Translation Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Interpreting=== [[File:Cortez & La Malinche.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.0|[[Hernán Cortés]] and [[La Malinche]] meet [[Moctezuma II]] in [[Tenochtitlan]], 8 November 1519.]] [[File:Lewis and Clark 1954 Issue-3c.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Lewis and Clark Expedition|Lewis and Clark]] and their [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] interpreter, [[Sacagawea]]]] {{Main|Interpreting}} [[Interpreting]] is the facilitation of [[speech communication|oral]] or [[sign language|sign-language]] [[communication]], either simultaneously or consecutively, between two, or among three or more, speakers who are not speaking, or signing, the same language. The term "interpreting," rather than "interpretation," is preferentially used for this activity by Anglophone interpreters and translators, to avoid confusion with other meanings of the word "[[wikt:interpret|interpretation]]." Unlike English, many languages do not employ two separate words to denote the activities of [[writing|written]] and live-communication ([[speech communication|oral]] or [[sign language|sign-language]]) translators.{{efn|For example, in [[Polish language|Polish]], a "translation" is "{{lang|pl|przekład}}" or "{{lang|pl|tłumaczenie}}." Both "translator" and "interpreter" are "{{lang|pl|tłumacz}}." For a time in the 18th century, however, for "translator," some writers used a word, "{{lang|pl|przekładowca}}," that is no longer in use.<ref>[[Edward Balcerzan]], {{lang|pl|Pisarze polscy o sztuce przekładu, 1440–1974: Antologia}} (Polish Writers on the Art of Translation, 1440–1974: an Anthology), 1977, ''passim''.</ref>}} Even English does not always make the distinction, frequently using "translating" as a synonym for "interpreting." Interpreters have sometimes played crucial roles in [[human history]]. A prime example is [[La Malinche]], also known as ''Malintzin'', ''Malinalli'' and ''Doña Marina'', an early-16th-century [[Nahua peoples|Nahua]] woman from the Mexican [[Gulf of Mexico|Gulf Coast]]. As a child she had been sold or given to [[Maya peoples|Maya]] slave-traders from Xicalango, and thus had become bilingual. Subsequently, given along with other women to the invading Spaniards, she became instrumental in the [[Spain|Spanish]] conquest of [[Mexico]], acting as interpreter, adviser, intermediary and lover to [[Hernán Cortés]].<ref>Hugh Thomas, ''Conquest: Montezuma, Cortes and the Fall of Old Mexico'', New York, Simon and Schuster, 1993, pp. 171-72.</ref> [[File:Lin Shu.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Lin Shu]]]] Nearly three centuries later, in the [[United States]], a comparable role as interpreter was played for the [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]] of 1804–6 by [[Sacagawea]]. As a child, the [[Lemhi Shoshone]] woman had been kidnapped by [[Hidatsa]] Indians and thus had become bilingual. Sacagawea facilitated the expedition's traverse of the [[North American continent]] to the [[Pacific Ocean]].<ref>"Sacagawea", ''[[The Encyclopedia Americana]]'', 1986, volume 24, p. 72.</ref> The famous Chinese man of letters [[Lin Shu]] (1852 – 1924), who knew no foreign languages, rendered Western literary classics into Chinese with the help of his friend Wang Shouchang (王壽昌), who had studied in France. Wang interpreted the texts for Lin, who rendered them into Chinese. Lin's first such translation, 巴黎茶花女遺事 (''Past Stories of the Camellia-woman of Paris'' – [[Alexandre Dumas, fils]]'s, ''[[The Lady of the Camellias|La Dame aux Camélias]]''), published in 1899, was an immediate success and was followed by many more translations from the French and the English.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Chen|first1=Weihong|last2=Cheng|first2=Xiaojuan|date=1 June 2014|title=An Analysis of Lin Shu's Translation Activity from the Cultural Perspective|url=http://www.academypublication.com/issues/past/tpls/vol04/06/14.pdf|journal=Theory and Practice in Language Studies|volume=4|issue=6|pages=1201–1206|doi=10.4304/tpls.4.6.1201-1206|issn=1799-2591}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page