Stimulated Expert
Sometimes, we receive translation bloopers from our foreign colleagues. A Spanish translator at an international support forum asked us if we can help her understand an English expression translated from Turkish. She was probably required to translate an English document to Spanish that in turn previously translated from Turkish.
The sentence read:
The expert is sworn in, his stimulation is done.
The asker said that ’stimulation’ does not make sense to her. And she was right. But she provided no further clues as to the type of document, so we are required to play a “hit and miss” game. And since swearing by an expert is concerned, I suggested that it should be a document related to some legal proceedings.
In certain lawsuits, the Court appoints an expert, or a board of experts in complicated cases, for examining some technicalities of the case. The expert, after conducting a study, submits an Expert Opinion to the Court. But before this submission, the Expert swears before the court, and the Judge forewarns him about his legal responsibilities.
“Uyarmak” or “uyarılmak” in Turkish means, inter alia, “to stimulate, warn,” or “to be stimulated or warned.” It is used in contemporary Turkish as a synonym for “İkaz” or “tahrik.” The former (ikaz) can be translated as “alarm or warning,” and latter can be translated as “drive, stimulation, provocation, arousal” etc. Unfortunately, the two words merged into a single word in contemporary Turkish language (“uyarım, uyarı”) that easily leads to such mistranslations.
It seems that our fellow translator took a dictionary, found the verb “uyarmak,” and picked up its first meaning in English (to stimulate). Hence, the expert’s stimulation is done!
Poor Expert! Or should we say, The Lucky Expert?
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