The Mother Tongue Principle
The mother tongue principle proposes that translation quality can only be ensured when translators only translate into their respective mother tongue. For certain texts with a high degree of translation difficulty it may, however, be appropriate not to insist on it.
It is a matter of great importance to us that we provide high-quality translations for our clients and highly effective communication in interpreting situations. Many service providers in the translation sector regard the mother tongue principle as an essential prerequisite for maintaining quality standards. In our opinion, however, the principle should not be applied indiscriminately in all translation and interpreting contexts.
The principle asserts that translation or interpreting should always take place from a foreign language (source language) into the translator’s native language (target language). Those who uphold the principle argue that only through its observance is a grammatically and stylistically correct representation of the original possible, and also that it is necessary in order to ensure that important details are taken into account.
We are of the conviction that the mother tongue principle does not automatically provide a guarantee for good translating and interpreting. In addition, the translator must have a high degree of linguistic and technical competence within the context of the foreign language concerned. Nevertheless, there are circumstances in which it is virtually essential to abide by the principle, for instance when a linguistically demanding text like an advertising text must be formulated in the target language in an especially pleasing or effective manner.
However, the situation may be different with, for instance, a very difficult source text containing subtle aspects which have to be taken into account. In such cases it may be wise to engage a native speaker of the source language to carry out the translation. This increases the likelihood that all the nuances of the source text will be appreciated and correctly transported into the target text.
We provide solutions tailored to the needs of our customers by employing specialist translators whose fields of competence tally with the requirements of the current assignment.