Translating museum labels

Two original fictional non-fiction texts for reading practice.

Text A: a museum editor’s reflection

A volunteer translator is sometimes treated as a replacement dictionary: supply the sentence, receive its equivalent. The work is less mechanical than that. A label may assume local knowledge, use a joke that depends on an earlier room or name an object whose meaning changes with context. A fluent sentence can preserve the grammar while losing the point.

We therefore involve translators before the source label is final. Their questions can expose a problem in the original wording, not merely a difficulty in another language. That does not mean every uncertainty should produce a longer label. The reader still has limited time and space beside the object.

Volunteers also need a way to record disagreement. Two plausible versions may emphasise different things, and choosing one should involve an explanation rather than the assumption that somebody must be wrong. We use a second reader and keep notes about the decision.

The museum remains responsible for the published label. Thanking volunteers must not become a way to transfer that responsibility to people who have contributed their time. We should tell them when a version changes and distinguish linguistic advice from a final institutional decision about what the display says.

Text B: a volunteer translator’s account

The first label I received was already printed in its original language. I was asked to make my version fit the same narrow space. One phrase depended on a local nickname, and explaining it briefly meant changing the balance of the sentence. The difficulty had not begun with my translation, but that was where it became visible.

Later I joined a discussion before a label was final. Asking who the intended reader was helped us rewrite the original as well as the translation. I did not want every interesting detail added; an explanation can become so complete that nobody has time to read it beside the case.

I valued a second reader, though it was frustrating when two different choices were described as a simple correct-versus-incorrect contest. I wanted to know which meaning the museum wished to prioritise and why. I was happy to advise, not to decide alone how the object should be presented.

What I most wanted after publication was a message if my version had been altered. Recognition mattered, but being thanked publicly did not replace being kept informed about the words carrying my name.

Compare what the two writers say about volunteers translating museum labels. Make it clear which text you are using.