Like-Blog
Presenting you the most interesting translation solutions
Why Like-Blog? Now, first of all, this blog is a blog that you should like (and read regularly) – at least, if you are interested in translation. Then, the topic discussed here is one in which the meaningful likeness between a text and its translation in the language pair English-German plays a key role. On this page, I will take a close look at some interesting translation solutions that I have come across in the course of my work as a translator and translation scholar.
A translation solution is only as good as the arguments that support it. This means that any translation criticism, whether positive or negative, needs to be justified. The quality of a translation solution shows only when we compare it to other possible translation solutions in a given translation situation. Therefore, a translation critic should not only say why a translation solution is bad, but also demonstrate what a better solution might look like. I will try to stick to these principles of translation criticism. So if you have any questions regarding my line of argument or if you disagree, please, let me know your opinion by phone at +49 4171 6086525 or by e-mail to bittner@businessenglish-hamburg.de. So much for the introduction. I hope you’ll enjoy reading this blog!
Ferrofluids (May 2026)
A simple sentence – here once again from “Bringing NASA down to Earth” by Tom Huntington (Invention and Technology, Fall 2008, Volume 23) – should be easy to translate:
“Ferrofluids also can reduce sound distortion in audio speakers.”
The translation ran: “Ferrofluide sind ebenfalls dazu in der Lage, Klangverzerrungen in Lautsprechern zu verringern.”
The context is about uses of ferrofluids. Do you see what the problem is?
You might remark that the expression “sind [...] dazu in der Lage” is somewhat clumsy. And, of course, you’d be right. However, the main problem lies elsewhere.
In the given context, rendering “also” as “ebenfalls” doesn’t work. For whilst the English adverb is used cataphorically (i.e., referring to something that follows), the German adverb refers anaphorically to something that has gone before. For the German sentence to make sense, other ways of reducing sound distortion in loudspeakers would need to have been mentioned beforehand. What is mentioned beforehand in the English original, though, is another possible application of ferrofluids. In the case of the target sentence discussed here, the source sentence might have read: “Ferrofluids, too, can reduce ...” or “Also ferrofluids can reduce ...”.
Here, a straightforward original just calls for a straightforward translation: Ferrofluide können außerdem Klangverzerrungen in Lautsprechern verringern.