Translating Swedish Automotive History : Terminology, cultural adaptations and connectors

Abstract: This essay is an analysis of a translation of the chapter Success Begets Success – From 1800 to C70 Coupé in David G. Styles’ book Volvo 1800. The Complete Story. By studying cultural adaptations together with the translation of terminology and connectors and basing the analysis on translation theory, certain conclusions can be drawn about the problems of translating a car-related text. This essay is mainly based on the theories of Vinay & Darbelnet (in Munday 2001), Rune Ingo (2007) and Bengt Altenberg (1999). The main results are that terminology is very important and that a translator needs to know the terms very well in order to translate successfully. For cultural adaptations it is necessary to make the text appear natural in the target culture without losing any vital information from the source text. Failure to meet those demands may result in a text which is rejected by people who are very interested in and knowledgeable about Volvo. Regarding connectors, avoidance of repetition is a key to success and slight increases or decreases in formality must sometimes be performed in order to reach this goal. Translation may be a rather vague science, but there are still strategies that must be regarded as better than others.