Learn: Translation Theory and Practice

Traduction

An activity that consists of transferring a message from one language to another, specifically for written messages.

Interprétation

The conversion of a spoken message from one language to another; spoken message → spoken message.

Traduction vs. interprétation

Translation deals with written messages → written messages; interpretation deals with spoken messages → spoken messages.

Langue de départ

Source language; the language of the original text.

Langue d'arrivée

Target language; the language into which the text is translated.

Texte de départ

Source text; the original text being translated.

Texte d'arrivée

Target text; the resulting translated text.

Traduction littéraire

Translation of fiction, poetry, and other creative texts.

Traduction professionnelle / informative

Translation of business documents, news articles, and other informative texts.

Traduction technique

Translation of manuals, scientific documents, and other specialized texts.

Traduction administrative

Translation of official, legal, and government documents.

Équivalence

The central concept behind translation: reproducing the meaning of the original while adapting it appropriately to the target language.

Équivalence mot à mot

Word-for-word equivalence; the slides explain that it is not automatically possible because languages have different vocabulary, grammar, and cultural systems.

Why is word-for-word translation often impossible?

Because vocabulary is connected to culture and languages use different grammatical structures.

Translator and equivalence

The translator negotiates equivalence and fidelity between the author/source text and the target readers.

Pôle 1 of translation

Being faithful to the meaning of the original text.

Pôle 2 of translation

Being faithful to the conventions and expectations of the target language.

Main challenge of translation

The translator must preserve the author's intended message and language while also respecting the expectations and needs of target readers.

Ambiguity

The slides note that English tolerates more ambiguity of meaning than French.

Precision in English vs. French

English may use one word in many contexts, while French often uses a different word for each context.

Complexity of French grammar

French has more complex and numerous conjugations than English.

French reflexive verbs

French uses reflexive verbs much more frequently than English.

French treatment of time and moods

French divides past, present, and future moments more finely and treats them with a different logic.

French conditional

The use of conditional structures in French can differ from English and requires attention during translation.

French subjunctive

The French subjunctive must be respected in subordinate clauses expressing doubt, necessity, desire, or emotion.

French passive voice

French often avoids the passive voice and may convert it into active voice, reflexive constructions, or another structure.

French impersonal constructions

French often prefers impersonal constructions because they can sound less confrontational.

Practical translation process

The translation process has stages before, during, and after translation.

Before translation

Understand the source text.

During translation

Re-express the meaning and verify the French formulation.

After translation

Post-edit and verify the finished translation.

Mise en situation

Contextualization of the source text before translating.

Questions during mise en situation

Who is the author? What is the function of the text? Who is the target audience?

Function of a text

The purpose of the text, such as convincing, describing, informing, or entertaining.

Attentive reading

Read the entire text to understand the general framework; do not treat sentences as isolated units.

Strategic evaluation

Identify in advance the places where translation will require more creativity or more strategies.

Tone

The style or attitude of a text, such as neutral, ironic, polemical, or pompous.

Mots-liens

Words or expressions that connect ideas and create logical flow between sentences.

Charnière

A linguistic element that links statements and makes the logical relationships between them clearer.

Post-édition

Final verification of a translation by comparing source and target texts and checking details and quality.

Doute méthodique

The practice of questioning, researching, and verifying translation choices rather than assuming the first solution is correct.

Recatégorisation

A process in which the grammatical category of an expression is changed without changing its meaning; commonly used when literal translation does not work.

Purpose of recategorization

To produce an idiomatic target-language text while preserving meaning.

Adjective → verb

A type of recategorization in which an English adjective becomes a French verb.

Example: adjective → verb

"People are suspicious." → "Les gens se méfient."

Verb → noun

A type of recategorization in which an English verb becomes a French noun.

Example: verb → noun

"When I was in Greece I ate..." → "Pendant mon séjour en Grèce..."

Adjective → noun

A type of recategorization in which an English adjective becomes a French noun.

Example: adjective → noun

"She is often seasick." → "Elle a souvent le mal de mer."

Noun → verb

A type of recategorization in which an English noun becomes a French verb.

Example: noun → verb

"I want no part in spreading such a message." → "Je ne veux pas continuer à propager un tel message."

Adverb → verb

A recategorization in which an English adverb becomes a French verb.

Example: adverb → verb

"The Conservatives simply want to win votes." → "Les conservateurs ne cherchent qu'à gagner des votes."

