that you have translated.

[Chris_A]

Some words are really hard to translate from one language to the other, so that it might make perfect sense. Translators often use notes to make you understand what the meaning of certain sentences are. In my opinion, notes from translators makes the document more professional, because it shows that the translator went out of his or her way to make the best possible translation.

[anna3101]

Some words are really hard to translate from one language to the other, so that it might make perfect sense. Translators often use notes to make you understand what the meaning of certain sentences are. In my opinion, notes from translators makes the document more professional, because it shows that the translator went out of his or her way to make the best possible translation.

Couldn't agree more! When I see such notes, I also think that the translator must be really good at what he/she does because they don't just translate word for word but know the cultural context, the nuances of meanings etc.

[magnum]

There's a case study in Translator and Interpreter Training: Issues, Methods and Debates pitting a professional translator against an amateur one. Regarding translation notes, the professional actually them used more, even though fan translation is notorious for its liberal use of notes. Of course, notes should be kept to a minimum, but what that minimum is supposed to be isn't completely straightforward even among professionals and academics; it's not as simple as "localize everything", as others have mentioned. You can find bits of the study report here, it's quite interesting.

[Chris_A]

Couldn't agree more! When I see such notes, I also think that the translator must be really good at what he/she does because they don't just translate word for word but know the cultural context, the nuances of meanings etc.

It can also be really hard for a translator sometimes. I currently have a project to translate a juridical document from Romanian to German, and certain words and expressions don`t even exist in the other language. Putting the translation into context so that the document can be viable and official, can be really hard.

[czarina84]

I never thought of it in terms of professional or unprofessional.  I just always thought it was helpful.  As it was said before, not everything can be translated to another language, as every language has their own quirks.  That being said, I think not explaining that and just leaving it out completely seems unprofessional to me.