History Main / TactfulTranslation

* {{Invoked|Trope}} by Captain Pellew in the ''[[Series/HoratioHornblower Hornblower]]'' episode "The Examination for Lieutenant" (also known as "The Fire Ships"). The ''Indefatigable'' is at anchor in a Spanish harbor when a Spanish captain arrives aboard to inform them that Spain intends to abandon their posture of neutrality and formally ally with France. Pellew is too [[{{Angrish}} flustered]] to formulate a reply, leaving Hornblower (acting as a translator/interpreter, [[CommonTongue speaking French with the Spaniard]]) to contrive out an appropriate reply on the spot while Pellew grits his teeth.

Contrast TrollingTranslator, who twists translations far from the intended meaning, and TranslationWithAnAgenda, who outright says whatever he feels like to suit his purposes. See also NarrativeProfanityFilter, when someone recounts something but decides to leave out the offensive bits.

[[quoteright:301:[[Recap/AsterixAndTheGoths https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tactful_translation.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:301:He doesn't speak Blackletter.]]

* In the ''Manga/{{Basara}}'' appendix ''Kanata'' Sakaki does this, to hide Shuri's rudeness. We aren’t told what he translates it to, though.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': In the finale episode, "Titans Together", as the remaining heroes infiltrate the Villain base to liberate their captured team members, Herald questions how they can be sure any of them are really here, Más in an angry manner, explains that one of his powers is that he has a magnetic connection with his twin brother, Menos, that grows stronger based on their proximity to one another, after which he insults Herald by telling him if he doesn't know anything. The problem is that [[DoesNotSpeakCommon he only speaks Spanish]], so most of them don't understand what he's saying. Pantha, the only one who is Bilingual, simplifies it by attributing it to being a, "twin thing", leaving out the insult part.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': The episode, "Titans Together", has this conversation.

* Implied as what C-3PO and his entire line of translator droids do in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars''; the Pantoran Chairman wanted C-3PO to translate, word for word, what he was about to say to the natives on which he was about to declare war. The Chairman knew that C-3PO would try to remove all of the harshness of his words.

* Double Subverted with the legendary response of General Anthony [=McAuliffe=] to German demands for the surrender of the 101st Airborne in Bastogne. [=McAuliffe=]'s original reply, as reported, was "NUTS!" When the German representatives asked for clarification, they were told "The reply is decidedly not affirmative. If you continue this foolish attack, your losses will be tremendous." When the parley party returned to meet up with other German elements, bringing along a couple of American translators under safe conduct, another request for clarification was met with the reply "Du kannst zum Teufel gehen (You can go to Hell). If you continue to attack, we will kill every goddamn German that tries to break into this city." Originally, one of the translators wanted to say "take a flying shit," but it was realized this might be too [=UNtactful=] a translation even for the circumstances.

* Many business and political affairs only get resolved because the translators know how to soothe out what they're translating, or merely how to adapt it to different cultural sensitivities.
** It works like that in text, as well. For tact or not, a good translator sometimes attains a better text than the original.
** Tactful translations are downright ''vital'' when translating between low context cultures (the U.S.) where language is more literal and high context cultures (for example, Japan) where language is much more nuanced based on situation, [[ShapedLikeItself context]], and social standing. A simple question or request, without further elaboration, might be seen as unspeakably blunt or insultingly evasive. For example, here's how one of these might go:
--->'''American foreman:''' Look, boss, it's gonna be damn near impossible to meet this deadline without more men!\\
'''Translator:''' Smith-san, with respect, suggests that despite his most earnest efforts, the deadline may not be met on time and humbly requests additional manpower to meet the company's goals.\\
'''Japanese manager:''' With regret, we must decline the request, but believe that with additional determination, it would be possible to meet our goals. The extra effort devoted to this task will certainly not go unrewarded.\\
'''Translator:''' No can do, but there's pizza and ice cream in it for you if you do the job.

* In a notable aversion, to do this kind of thing when translating American Sign Language for the Deaf is considered incredibly unethical; this is largely due to the fact that where most people will only need interpreters occasionally and under certain circumstances, ASL users tend to need interpreters fairly regularly, and therefore would lose a lot of autonomy if those interpreters were allowed to "filter" the conversations. Because of this, ASL interpreters are trained to translate a client's signing exactly, even if the signed words would be considered offensive or could get the client in trouble. If they're truly uncomfortable with something a client says, the interpreter is permitted to phrase it as a quote ("he says [insert offensive comment]") so that they don't feel like they're the one making the statement, but they're still not allowed to alter the statement itself.

