Using the grammatically correct way or the casual way to express the same idea in another language?
In casual conversation, it is perfectly fine to end a sentence with a preposition.
- How many job applications did you apply to?
The grammatically correct way is supposed to be:
- To how many job applications did you apply?
If the original language's sentence is grammatically correct, then does that mean the English translated sentence must be grammatically correct as well? Or should the casual form be adopted instead to just get the meaning across?
My biggest fear is that a monolingual English speaker will read the line in English and interpret that line as being grammatically incorrect, assuming the source language is grammatically incorrect as well, even though the main purpose is not the grammatical correctness. It's the casual tone that is being translated. The characters may in fact be speaking grammatically correctly, just in a different language.
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1 answer
Technically, not ending a sentence with a preposition is a rule that Latin-obsessed 17th-century nerds tried to impose on the English Language, as a part of a larger attempt to make English grammar work exactly the same as Latin grammar. This rule wasn't true for English grammar before the 17th century, and doesn't really reflect modern usage either, though it is taught, and some official texts insist on it. It is perfectly alright to end sentences with prepositions. (Sources: Oxford Dictionary blog, Merriam Webster Dictionary usage notes)
To the broader question of tone vs. correctness, when translating text, you want to preserve the language register of the original text, the tone of what is being said. If you alter the register, you are changing what the situation "feels like" - you're changing who the characters are - how they talk, how they interact with each other.
In some languages and some situations, some grammatical errors are more acceptable. Those "errors" have become part of everyday usage, whereas the "correct" form is "formal". When that is the case, the usage is what it is. If your characters were speaking English, that's how they would have said it, right? They would not have used the formal form? Then don't use the formal form.
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