Today, I’m thrilled to take you behind the scenes of a fascinating translation project I recently undertook with Valor International. My task was to translate a Brazilian-Portuguese interview about tax reform into a piece tailored for an English-speaking audience.
Publishing news about Brazil’s tax reform in English is essential for reaching a broader international audience, attracting foreign investment, fostering trade relations, analyzing the economic impact, providing a global perspective, building investor confidence, engaging in policy debates, supporting diplomacy, and serving tourists and students interested in Brazil. It helps Brazil integrate into the global economy and promote its economic policies effectively.
What made this experience unique? 🤔
🔍 Understanding the assignment: The goal was crystal clear: to bridge language barriers and deliver valuable insights to an English-speaking readership about the tax reform Brazil is trying to implement. The interview was a treasure trove of information, and my mission was twofold: to ensure that nothing valuable was lost in translation while maintaining the authenticity of the original Brazilian-Portuguese conversation. In doing so, I retained certain speech elements that added a unique touch, ensuring that the English version didn’t sound drastically different from the Brazilian-Portuguese source.
🔧 Maintaining Q&A structure: The original question and answer format of the interview was preserved—that is a valuable tool in journalism because it facilitates clear communication, presents direct quotes, engages readers, efficiently conveys information, promotes objectivity, offers varied perspectives, enhances readability, ensures accountability, and tailors content to readers’ interests. Maintaining the same format kept the conversational flow intact and provided clear context for each response.
🪟 Clarifying acronyms and jargon: I went the extra mile to provide clear explanations for any acronyms and tax-specific terminology mentioned during the interviews. It’s a careful balancing act to ensure that while making the content accessible, we don’t inadvertently alter the interviewee’s responses too much. These clarifications, enclosed in brackets [ ], were seamlessly integrated to help English-speaking readers better understand the subject without distorting the original context. In the example below, Mr. Appy’s sentence ended in “Complementary Law 194″—something most English-speaking readers may have never heard of. Hence, the in-text explanation is in brackets.
Mr. Appy: Certainly, but nothing similar to the effects of Complementary Law 194 passed last year, [which caps ICMS—state-level value-added tax—taxation on fuels, natural gas, electricity, communications, and public transportation].
🧩 Contextual understanding: My goal was to go beyond word-level translation. I strived to capture the essence and nuances of the original content, providing a version that feels natural and engaging in English. You can see an example below. The translation maintains the original tone and conveys the speaker’s perspective on the impact of exceptions on economic growth and compliance costs.
- Source: Mr. Appy: Realmente retira um pouco do efeito positivo da reforma tributária.
- Translation: “Mr. Appy: It does indeed diminish the positive effect of the tax reform slightly.
🟰 Avoiding additions: I was careful not to add new elements or information to the original content—aside from necessary in-bracket explanations. The focus was on enhancement and clarification, ensuring fidelity to the source material.
🌐 Adaptation: The translation process prioritized the needs of an English-speaking audience, taking into account the terminology and cultural nuances to ensure that the content is clear. An illustrative example is Tesouro in Brazilian-Portuguese, which can refer to either the Treasury or the Ministry of Finance when translated into English, depending on context. To achieve an accurate adaptation, it is essential for the translator to thoroughly understand the original content. In this particular translation, the interviewee’s intended meaning for Tesouro was Ministry of Finance, which required a nuanced adaptation rather than a direct word-level translation.
This process exemplifies the power of thoughtful translation and content improvement. It’s not just about changing words from one language to another; it’s about conveying ideas, emotions, concepts, and context in a natural and compelling way to the reader.
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