Translating articles or content into another language may seem like a straightforward task – just taking the words and finding their equivalents in a foreign language, surely? Since the dawn of Google Translate and now the Large Language Model (LLM) multilingual applications of artificial intelligence, translating a document from one language to another is pretty straightforward, isn’t it?

No, it is not.

Let’s start with one example of a translation, which will help us anchor this discussion.

Coors Light is an American brand of beer, popular around the world. Its advertising campaign was sophisticated, slick and ubiquitous. The accompanying slogan for their ad campaign was ‘turn it loose.’ Great, simple, concise phrase. Now translate that into Spanish; what is the result? In Spanish, their ad slogan was ‘you will suffer from diarrhoea.’ Not exactly the message the Coors Light brand wanted to convey.

How about when the Pepsi brand of soft drink was first introduced to mainland China, with the catchy slogan ‘Pepsi brings you back to life.’ The Chinese translation of that statement was ‘Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave.’ I am no marketing expert, but I doubt that sales of a food product would increase by associating it with the grave.

If I say, to an English speaking person, ‘finger-lickin good’, chances are they will understand it to be the famous advertising slogan of KFC. The equivalent in Chinese is ‘eat your fingers off.’ A touch of cannibalism thrown into food commercials is original, to say the least.

Let’s step away from the world of brands and marketing, and delve deeper into translations in the real world. I am certain that it is easier to translate everyday phrases and questions into other languages – ‘open the door’, ‘one coffee please’, and ‘my ankles are swollen’ do not contain any nuances or subtleties. What happens when we discuss wider sociopolitical and economic issues?

The big issue in the corporate-controlled media is the Russia Ukraine war. News regarding the casualties, attacks and fatalities is splashed and recycled across our tv screens and mobile devices. The Trump-Zelensky shouting match was the most recent iteration of the Ukraine-Russia news cycle.

There was extensive coverage of the screaming match, followed by the inevitable screaming and shouting on social media. Reams of commentary saturated the news coverage, along with a deluge of analysis by different commentators and organisations. Amidst all the tsunami of shouting and screaming, what gets lost is the crucial role of translation in bringing news and analysis about the conflict to the Anglophone audiences.

In every war, propaganda becomes a staple part of the news cycle diet, and the Russia-Ukraine war is no exception. Translation of articles from non-English sources inevitably has to tackle the propaganda aspect of war reporting.

When examining any overseas conflict, we in the Anglophone community necessarily rely on non-English speaking resources. On the socialist Left, respective socialist parties reach out to their ideological compatriots – comrades in the struggle – in the non-English speaking nations for news and analysis. The Russia-Ukraine war has generated inordinate amounts of analysis by socialist organisations and activists from different traditions.

Making sense of all this, in the midst of a propaganda barrage by our homegrown media behemoths, is a daunting enough task. Having to translate resources into English, maintaining the shared meanings and nuances of sociopolitical discussion only adds enormous complexity to the task.

This is why is say a big thank you to translators.

For instance, the following article here, regarding the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, first appeared in a Portuguese socialist publication.

Thank you to the Portuguese comrades who wrote this article. Thank you to the translators for translating it.

Translation is one hell of a difficult job; while Google translator is all well and good, translating the meaning of an article takes dedicated cognitive effort. Automated translators talk like machines – they churn out words and sentences, but not the meaning of the original article.

Translating a text on a difficult and controversial topic such as the Russia Ukraine war is fraught with complications. Conveying the meaning of solidarity and political analysis is not easy between languages. Decoding the war propaganda, locating blame for the conflict on the large NATO powers, fighting off accusations of Putin apologism, is no easy task. So a big thank you to the translators of the article above, who no doubt spent countless hours agonising over the correct words and meanings.

Translation necessarily involves immersing yourself in another language, culture and idioms. The origins, complexity and richness of language is still being debated by linguists, psychologists and anthropologists. It is daunting enough for new migrants to understand the language of their adopted homeland.

Ethnic communities in Australia have largely settled for insularity, retreating into the safety of their own language communities. That is an unfortunate strategy when dealing with issues of multiculturalism and assimilation. This makes cross cultural awareness and understanding of each other’s diverse political opinions and struggles that much more difficult.

How about we all start by realising that translating involves trans creating – if there is such a word. It is not just a mechanical, machine-driven process of finding the equivalent words, but an invisible yet powerful bridge crossing the cultural-linguistic divide. How about we understand this concept – Gemeinschaftsgefühl. Introduced by psychologist Alfred Adler, there is no direct English translation.

The rough English translation is ‘a community of equals working and maintaining social interest.’ The collective good is a concise way of summarising his concept. Translation is the bridge that can help us maintain a collective sense of community welfare, rather than only thinking about our own narrow insular groups.