Tap Water Once we went to dine with our friends to a restaurant at Park Plaza Westminster Bridge. One of them asked the waiter to bring a glass of tap water. With all my experience, proficiency and open mind I froze for the moment with my mouth open wide. What did she mean? Was it another brand of mineral water? Still or sparkling? My husband asked directly: Are you really going to drink the water from the tap? The answer was: Yes. What's wrong? It's quite safe. And then I started thinking how I would deal with this situation if I had to translate it. For instance, if I were to translate it into Hebrew, the considerations would be as follows: in every park, in the streets, at schools, in many public places there are drinking fountains. So kids and not only kids really drink tap water. But in the offices, at the hospitals, coffee shops there are either filters or mineral water dispensers. So while our kids at school drink tap water, we in the offices drink mineral or at least filtered water. In a coffee-shop you can get a complimentary glass of water with your black coffee and you are sure it's not from the tap. Now another example. In New York in every restaurant we entered we were offered a jar of water. With ice. Even in winter. Before the menu. How possible at a restaurant to ask for water if it comes without saying before you even see the menu. If I were to translate the situation into Russian, the thoughts of the audience would split into these three. What kind of low people she belonged to if she asked for tap water instead of a bottle of Evian or Perrier? What a low level restaurant it was if they agreed to serve tap water. How ignorant she was to neglect the dangers to her health. Russians will not think for a moment that tap water can be safe enough because in their reality even the rich houses are connected to the same rusty tubes of running water system. Israelis will not pay attention because they all are educated to drink much because of the climate. And New Yorkers will not understand why one should ask for water if it is brought by default. So I am sure absolute majority of translators in this situation would say "the lady ordered some water" or "asked to bring her some water". Without any details. And that's the difference between translation and localization. That's why the "Diaries of Bridget Jones" are lost in translation. "The Friends" make absolutely idiotic impression if they speak from the screen other languages than English. The "English" husband of Anna Karenina is so tolerant and understands what women want much better than Mel Gibson does while her original "Russian" husband was more of a cruel tyrant.

Yelena Baytelman