Dimensiuni ale limbajului n context carceral

This paper presented a lot of aspects related to street culture, youth culture and translation. There are
many things to be said in the end, but we would like to stop and reflect a little bit on the role that the translator
has to play in this setting.
We stated already that trained translators are aware of the fact that each community has its specificity,
represented by habits, clothing, language usage, artefacts, etc. All cultural characteristics are a mixture of
history and art, shared beliefs or religion. Language is nothing more but a collection of such cultural imprints,
and it was initially designed for communicating the cultural beliefs of One to Another. With or without a
Babel Tower, languages became so diverse and so specialized over the ages, that the need for professional
translation services was more and more obvious.
In fact, knowing at least one foreign language – especially for the inhabitants of small states – is quite
a common matter nowadays. A medium English level, for instance, can transform anybody in an occasional
translator, if the need be. But having a job as a translator and doing a professional work requires more than
solid language knowledge. Unfortunately, this aspect is ignored by most people, as the belief that a good
dictionary can make you a good translator is widely spread. If that were true, the example from Good Will
Hunting presented in this paper would have turned into a display of linguistic preciosity. However, things are
different and the translator/s provided a good example that proves how useful a specialist can be. But what are
the reasons that make translators so much better than regular people having medium foreign language
knowledge?
First of all, as stated above, translators are not only linguists, but cultural experts. They have to play
with two languages at the time and always be aware of the fact that they actually operate with two cultures
having two different value systems. Under such circumstances the language itself is nothing more but a tool,
an instrument serving the supreme purpose of communication. Translators live in a world of meanings they
have to make from the discourse of the One and then forward all that meaning to the understanding of the
Other.
Such a role is not easy to play. The meaning is not always obvious; it often hides behind the
ingeniously written lines or artistically spoken words. The quest of this meaning can be difficult and it might
involve sleepless nights of research or dark seconds when feeling the right solution on the tip of ones tongue,
without being able to verbalize anything. This situation does not appear because the translators would not be
competent enough, but exactly because s/he is. Being warned about translation problems, a professional
cannot easily open a bilingual dictionary and just write whatever solution it provides. The professional
searches for the best solution, the one that represents the message of the Sender in the form that s/he has
intended for the Receiver.
It has been said in this paper that every text production is an expression of culture that wants to
address the public in a comprehensible manner. This means that the message seen/heard by the public has to