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• Translatable But Debatable - Teken

  March 18 2010 Posted by Mark L. Levinson under Translatable but Debatable | Comments (0)
  Tags:

  • Hebrew translation issues
  • Jonathan Danilowitz
  • Mark L. Levinson
  • Nina Davis
  • translatable
  • translation
  • תקן

  The Academy of the Hebrew Language lists sixty phrases including the word תקן, and in more than fifty of them the translation uses "standard." But reader Jonathan Danilowitz points out that there is “trouble when it refers to the number of employees for a certain task — ‘standard’ doesn't work— or for the time allowed for something, or quantities for various purposes.”
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• Translatable but Debatable: גיבוש, לגבש

  February 18 2010 Posted by Mark L. Levinson under Translatable but Debatable | Comments (3)
  Tags:

  • debatable
  • Hebrew translation issues
  • Mark L. Levinson
  • Stanley Hillel
  • translatable
  • translation
  • גיבוש
  • גיבש
  • לגבש

  At the convention, when someone at the microphone remarked on the overuse of "crystallize" as a translation for gibush, a British-accented shout came from somewhere in the audience, “Formulate!” 
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• Translatable but Debatable: מול

  January 18 2010 Posted by Mark L. Levinson under Translatable but Debatable | Comments (1)
  Tags:

  • Hebrew
  • Hebrew prepositions
  • Hebrew translation issues
  • Mark L. Levinson
  • translation
  • מול

  I think that vis-à-vis often expresses מול better than any alternative would. Unfortunately, vis-à-vis is not an expression that endures repetition well. You can write מול five or six times on a page, but vis-à-vis that many times would look peculiar.
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• Translatable but Debatable מערך

  December 20 2009 Posted by Mark L. Levinson under Translatable but Debatable | Comments (8)
  Tags:

  • Hebrew translation issues
  • Mark L. Levinson
  • translatable
  • translation
  • מערך

  A conscientious company had appointed a safety warden for each department, it considered them collectively a מערך in Hebrew, and it needed a translation. The dictionaries offer “disposition” and “formation,” but those words lean too much toward the positioning and not enough toward the people and their mission.
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• Translatable but Debatable גורם

  November 18 2009 Posted by Mark L. Levinson under Translatable but Debatable | Comments (5)
  Tags:

  • debatable
  • Hebrew
  • Hebrew translation issues
  • Jerusalem Post
  • Mark L. Levinson
  • translatable
  • translation
  • whystyle
  • גורם

  I was in the office of a hi-tech CEO some time ago when a phone call came in from a vendor of translation software. The CEO listened only a few seconds before interrupting the vendor: “How does it translate הגורם המבצע?” he asked. I was impressed that he had such a challenge at the ready.
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• Translatable but Debatable ביצוע, לבצע

  October 19 2009 Posted by Mark L. Levinson under Translatable but Debatable | Comments (4)

  (edited 4 months, 4 weeks ago)

  
  Tags:

  • debatable
  • Hebrew
  • Hebrew translation issues
  • Mark L. Levinson
  • translatable
  • translation
  • whystyle
  • ביצוע
  • לבצע

  As the champion high-jumper clears the bar, the sportscaster cries out: איזה ביצוע! — which is to say, what a thing-doing. The English language has some theoretically fine translations for ביצוע, but connotations are a problem. You could say what an accomplishment, but that would express the connotation that he did something difficult, not that he did it well or elegantly.
  
  This series of columns will be presenting one hard-to-translate Hebrew word at a time for discussion, and we’ll start with ביצוע (or לבצע).
  
  You’re encouraged to add your comments at the end of the column, but please stick to the word currently under discussion. One word will likely remind you of another, but if you’d like to discuss another word, please write to me at Elephant — whystyle@elephant.org.il — and I’ll present it with due credit in a future column. That way, we can not only conduct a nicely focused discussion but also leave behind a useful archive for future reference, one word at a time.
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