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Please refer to Mr Kurt Sansone's contribution carried on Sunday 23rd May under the caption ‘Translation Howlers: The 'square' of EU Laws hounds the Constitution translation.’
Your contributor is less than appreciative of the inherent difficulties in translating the EU Acquis into Maltese. Though right in some instances, the use of the words “howlers” and “horrendous” mistakes in the translation of the EU Constitution is excessive to say the least. In some instances he is wrong and the translators are right.
Without assuming the paternity of all the phrases quoted, the Translation Unit has had to confront and resolve certain problems of nomenclature. In the first instance, the Treaty itself could not be called Trattat ta' S?ubija (S?ubija could mean also partnership), ta' Assoçjazzjoni (because Assoçjazzjoni was used for the Association Agreement of 1970) ta' Aççessjoni (because Aççessjoni means a fit), ta' Tixrik (because the word is rarely used in a modern context). So the best choice was to use “Trattat ta' AdeΩjoni” which is the same word used in most other European Text including the French one in which it was originally drafted.
The same applies for the choice “Li©i Kwadru;” your correspondent imagines that the word “kwadru” in Maltese only means a square. In fact it has several other meanings and when it does not conjugate as an adjective with li©i (which is feminine) it cannot be thought to mean a square law. That would have been a “li©i kwadra”. “Li©i kwadru” (Loi cadre) is the common European phrase for a law which presupposes the framing of other laws within the parameters established by the mother law. To say li©i qafas to avoid any Romance word is avoiding the European connotation and the precision of meaning.
“Politiki Ekonomiçi” is definitely wrong and your correspondent is right but weighting is not “piΩ” or “sa??a” as he suggests. “PiΩ” is weight not weighting and “sa??a” is either strength or health. Weighting is rightly translated ippeΩar.
“L-Unjoni” is rightly shown as “stabbilita” because the word “imwaqqfa” is ambigous. Waqqaf also means stop and stabbilixxa is as much a Maltese word as waqqaf. Your correspondent still labours under the mistaken impression that words of a semitic ethymology are to be preferred to words derived from one of the languages of Europe, at the expense of precision and clarity. This applies also to his preference for “t?addim” to “funzjonament.” His suggestion that “operat” might have been better than “funzjonament” is also clearly wrong because “operat” attaches to people whilst “funzjonament” attaches to machines or inanimate entities.
Your correspondent is also right on “chlorine” which should have been translated as “kloru.” Klorur stands for chloride but perhaps at these initial stages, one can consider this imprecision as less than grievious. Certainly not horrendous.
When confronted with the task of translating thousands of pages of difficult sometimes very specialised text, one realises that we shouldn't throw tonnes of bricks at the heads of people who have to translate, adapt, and be precise whilst consulting the original texts, sometimes not fully concordant, in various languages. As to “Titolu” and “Titlu,” Mr Sansone is entitled to his taste but one wouldn't condemn those who use Titolu as harshly as one would, if some person were to call him Sur Sansun.
Vanni Bruno LL.D
Head – Translation and
Law-drafting Unit
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