Target-Language Writing and Register: Producing a Professionally Usable Translation
This domain rewards translations that read as if written natively for the intended purpose. Graders assess grammar, syntax, idiom, cohesion, and register, and they penalize source-language interference.
Concepts to master
- Target-language syntax: sentence rhythm, word order, and clause combining differ across languages. Break or merge sentences when the target demands it.
- Register: formal, technical, legal, and promotional texts each have conventions. Match the source's level of formality and its genre conventions in the target.
- Collocation and idiom: words combine predictably. Unnatural pairings signal translationese even when grammatically correct.
- Cohesion: use appropriate connectors, pronoun strategies, and thematic progression so the text flows.
- Punctuation and typography: target-language conventions for quotation marks, spacing, and lists.
- Consistency of style: terminology, capitalization, and formatting should be uniform.
Traps in exam questions
- Literal calques that are grammatical but unidiomatic.
- Preserving source sentence boundaries when the target requires restructuring.
- Register mismatch: slang in a formal report, or stiff legalese in a brochure.
- Over-literal rendering of metaphors and fixed expressions.
- Inconsistent style choices within one passage.
Worked example
Source: "We are pleased to inform you that your application has been approved."
A literal rendering may produce a stiff, unnatural formula in the target. A professional version uses the target culture's conventional opening for good news, keeps the formal register, and preserves the informative purpose. The test is whether a native reader would find the sentence natural in that genre.
Rule of thumb
Read your draft aloud as a monolingual target reader would. If a phrase only makes sense by back-translating, rewrite it.