Maltese translation in transition

Maltese translation in transition

By Janet Mallia,
Maltese Translator
Mosta, Malta

janet.mallia[at]gmail.com
http://www.themaltesetranslator.com

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Janet Mallia photo Some may argue that the word ‘translation’ simply means ‘the skill of accurate rendering of a document into another language’; however for most of us who do this work on day to day bases it means more than this. Apart from providing us our daily bread and butter, it is an artistic expression that some of us are capable to do while others don’t. In this regards, translations can get tricky and Maltese translations are not an exception!

I must admit that up to a few years ago, there wasn’t very much demand for Maltese translations, however now-a-days things have changed. Ever since Malta joined up the European Union and the Maltese language was formally recognized as one of the official EU languages as from 2004, there was a boom in the Maltese translation market. We saw the cropping up of local translation agencies and many international translation agencies, mostly European, are demanding more Maltese translators.

This boom in the local translation market brought also other challenges. With the adoption of the EU regulations, there were greater demands for translations in various areas, amongst other things, within the medical, insurance and technology-related sphere. This is a much untapped market, considering, for example, that all insurance policies in the local market are written in English. So is the case for the medical and technological sector, where medical terms are written in English, for example, medical prescriptions and analyses. This also applies in relation to technological terms such as machinery details.

The challenges for translators within this particular field are that to make use of new vocabulary. Thus, we are actually assisting in the formation of new words daily within the Maltese vocabulary. With no formal translation association in the country, something had to been done in order to keep up with the present ever changing situation.

The University of Malta felt this change in the Maltese Language and took up the challenge. By the end of the year, the University of Malta is going to launch a brand new dictionary on the local market in assistance to Maltese translators and the general public. The University is also facing up to the challenges of the translation market by offering a specialized course for those who would like to become translators or interpreters.

However there is more to it! When Malta joined up the European Union, translators had to work on actually documentation that needed immediate translation. By this decision, old documents for the period when the EU was created till when Malta joined up were not being translated. The European Union took a stand on this matter and issued a derogation period so that translators could handle the influx of translation work.

The derogation period ended a few months ago and now Maltese translators are facing up loads of translation work to be done. The future looks very promising and there is a lot of work to keep everyone busy for quite a while. Although it is very difficult to estimate how many translators are in the local market, one thing is for sure, there is enough work for everyone. Indeed, Maltese translation and also Maltese translators are in transition!

This article was originally published at Translation Journal
(http://accurapid.com/journal).