French–English Translation Techniques: Comprehensive Study Notes

I. MODULATION (Change of Point of View)

• Definition: change the speaker’s mental angle in the target language; classic image = “glass half-empty / half-full”.

1. Facultative (recommended, but not mandatory)

• quite clever → c’est pas bête du tout
• you are aware that … → vous n’êtes pas sans savoir …
• they lost their lives → ils ont trouvé la mort
• hold the line → ne quittez pas
• shallow → peu profond
• the traveller soon discovers … → le voyageur ne tarde pas à découvrir …

2. Obligatory

• I miss you → tu me manques
• lost-property office → bureau des objets trouvés
• no vacancies → complet

3. Main subclasses

• Metaphoric modulation: image changes across languages
  • it’s raining cats and dogs → il pleut des cordes
• Metonymic modulation: space / time shift
  • let’s meet outside the town hall → on se retrouve devant la mairie
  • every other week → une semaine sur deux
  • $2\ \text{in}\ 3\ \text{women}$, $9\ \text{points}\ \text{out}\ \text{of}\ 10$ (same pattern)
• Inversion or negation of the opposite
  • don’t be mean → sois gentil !
  • rather boring → pas très intéressant
  • it’s cheap → pas cher
  • he didn’t accept → he refused / il refusa
• Grammatical modulation = transposition (see II)

4. Avoiding English “animism” (giving objects human powers)

• Use passive:
  • ce livre m’a enchanté → I was delighted by the book
  • cette idée l’obsédait → he was obsessed by this idea

5. Translating the indefinite French ON

• Indefinite saying: on dit que … → it is said / people say …
• Agent unimportant: on ne m’a pas laissé entrer → I was refused entrance
• Generic truth: on ne peut jamais savoir → one can never tell
• Inclusive speaker: on doit y aller → we have to go
• Directly addressing hearer: quand on conduit trop vite … → when you drive too fast …
• Specific external group: en Angleterre, on roule à gauche → in England, they drive on the left

II. TRANSPOSITION (RECATEGORISATION)

• Definition: change of grammatical category between source (SL) & target (TL); usually mandatory.

1. Noun ↔ Verb (most common)

• à son retour → when he came back
• avant la rentrée → before school started
• pelouse interdite → keep off the grass
• c’est la première fois que … → is this your first visit?
• à vendre → for sale

2. Noun → Adverb

• avec douceur → gently / softly
• avec regret → regretfully
• avec gentillesse → kindly

3. Adjective ↔ Noun

• quel âge as-tu ? → how old are you?
• c’est à quelle distance ? → how far is it?
• Britain’s prime minister → le premier ministre britannique
• attempted murder → tentative de meurtre
• his suspicion had no foundation → ses soupçons n’étaient pas fondés
• how big a fish ? → un poisson de quelle taille ?
• medical students → des étudiants en médecine

4. Adjective → Verb

• people are suspicious → les gens se méfient
• vendu avec notice → comes with instructions

5. Adverb ↔ Adjective / Verb

• Adverb → Adj: il frappa lourdement → he gave a loud knock
• Adverb → Adj: il marchait rapidement → he walked with a quick step
• Adverb → Adj: il répliqua, énervé → he replied angrily
• Adverb → Verb: il y avait un bar ici avant → there used to be a pub here
• Adverb → Verb: par hasard savez-vous ? → do you happen to know …?
• Adverb → Verb: he still thinks about her → il continue de penser à elle
• Adverb → Verb: he just nodded → il se contenta de hocher la tête
• Adverb → Verb: he eventually died → il finit par mourir (false friend)

6. Article → Possessive

• dit-il, en se grattant la tête → he said, scratching his head

7. Compound restructuring

• une auberge sur le bord de la route → a roadside inn
• un homme à l’air innocent → an innocent-looking man

8. Localised transposition

• peut-être souhaitez-vous améliorer votre confort ? → Perhaps you would like to travel more comfortably. (verb phrase stays a verb phrase)

