We will now discuss the challenges that may arise when moving to English in qualitative research. We give examples to illustrate these challenges, although it is challenging in itself to formulate in English examples of the problems in translation between non-English to English. Where needed we have kept the original words in the source language.
Translation of findings
With participants and the main researcher speaking the same language, no language differences are present in data gathering, transcription and during the first analyses, because usually the first coding phase stays closely to the data. The first language differences may occur when interpretations are being discussed among members of a multi-national research team. This is a fragile phase with multiple interpretations being under discussion as even in the source language it is not yet clear how to express the meanings as interpreted. For discussion, these first interpretations need to be explained in English and a very good understanding of subtle meaning differences is needed to come to the best English wordings. A first example comes from a study with ageing couples. The multi-national team discussed how to express the particular way in which the couples experienced changes, namely as slow and almost unnoticed ‘movements down a slope’. The words ‘shifting’ and ‘gliding’ were considered, but both words seemed not fully suitable to express the intended meaning.
In this example, the translation challenges occurred in the first interpretation phase. In the following example, we were not aware of translation problems when translating the Dutch wandelen to walking, because according to several dictionaries, ‘walking’ was linguistically correct. However, native English speakers understood walking as the Dutch lopen, as to move from one place to another on feet, only as instrumental transportation. However, the activity wandelen consisted of a complex constellation of different meanings including the intrinsic enjoyment of the activity, enjoying nature and its associations with Sunday afternoons and holidays together. Ultimately ‘going for walk’ seemed more appropriate to represent the meaning expressed by the couple.
Challenges of translation may even occur when support of a professional translator is been used. This occurred in a narrative case study of an older couple after the wife had experienced a stroke (Van Nes et al. 2009). The findings had the form of narratives with the main meanings expressed in the titles of the narratives. The common narrative was that they acted as one organism, which was expressed as ‘One body, three hands and two minds’. The title of the narrative of the husband was constructed to express the sudden and complete shift in his valued activities. Before the stroke of his wife, he had his own engaging activities (bee-keeping and having a kitchen garden), which he experienced as a way to be independent and to support himself and the household with honey and vegetables. After the stroke of his wife, he was busy all day long with supporting her and there was no time left for these former valued activities. In the title ‘From being self-supporting in an engaging occupation
Footnote 1
to the absorbing occupation of supporting’, the word engaging was meant to reflect a positive meaning. Absorbing was meant to contrast with engaging and to indicate that he was fully occupied all day long after the stroke. The reviewers of the submitted paper on this study, however, understood both English words as having the same positive connotation, so the intended meaning of the complete turn was lost.
Translation of quotations
Quotations of participants are commonly being used in qualitative research articles. Translation of quotes poses specific challenges, because it may be difficult to translate concepts for which specific culturally bound words were used by the participants. For example, the Dutch word gezellig was used commonly by late-life couples, expressing the feeling they had when doing things together. The meaning expressed with this typical Dutch word included experiencing togetherness in doing everyday activities together, often at specific times of the day and in the own home. Translating the word gezellig, only as ‘cosy’ would reduce the meaning. Using more words than in the original quote, however, changes the voice of the participant. This is especially problematic as giving voice to people is seen as an important aim of qualitative research (Denzin and Lincoln 2000).
Back translation
After publication, a new translation challenge may be faced, when back translation to the original source language is undertaken. This was the case when translating ‘One body, three hands and two minds’ back to Dutch. The literal translation of ‘One body’ would have been ‘Eén lichaam’, but this appeared to be more physical than one body, because in English the word body is also used in other ways, e.g. as in a body of literature. The chosen solution was translation as Samen Eén (‘Together One’), but here the meaning of functioning as one organism was lost.
We have shown that with interpretation of meaning being central in qualitative research, language differences may affect the understanding and interpretation of meanings in different phases on the way from participant to reader. If translation issues are not given adequate thought and attention, the meaning-transfer-chain may resemble the whispering game children play. In the game players line up in such a way that they can whisper to their immediate neighbours. The first player whispers a phrase to his neighbour, who then passes on the message until it reaches the end of the line. If the game has been ‘successful’, the final message differs considerably from the first. In qualitative research meaning is also transferred from one phase to the next, until it reaches the reader and in each transfer meaning might get lost. Such loss of meaning reduces the validity of the qualitative study.