Power and poverty of little words: Business (and other) texts in translation

Abstract

This article presents an attempt at a typology of the most frequent errors occurring in the translation from Dutch into a foreign language. The material under analysis derives from the translation tasks performed by the students of Dutch as well as by the newly graduated B.A. holders. The causes of the errors are to be found in the shortened education cycle of language studies which had been longer before the Bologna Treaty was signed and the five-year studies were divided into two independent shorter cycles. Other causes are also related to easy access to not necessarily reliable dictionary courses and Internet translators, of which Google Translator is an example, and to the fact that the graduates who completed their studies in a significantly shorter period of time and less effortlessly (than those who had completed five-year studies) demonstrated inflated self-confidence.