A sociolinguistic approach to the concept of translation ‘error’ in non-professional translation settings

This paper proposes a sociolinguistic approach to understanding the phenomenon of divergence from the standard norms of English that can be observed in public texts in the Greek city of Thessaloniki’s translation landscape. This approach fits in with the growing body of research that recognises that not all translations are carried out by professional translators. Certainly in the case of Thessaloniki, translations are typically carried out by non-professionals who draw on the linguistic experience and resources they possess in order to communicate with visitors and residents who do not understand Greek. As a result, several linguistic and pragmatic divergences from Standard English can be observed in the target text, which native speakers of English seem to be willing to disregard, provided that the message is intelligible. The sociolinguistic approach adopted in this paper reveals the translators’ effective use of the English language in conveying the message of the Greek source text, on the basis of the judgements expressed by translation professionals as well as native speakers of Greek and English.