It's also interesting to see what translators from English into Welsh do about it. So I thought I'd do a bit of what I like to call "research" .... so I picked a Welsh book for which I also have the English version, and the first thing I found was Jacqueline Wilson's " Cyfrinachau" for which I have the Elin Meek translation. I turned to chapter 7 and here's what I came up with ...... I've just picked out bits with quirky English expressions in them ...
Mam rang. Out of the blue ..... Ffoniodd Mam. Yn hollol annisgwyl.
Gary is driving me nuts. ..... Mae Carwyn yn fy hala i'n benwan.
He hardly slept a wink last night..... Cysgodd e ddim llawer neithiwr.
And Kylie's getting dead cheeky.... ac mae Cai'n mynd yn eithaf eofn nawr.
Bethany's forever complaining, the stroppy little cow ......
.... ac mae Bethan yn cwyno ac yn strancio drwy'r amser.
What, after that little set-to ? ..... Beth, ar ôl y digwyddiad bach 'na ?
Look, that got blown up out of all proportion ...
... Edrych, doedd dim angen gwneud môr a mynnydd am y peth.
But he's willing to let bygones be bygones ... Ond mae e'n barod i anghofio am y peth.
It's a fresh start .... Rydyn ni'd dechrau o'r dechrau.
Already, even with this short sample, you can see various things happening . Sometimes, understandably, the odd turn of phrase is simply ironed out and made more straightforward.
Sometimes a completely different way of expressing it is used. Sometimes, when it's possible, a "Welsh" way of saying it is used. You've also got to remember that in the special case of English to Welsh translation of a children's book, the translator needs to be aware that ,say, a 10-year-old child who might be reading this in Welsh might well have a more restricted Welsh vocabulary compared to a 10-year-old English reader's English vocabulary. If you see what I mean. Especially when it comes to those more unusual or idiomatic expressions. I might be wrong ... I'm just sort of thinking in print.
The more I read books translated into Welsh, the more I admire the work of the translators who do it. I didn't used to understand it when people wrote that certain texts were basically untranslatable ... I couldn't see why they couldn't just turn the words from one language into words in the other language. But I know now! In spades !!
And now, Y Cyrff ... Y Pleser ..... Yn hollol annisgwyl ...