9. Chassé-croisé (double transposition + word-order shift)

• Motion verbs: il est entré dans la pièce en courant → he ran into the room
• il a traversé la rivière à la nage → he swam across the river
• Phrasal verb rescue: don’t worry, it will wash out → ça partira au lavage
• Resultative structures:
  • elle lui a fait recouvrer la santé → she nursed him back to health
  • il a ouvert la porte à coups de pied → he kicked the door open
  • he worked himself to death → il s’est tué à la tâche
  • Exception: il a claqué la porte → he slammed the door shut
• Necessary ellipsis: he walked out of the office → il est sorti du bureau (no need to add en marchant)

10. Chain transpositions (snowball)

• European Ferries a montré un intérêt concret pour l’achat de six appareils
  → EF showed that they are seriously interested in purchasing six vessels.

11. Transposition + Modulation blend

• it can be complicated → c’est parfois compliqué (modal → adverb + point-of-view shift: possibility → frequency)

III. ADDITION & OMISSION

1. Étoffement (Padding / Expansion)

• French less condensed; lengthen TL to recover meaning.
• Examples:
  • to my surprise → à ma grande surprise
  • passengers to Paris → les passagers à destination de Paris
  • I must examine my options → je dois examiner les solutions qui s’offrent à moi
  • he went outside for some milk → il est sorti pour aller chercher du lait
  • un vrai arnaqueur ! → he was a real swindler!
  • the smell of bread fresh from the oven which reminded me of my youth avoids ambiguous which (antecedent clearly bread, not oven).
  • he helped her with her bags → il l’aida à porter ses sacs
• Obligatory étoffement:
  • I’m a doctor → je suis docteur (needs article in English)
  • Emphatic clefts: Wow! Brazil is big → Wow ! C’est grand, le Brésil !
  • Focused subject: Paul wrote the letter (stress on Paul) → C’est Paul qui a écrit la lettre
  • I agree that they didn’t bring any solution → je suis d’accord pour dire qu’ils n’ont apporté aucune solution

Incrémentalisation (cultural clarifier)

• l’Inquisition → the Spanish Inquisition
• un Polaris émergeant d’un sous-marin → a Polaris missile emerging from a submarine

2. Allègement (Pruning / Omission)

• Remove redundant elements.
  • l’homme que j’ai vu → the man I saw
  • la décision adoptée → the decision
• Obligatory:
  • come and see me → viens me voir
  • he stood next to the door, with a stick in his hand → il se tenait près de la porte, un bâton à la main

IV. EQUIVALENCE (Set Phrases, Idioms, Cultural Transfer)

• Used when literal translation impossible because each language uses its own code.

1. Collocations (fixed word partnerships)

• faible lumière → a dim light (not weak)
• nuit noire → pitch dark (not night dark)
• clamer son innocence → declare / protest one’s innocence
• un regain de confiance → an upsurge of confidence
• Paint subtle tone changes: a new study often rendered une étude récente (evocative nuance)

2. Idiomatismes / Idioms / Proverbs

• Social greetings: how do you do ? → comment ça va ?
  what’s up ? → quoi de neuf ?

Identical equivalent (rare)

• prendre le taureau par les cornes → to take the bull by the horns

Minimal changes

• premier arrivé, premier servi → first come, first served
• l’argent ne fait pas le bonheur → money can’t buy happiness

Very different TL equivalent (metaphoric modulation)

• métro, boulot, dodo → the rat race
• pris la main dans le sac → caught red-handed
• ça m’a coûté les yeux de la tête → it cost me an arm and a leg
• quand les poules auront des dents → when pigs fly
• tourner autour du pot → to beat around the bush
• excuse my French → excusez ma vulgarité / si vous me passez l’expression

No TL equivalent: create approximate proverb, humour, or rhyme

• A fool and his money are soon parted → aux imbéciles les poches vides (inventive French rendering)

3. Adaptation (Cultural substitution)

• Carrefour → Asda (UK super-market)
• Care Bears → les Bisounours
• il est en cinquième → he’s in year 8 (UK) / seventh grade (US)
• Shoe size: du 43 → size 9 (UK)
• un pain au chocolat → chocolate pastry (or retain French term)

Main measurement conversions (imperial ↔ metric)

