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1.5 KiB
Who should do the back translation?
To do a good back translation, the person must have three qualifications.
- The back translator should be someone who is a mother-tongue speaker of the local target language and who also speaks the language of wider communication well. In order to make a written back translation, he must also be able to read and write both languages well.
- The back translator must be someone who was not involved in making the local target language translation that he is back translating. This is because someone who made the local target language translation already knows what he intended the translation to mean, and will put that meaning in the back translation with the result that it looks the same as the source translation. But it is possible that a speaker of the local target language who did not work on the local target language translation will understand the translation differently, or will not understand parts of it at all. The checker wants to know what these other meanings are that other speakers of the local target language will understand from the translation so that he can work with the translation team to make those places communicate the right meaning more clearly.
- The back translator should be someone who does not know the Bible well. This is because the back translator must give only the meaning that he understands from looking at the target language translation, not from knowledge that he might have from reading the Bible in another language.