Adverb → adjective

A recategorization in which an English adverb becomes a French adjective.

Example: adverb → adjective

"He paused uncertainly..." → "Il s'arrêta incertain..."

Adverb → noun

A recategorization in which an English adverb is expressed using a French noun.

English -ly adverb rule

Not every English -ly adverb should automatically become a French -ment adverb.

-ly adverb + adjective

A frequent French solution is "d'un(e) + noun + adjective."

Example: -ly adverb + adjective

"He was repulsively ugly." → "Il était d'une laideur répugnante."

Chassé-croisé

A double transposition used to translate English prepositional verbs; it changes grammatical category and presents the same information in reverse order.

Example of chassé-croisé

"Blériot flew across the Channel." → "Blériot traversa la Manche en avion."

Another chassé-croisé example

"He felt his way across the room." → "Il traversa la pièce à tâtons."

Why is chassé-croisé used?

To reorganize movement verbs and their associated prepositions into a natural French structure.

Limit of chassé-croisé

Sometimes all the information contained in English movement verbs does not need to be reproduced in French because doing so would be superfluous.

Surtraduction

Adding information to the target text that is unnecessary because the original meaning is already understood.

Example of surtraduction

Translating "walked out of the office" as "Il est sorti du bureau à pied" unnecessarily adds "à pied."

English verb + preposition

A verb and preposition that function as a unit and may sometimes be translated simply by one French verb.

Modulation

A change in form used to remain faithful to the content or meaning of the original.

When is modulation used?

When literal translation does not work, especially for idioms, proverbs, and metaphorical expressions.

Négation du contraire

A type of modulation in which the translator finds an antonym and reverses the polarity of the statement.

Example of négation du contraire

"No vacancies." → "Complet."

Another example of négation du contraire

"It is not difficult to show..." → "Il est facile de démontrer..."

Modulation with body parts

A translation strategy in which an English expression involving a body part is reformulated into a natural French expression.

Example: body-part modulation

"She was up to her eyeballs in debt." → "Elle était endettée jusqu'au cou."

Modulation with metaphors

A strategy in which an English metaphor is replaced with an equivalent natural French metaphor.

Example: metaphor modulation

"To have other fish to fry." → "Avoir d'autres chats à fouetter."

Another metaphor example

"To have a frog in one's throat." → "Avoir un chat dans la gorge."

L'économie

A translation technique in which the target text expresses the ideas of the source text using fewer lexical means, or fewer words, while preserving the original meaning.

Three types of économie

Concentration, implicitation, and concision.

Concentration

Occurs when the target-language words are fewer than the source-language words.

Example of concentration

"Long distance call" → "un interurbain."

Another concentration example

"Bread crumbs" → "la chapelure."

Implicitation

Occurs when elements of the source text are omitted because they are implicitly understood and would be superfluous for target-language readers.

Why use implicitation?

To avoid a heavy or overly literal translation that unnecessarily copies the source language.

Example of implicitation

"No parking at any time." → "Stationnement interdit."

Another implicitation example

"A cheque in the amount of $10" → "Un chèque de 10 $."

Concision

Occurs when the translator re-expresses an idea using fewer words than the source text, eliminating unnecessary repetition or excessive wording.

Purpose of concision

To improve readability and communication by removing unnecessary repetition.

Risk of concision

Omission: cutting out an element of meaning from the original without a valid reason.

Three reasons for économie

Constraints or insufficiencies of the source language; logic and idiomatic nature of the target language; rules of good writing such as clarity.

L'étoffement

A translation technique opposite to économie in which the target text uses more words than the source text to communicate the complete meaning.

Purpose of étoffement

To improve clarity of meaning in the translation.

Three types of étoffement

Dilution, explicitation, and périphrase.

Relationship between économie and étoffement

Economie reduces lexical material; étoffement increases lexical material.

Dilution

A type of étoffement used when an element of the source text requires more words in the target text to express the same meaning.

Example of dilution

"Fire orders" → "consignes en cas d'incendie."

Another dilution example

"Burnout" → "épuisement professionnel."

Explicitation

A type of étoffement in which the translator adds clarifying information that is not explicitly stated in the source text but is understood from context or the situation.

Purpose of explicitation

To make the meaning clearer for the target reader.

Example of explicitation

"Best before" → "À consommer de préférence avant le..."