Artificem commendat opus – a few remarks on whether quality in translation is important

Abstract

Translation has undoubtedly played a significant role in the dissemination and exchange of ideas, works, and values between different cultures. The role of translation is constantly growing, especially in today’s era of interculturalism and globalization. On the one hand, we are dealing with international communication using English (a kind of common language, lingua franca), but the role of texts written in national languages still seems to be vital. Therefore, the role of the translator as an intermediary between languages and cultures does not lose its importance. The purpose of this article is to show the significance of quality in translation. Although a large part of communication – especially that taking place on the Internet – is based on English, the role of texts written in national languages does not diminish as well. We are often dealing with texts that are somewhat secondary, created in a given language not from the direct communication needs of the author of the text, but with texts that are translations of the content originally created in a given national language. The issue of the fidelity of a translation in relation to individual contents and structures of the original text has been the subject of many theoretical and practical considerations, but – as the analysis of German-language websites of selected Polish museums shows – is still an important translation problem. The article presents a classification of errors committed within the framework of published texts and tries to indicate the possibilities of avoiding them. Summarizing the above considerations, it can be stated – although this remark is based on quite fragmentary research due to the amount of content published on the Internet – that the quality of texts published on German-language websites has considerably improved in the last few years.