* In a notable aversion, to do this kind of thing when translating American Sign Language for the Deaf is considered incredibly unethical; this is largely due to the fact that where most people will only need interpreters occasionally and under certain circumstances, ASL users tend to need interpreters fairly regularly, and therefore would lose a lot of autonomy if those interpreters were allowed to "filter" the conversations. Because of this, ASL interpreters are trained to translate a client's signing exactly, even if the signed words would be considered offensive or could get the client in trouble. If they're truly uncomfortable with something a client says, the interpreter is allowed to phrase it as a quote ("he says [insert offensive comment]") so that they don't feel like they're the one making the statement, but they're still not allowed to alter the statement itself.

* In a notable aversion, to do this kind of thing when translating American Sign Language for the Deaf is considered incredibly unethical; this is largely due to the fact that where most people will only need interpreters occasionally and under certain circumstances, ASL users tend to need interpreters fairly regularly, and therefore would lose a lot of autonomy if those interpreters were allowed to "filter" the conversations. Because of this, ASL interpreters are trained to translate a client's signing exactly, even if the signed words would be considered offensive or could get the client in trouble. If they're truly uncomfortable with something a client says, they're advised to phrase it as a quote ("he says [insert offensive comment]") in order to distance themselves from the comment while maintaining accurate translations.

* In a notable aversion, to do this kind of thing when translating American Sign Language for the Deaf is considered incredibly unethical; this is largely due to the fact that ASL users tend to need interpreters fairly regularly, and therefore would lose a lot of autonomy if those interpreters were allowed to "filter" the conversations. Because of this, ASL interpreters are trained to translate a client's signing exactly, even if the signed words would be considered offensive or could get the client in trouble. If they're truly uncomfortable with something a client says, they're advised to phrase it as a quote ("he says [insert offensive comment]") in order to distance themselves from the comment while maintaining accurate translations.

* In a notable aversion, to do this kind of thing when translating American Sign Language for the Deaf is considered incredibly unethical, since it essentially denies the Deaf person the ability to communicate freely.[[note]]Keep in mind that while spoken language users generally need translators only in certain circumstances, many sign language users need interpreters much more frequently/regularly, so a Deaf person could spend a large portion of their lives having their communication filtered if this were permitted.[[/note]] Because of this, ASL interpreters are trained to translate a client's signing exactly, even if the signed words would be considered offensive or could get the client in trouble; if they're truly uncomfortable with something a client says, they're advised to phrase it as a quote ("he says [insert offensive comment]") in order to distance themselves from the comment while maintaining accurate translations.

* Inverted in an episode of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory''. Raj starts dating a woman named Emily who is deaf and can only communicate through sign language. The gang begin to worry that Emily may be just using Raj for his money, so Penny (who doesn't know ASL) goes to Emily's gym to "talk" to her about it, bringing Howard as a translator. Penny is as diplomatic as possible, telling Emily that Raj is prone to becoming infatuated too quickly, and she's concerned that Emily may be unintnetionally taking advantage of his generosity. Howard translates this as "Are you a {{Golddigger}}, yes or no?".

* An Ukrainian one: Did you know that the Ukrainian word "Шабля" (sabre) means "Could you please be a bit more quiet, Miss?" in Russian? ("Ша,бля!" is the Russian equivalent of "Shut up,slut!")

* A notable inversion occurs in the final season of ''Series/TheWire''. After a prolonged behind the scenes political struggle, the new mayor of Baltimore Tommy Carcetti manages to get rid of Police Commissioner Ervin Burrell, who Carcetti long considered a hack but was unable to fire due to Burrell's political connections. When Carcetti gives a standard making nice political speech honoring Burrell, the ''Baltimore Sun'' line edtor Gus Haynes translates the speech into the truth. [[ActuallyPrettyFunny Even Gus' workplace enemies are amused]] [[http://youtu.be/MuVeHfPqOho?t=29s by the routine.]]
-->'''Tommy Carcetti:''' I chaired the public safety subcommittee, and I called upon him (Burrell) many times. We worked closely together then, and when I became Mayor, we formed a strong relationship...\\
'''Gus Haynes:''' "He feared and hated me, and I merely wanted him dead."\\
'''Tommy Carcetti:''' ...making Baltimore a safer city...\\
'''Gus Haynes:''' "Don't stray from the Inner Harbor."\\
'''Tommy Carcetti:''' ...I know that the criminal justice coordinating council need a new...\\
'''Gus Haynes:''' "It took a while, but I finally put his ass out to pasture."

