Three translation dilemmas that nearly broke me
First: terms that already have a life of their own.
"Sprint" is a sprint - no debate there. But "accountability"? The Polish "odpowiedzialność" is ambiguous. We have "responsibility" (being responsible for doing something) and "accountability" (being answerable for the outcome). In Polish, we use the same word for both.
I left "accountability" untranslated in several places. Which immediately raises the question - is that fair to the reader?
Second: sentences that are elegant in English and turn into mush in Polish.
English loves nouns. "The focus of the Scrum Team is the delivery of value." In Polish: "The Scrum Team focuses on delivering value." Better already - but it requires rebuilding each sentence, not just swapping words.
A few times I wrote the literal version, read it aloud, and felt like someone was reading me a bank's terms and conditions.
Third: metaphors that don't cross cultures.
One passage describes the Scrum Master's work as "serving the team." In English, "servant leader" is an established term. In Polish, "sługa lider" sounds like an oxymoron or a joke. "Lider służebny" is better - but still needs explanation every time it appears.
What I noticed reading more slowly than usual
Translation forces a kind of attention that regular reading doesn't. You read a sentence, understand it - and move on. Translate a sentence and you have to really understand it.
Several passages in the SGEP surprised me a second time. Especially those about the Product Owner's relationship with stakeholders. I had read them before. But it wasn't until translation that I understood what the author actually meant.
That's a side effect I didn't expect. A good one.
An invitation to collaborate
The translation is on GitHub. If you spot a terminology error, have a better take on a tricky passage, or simply disagree with my choice - fork it, open an issue, leave a comment.
Community translation only works when the community shows up. And there's a concrete benefit for you: if you engage with the text more deeply than a casual read - you'll find passages you understand differently. That's value in itself, regardless of how many lines you improve.
Find it here: [link to repository]. (This link needs to be filled in before publishing.) It's not perfect. But it exists - and that's better than nothing.
Is there a term in the Scrum Guide you think is being translated wrong - or doesn't need translating at all? I'm genuinely curious.