Translation with an Agenda: Difference between revisions

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Well, most of them anyways.

This trope is about the exceptions. Translators or editors that would, yes, and do, yes, ignore or twist the original meaning of a word or text in order to advance their point of view. Serious translators consider this an utterly unprofessional and even evil breach of ethics and of the reader's trust. Unprofessional ones, however, couldn't care less, and the result is a [[Translation with an Agenda]], a.k.a. a Harry Bosco.

This trope is about the exceptions. Translators or editors that would, yes, and do, yes, ignore or twist the original meaning of a word or text in order to advance their point of view. Serious translators consider this an utterly unprofessional and even evil breach of ethics and of the reader's trust. Unprofessional ones, however, couldn't care less, and the result is a '''Translation with an Agenda''', a.k.a. a Harry Bosco.

These are translations that gleefully ignore or twist the original text in order to pursue a political agenda either of the translator or of the editor/employer of the translator. Whereas a [[Tactful Translation]] is meant to smoothen the edges of a situation, a [[Woolseyism]] is essentially a distilled translation and a [[Cut and Paste Translation]] tends to have cultural or logistical reasons, a [[Translation with an Agenda]] is done solely to advance a political, religious or otherwise ideological goal - twisting or ignoring the original work by falsely identifying villains in it with one's political opponents, mistranslating a "good" adjective as something more specific related to one's agenda, or even by simply mistranslating most or all of the text to make it a tract on one's views. Note that this isn't a mere mistake or simple unconscious bias - there is actual, conscious intent to make the translation fit one's views regardless of what is said in the original text.

These are translations that gleefully ignore or twist the original text in order to pursue a political agenda either of the translator or of the editor/employer of the translator. Whereas a [[Tactful Translation]] is meant to smoothen the edges of a situation, a [[Woolseyism]] is essentially a distilled translation and a [[Cut and Paste Translation]] tends to have cultural or logistical reasons, a '''Translation with an Agenda''' is done solely to advance a political, religious or otherwise ideological goal - twisting or ignoring the original work by falsely identifying villains in it with one's political opponents, mistranslating a "good" adjective as something more specific related to one's agenda, or even by simply mistranslating most or all of the text to make it a tract on one's views. Note that this isn't a mere mistake or simple unconscious bias - there is actual, conscious intent to make the translation fit one's views regardless of what is said in the original text.

Needless to say, fans, translators and translator fans who realize what's going on get quite furious, with good reason.

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== In-Universe Examples ==

* One episode of ''Torchwood: Miracle Day'' uses the Harry Bosco [[Translation with an Agenda]] process by name - and figuring out what was actually said before the translation was Harry Boscoed is a major plot point of that episode.

* One episode of ''Torchwood: Miracle Day'' uses the Harry Bosco Translation with an Agenda process by name - and figuring out what was actually said before the translation was Harry Boscoed is a major plot point of that episode.

* In ''[[Knights Of The Old Republic 2]]'', the HK-50 droids masquerade as protocol droids (who among other things work as translators) to spread anarchy and war by ruining diplomatic confrontations. Judging by some of the cut content (where you see the place they're manufactured and trained), they are not at all subtle about it, often opening conversations with vile insults and overt threats they attribute to their "masters".

* In the Christopher Stasshef book ''A Wizard in Chaos'', a boss's steward is deliberately mistranslating prices quoted by merchants and taking the excess. This lands him in trouble when the protagonist, a [[Telepath]], shows up.

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== Real Life Examples ==

* [http://www.bleedingcool.com/forums/showthread.php?35676-Now-It\-s-Time-For-The-Brazilian-Batman-Potty-Mouth This] case is a textbook one. "Nasty", a general insult, was translated as a specific political slur regarding people of a certain Brazilian political party. Since the editor of this comic is linked to a magazine well-known in Brazil for utterly hating said political party, and since it would take specific effort to make such a "mistake" (as "nasty" is a fairly simple word that can be translated more easily into several others), it became clear that this was a [[Translation with an Agenda]].

* [http://www.bleedingcool.com/forums/showthread.php?35676-Now-It\-s-Time-For-The-Brazilian-Batman-Potty-Mouth This] case is a textbook one. "Nasty", a general insult, was translated as a specific political slur regarding people of a certain Brazilian political party. Since the editor of this comic is linked to a magazine well-known in Brazil for utterly hating said political party, and since it would take specific effort to make such a "mistake" (as "nasty" is a fairly simple word that can be translated more easily into several others), it became clear that this was a Translation with an Agenda.

* While the book has never been translated fully, at least some of the controversy regarding ''[[The Satanic Verses]]'' in the Arabic speaking world can be attributed to the fact that the title was sometimes deliberately translated using the word "ayat", which specifically means the verses of the Quran as opposed to its more general English title.

* [http://www.fakku.net/viewonline.php?id=6014&page=1#page=15 This very NSFW page] of the hentai title "What is Islamic Fundamentalism?" ([[Rule 34|Yes]].) has the original Japanese dialogue replaced with "SMUT SMUT SMUT" all over. Trans. note: "stuff about dripping and dicks and stuff". Ed. note: "use your imagination". You could imagine someone has become tired of the stock hentai dialogue...