[[folder: Web Animation]]

-->'''American foreman:''' Look, boss, it's gonna be damn near impossible to meet this deadline without more men!\\

* During a speech once, former President Jimmy Carter relayed a story about giving a speech at a Japanese school to a packed audience and having prepared a short joke to tell early on which he wasn’t sure would get any laughs. When he told the joke he noticed the translator spoke very briefly and the whole crowd laughed. Later he asked the translator how he’d translated the joke and the translator hedged making Carter suspicious about how the joke got translated. The translator then admitted he’d simply said something to the effect of “the President has told a funny story, everybody please laugh.”

''[as the two officers growl at each other, nose to nose, Kev thinks, "I'm gonna ''enjoy'' this!"]''

* ''Film/LockStockAndTwoSmokingBarrels'' amusingly plays with this trope while combining it with FunWithSubtitles. When one gangster is informing another about infamous [[TheYardies Yardie]] kingpin Rory Breaker his lines (which are in a a deep slang and would be all but incomprehensible in North America) get subtitled. As the character narrates about [[TooDumbToLive some poor dumb bastard]] confronting Rory at a bar, changing the channel Rory was watching and saying "Now fuck off and watch it somewhere else" the subtitles show up with "Please remove yourself from this bar". Just a few seconds later, however, the trope is gleefully inverted, as the narrator tells about how Rory "Walks straight past the jam rolls who are ready for action" and the subtitles translate this as "He walks straight past the arseholes". A couple of seconds after ''that'' there is more bickering between Rory and the other guy that involves cursing at each other and it gets translated far more politely than how it was actually said. [[https://www.youtube.com/watchv=cRDOpknHLLo Enjoy it for yourself here.]]

[[caption-width-right:301:He doesn't speak Times New Roman.]]

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}]]'': The Albain brothers generally spend their time spinning Adam's ranting and needlessly cruel orders into something that sounds clever and pragmatic to convince the rest of the White Fang to follow them. Best shown in "Necessary Sacrifice". They tell Ilia that the Belladonnas are a threat to the White Fang and need to be removed to [[MakeAnExampleOfThem show Menagerie]] what happens to those who speak out against them. In reality, Adam hasn't considered the wider strategic implications at all, and just wants Blake's parents dead to [[EvilIsPetty spite and hurt Blake]]; he made a promise to [[AndYourLittleDogToo destroy everything she loves]], and he plans to keep it.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': In the finale episode, "Titans Together", as the remaining heroes infiltrate the Villain base to liberate their captured team members, Herald questions how they can be sure any of them are really here, Más in an angry manner, explains that one of his powers is that he has a magnetic connection with his twin brother, Menos, that grows stronger based on their proximity to one another, after which he insults Herald by telling him if he doesn't know anything. The problem is that [[DoesNotSpeakCommon he only speaks Spanish]], so most of them don't understand what he's saying. Pantha, who is Bilingual, simplifies it by attributing it to being a, "twin thing", leaving out the insult part.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': In the finale episode, "Titans Together", as the remaining heroes infiltrate the Villain base to liberate their captured team members, Más explains to the others that one of his powers is that he has a magnetic connection with his twin brother, Menos, that grows stronger based on their proximity to one another. The problem is that [[DoesNotSpeakCommon he only speaks Spanish]], so most of them don't understand what he's saying. Pantha, who is Bilingual, simplifies it by attributing it to being a "twin thing".

* The deaf/mute Shizune from ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'' naturally needs everything translated for her, using either her best friend Misha or the protagonist Hisao. Both generally translate accurately except in the case of Shizune's ArchEnemy Lilly, where Hisao is frequently guilty of trying to avert a fight between the two women by giving hilariously inaccurate translations (which fool neither of them). Lilly, however, ''is'' fooled once in Shizune's route, when Hisao translates one of Shizune's sarcastic comments into something completely different. He questions how ethical it is to do that, but they get through the fishing trip without fighting, which pleases him.

* In the Guy Ritchie film ''Film/{{Revolver}}'', there's a scene where Lord John endlessly abuses Macha's men in Cantonese, while the translator expresses this in very to the point and non-offensive words.