Origin of the word
Translated has its roots in Latin, deriving from the word ‘trānslātus’. This is the past participle of the verb ‘transferre’, which means ‘to transfer’ or ‘to convey’. It first appeared in Middle English during the early 14th century. Written and spoken words that have been translated may have been paraphrased, meaning that simpler phrases have been used to explain a complicated methodology. Similarly, they could have been converted from one language to another, whether that’s spoken word or computer program. Not bad for a word that’s used to simplify languages and concepts.
Examples
“If you use Facebook a lot, you’ve probably seen several translated sentences here and there, as long as you’re casually browsing. If you thought these were being done by hand, prepare to be shocked: They’re actually done automatically, and now they’re being translated by neural networks.” – Geek.com, Monday 7th August 2017: Those translations you see on Facebook are now translated via neural networks.
“Speaking to the press after the launch, Seppo stressed that the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals] must be translated into vernacular languages to be understood by many Malawians.” – Malawi 24, Tuesday 22nd August 2017: SDGs should be translated into local languages.
“High level languages are thus translated into machine language employing an interpreter or a compiler or an amalgamation of both of them. However, software might also be written in low level assembly language which is ultimately translated into machine language employing an assembler.” – WhaTech, Monday 28th August 2017. New report examines the global calibration management software market forecast 2017 – 2022.
Definition
1: to change spoken or written words into another language
View the full definition in the Macmillan Dictionary.