• $1\ \text{pint}=0.57\ \text{L}$
• $1\ \text{litre}=1\ \text{L}$ (same)
• $1\ \text{gallon}=4.55\ \text{L}$
• $1\ \text{ounce}=28\ \text{g}\; (0.028\ \text{L})$
• $1\ \text{pound}=453\ \text{g}$
• $1\ \text{stone}=6.35\ \text{kg}$
• $1\ \text{ton}=1014\ \text{kg}$
• $1\ \text{inch}=2.54\ \text{cm}$
• $1\ \text{foot}=30.5\ \text{cm}$
• $1\ \text{yard}=91.4\ \text{cm}$
• $1\ \text{furlong}=201\ \text{m}$
• $1\ \text{mile}=1.61\ \text{km}\;(1\ \text{km}=0.62\ \text{mile})$

4. Borrowing (Emprunt)

• “Degree zero” of translation: word stays foreign yet accepted.
  English into French: t-shirt, show-business, cool, parking (Franglais)
  French into English: joie de vivre, déjà-vu, savoir-faire, coup d’état.
• Note: $\sim50\%$ of English vocabulary derived from French (post-1066).

False borrowings / Anglicismes (to avoid)

• checker (for vérifier), je suis aware, 13.5 for $13,5$.

V. LEVEL / REGISTER OF LANGUAGE

1. Denotation vs Connotation

• old vs elderly = both denote age, but connotations differ (pejorative vs polite).
• Example: medieval customs
  • “It’s outrageous!” → negative connotation (coutumes moyenâgeuses)
  • Neutral historical mention → coutumes médiévales

2. Register scale (EN examples)

• Formal (no contraction): I shall not / I am not going to study
• Neutral / spoken: I’m not going to …
• Informal / colloquial: I’m not gonna … / I ain’t gonna …
• Slang / vulgar: no fucking way I’m gonna …

Intensifiers in questions

• What on earth are you doing here? → Que diable / que fabriques-tu ici ? (archaic)
• Mild: What the heck …? → quoi donc …? / qu’est-ce que vous fichez …?
• Strong: What the hell …? → qu’est-ce que tu fous …?
• Very strong: What the fuck …? → putain, qu’est-ce que tu fous ici ?

Dialogue tags reflecting class / social variation

• Lady Sarah: “Have you seen Graham lately?” → Avez-vous vu …?
• Janet (neutral): Est-ce que vous avez vu …?
• Young chav: T’as vu Graham …?

Lexical field “crazy” from polite to offensive

• Politically correct: mentally unstable, unbalanced
• Neutral: mad, crazy, insane
• Colloquial imagery: mad as a hatter, has bats in the belfry
• Derogatory: round the bend, a nutcase, has a screw loose, a loony
• Offensive: mental, bonkers, a psycho

3. Common language faults (to avoid)

• Barbarisms / solecisms in French: ils croivent, j’ai tombé, après qu’il ait, si j’aurais su, le frère à Jean, c’est quelle heure ?, autant pour moi.
• Unnecessary neologisms: positiver, beaugossité.

VI. STRUCTURAL TENDENCIES OF FRENCH VS ENGLISH

1. Word order flexibility

• French freer; English keeps standard SVO.
• French anteposition: récemment élu … NS a déclaré → NS, who was recently elected president, declared …
• Incise: elle lisait souvent, assise près de la fenêtre, ses lettres … → she would often read his love letters, sitting by the window
• Inversion after dialogue: désolé, répondit-il → “Sorry,” he said

2. Information packaging (theme-rheme)

• English often foregrounds new info:
  • Nemesis, his arch-enemy
  • New sports facilities are being built

3. Preference for verbal structures in English

• Repetition of earlier examples: à son retour → when he came back, pelouse interdite → keep off the grass, etc.

4. Avoidance of relative clauses

• beaucoup de ceux qui tentent … → many of those trying …
• il saisit l’enveloppe qu’il ouvrit … → he grabbed the envelope and opened it …
• cet idiot qui a encore renversé … → this idiot has spilt coffee … again!

5. Density vs Verbosity

• English has more lexical items yet is more compact; French uses $\approx15\%$ more words for same idea (more “talkative”).