QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON FRE4203 TRANSLATION INTO FRENCH
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QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
Department of French
FRE4203 TRANSLATION INTO FRENCH
Course Booklet
2018 – 2019
St Jerome -Patron Saint of Translators
Course Convenor: Dr Elsa Petit
e-mail: e.petit@qmul.ac.uk
room : Arts One 1.422
Compulsory module for 1st year
students studying French as part of
their degree programmes (excluding
Code FRE4203 Course Value 15 credits Status Single Honours French students and
French with Business management
students who will take this module at
Level 5 in their 2nd year)
Annual
Title Translation into French Availability
1 semester only
Prerequisite module(s) none
Course Convenor Dr Elsa Petit
Course Tutor Dr Siavash Bakhtiar
Aims: This course aims to complement the existing level 4 core language module (French I
FRE4200) by providing the basics of an additional language skill, translation, which is of
particular value both intellectually and practically (e.g. in the workplace).
It provides an introduction to translation into French and aims to enhance sensitivity to the
composition of arguments and to rhetorical strategies across languages. It offers students the
opportunity to enhance their understanding of the structures and nuances of both French and
English, as well as their competence in close reading, through the specific practice of
translation. At the same time, it will identify some of the key difficulties.
Learning After completion of the course, the prescribed reading and the assignments, students are
Outcomes expected to have acquired:
Knowledge outcomes
-an understanding of register, style and cultural specificity in French
-familiarisation with idioms in French
-an extended command of the vocabulary and structures of written French
-an appreciation of the ways some concepts and ideas are expressed differently in French
and English
Discipline-specific skills
-the ability to think systematically about language structure and language use in French (and
English)
-a capacity to apply techniques learnt to other elementary-level texts
-the ability to identify, analyse and resolve grammatical and syntactical problems generated
in the course of translating from English to French
-the ability to appreciate and explain the impact of cultural, as well as linguistic, difference
on the process of translation
-the capacity to produce translations of a variety of texts and, in doing so, demonstrate a
proper regard of tone, register, and style
-the capacity to critically classify and appraise translations (including their own) in terms of
appropriateness, effectiveness, accuracy and authenticity
-greater competence in written French3
General intellectual attributes
-heightened sensitivity to composition and argumentation
-a basic understanding of techniques used in translation
Course The course comprises:
Content: -analysis of the structures of French (compared with English) and focussed grammar work,
including a revision of past tenses and the passive/active voices.
-close study of stylistic differences between English and French
-an examination of key translation problems (collocation, conversion, transposition,
convention, the unit of translation, conversion, faux amis, etc.) and techniques for dealing
with these
-concentrated practice of these techniques/ structures in the form of sentences and passages
for translation
-appraisal of approach, technique and practice
Teaching
& The course will be seminar-based (two hours a week over one semester). It will consist of
Learning progressive translation exercises from English into French, together with stylistic, syntactic
Methods and grammatical exposés designed to alert students to particular similarities and
dissimilarities between the two languages. The tasks set will include the translation of
isolated sentences, sentences drawn from a given context, and whole passages. These
passages may be literary, journalistic or socio-cultural in nature. From time to time, students
will be asked to provide short commentaries on the characteristics of the text set for
translation, as well as the difficulties that this text might pose for the translator.
Preparatory work will involve translation of sentences or sections of texts, grammar revision,
reading and justifications.
Key Translation Textbooks:
Bibliography
Baker, M. (2009) In Other Words. Routledge
Chartier, D. & Lauga-Hamid, M.-CL. (2002) Introduction à la traduction: méthodologie
pratique (anglais-français), PUM
Chuquet, H. & Paillard, M. (1989) Approche linguistique des problèmes de traduction :
anglais-français, Ophrys
Hervey, J.P. and Darbelnet, J. (1958). Thinking French Translation. London: Routledge
Hervey, S. & Higgins, I. (2002) Thinking French Translation. Routledge, 2nd ed.
Hiernard, J-M. (2003) Les règles d’or de la traduction : anglais-français, français-
anglais, Ellipses Edition
Newmark, P. (1998) A Textbook of Translation. Phoenix ELT
Rey, J. (1984) Dictionnaire sélectif et commenté des difficultés de la version anglaise,
Ophrys.
Robinson, D. (2003) Becoming A Translator: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice
of Translation, Routledge, 2nd ed.
Vinay, J. P. & Darbelnet, J. (1958) Stylistique comparée du français et de l’anglais,
Paris: Didier
Dictionnaries:
Le Petit Robert 1. Dictionnaire alphabétique et analogique de la langue française4
(Robert 1990)
The Concise Oxford English Dictionary (any edition)
Collins-Robert French Dictionary (Collins, 2001)
Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary (OUP, 2001)
French Grammar books:
Batchelor, R. E. and Offord, M. H. (1993). Using French: A Guide to Contemporary
Usage. 2nd ed. Cambridge: CUP.
Ferrar, H. (1984 [1967]). A French Reference Grammar. 2nd ed. Oxford: OUP.
Olliver, J. (1999). Grammaire française. 2nd ed. Toronto: Holt, Rinehart and Winston of
Canada
Assessment Two coursework assignments (50% each) done in class to a specified time-limit (2h).
Dictionaries will be allowed for the Devoirs Sur Table.
Assignment 1:
week 6/18 (depending on whether the course takes place in semester 1 or 2)
Assignment 2:
week 12/24 (depending on whether the course takes place in semester 1 or 2)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The most indispensable item is a good dictionary. This means that, wherever you are
working, you should have access to a good monolingual French dictionary, a good
monolingual English dictionary and a good bilingual dictionary. You will
probably find, therefore, that you need to own all three of these rather than relying on
finding them in the library when no one else is using them. A ‘good’ dictionary
means one which is intended for use by the kind of advanced student of French
that you have now become, NOT a little £2.50 Collins Gem Dictionary of French or
‘The Get-by-in French Dictionary’.
The following are recommended:
[Monolingual]
Le Petit Robert 1. Dictionnaire alphabétique et analogique de la langue française,
nouvelle édition revue, corrigée et mise à jour, Paris, Le Robert, 1990
Le Robert micro. Dictionnaire d’apprentissage de la langue française, Paris, Le
Robert, 1994
The Concise Oxford English Dictionary
[Bilingual]
Collins-Robert French Dictionary, London-Paris, Collins, 20015 Harrap's Shorter French and English Dictionary, London, Harrap, 1991 Grand Dictionnaire Larousse Français-Anglais / Anglais – Français, Paris, Larousse, 1993 (2 vols) The Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary, Oxford University Press, 2001 [Dictionary of Expressions] Alain Rey & Sophie Chantreau, Dictionnaire des expressions et locutions, Paris, Les Usuels du Robert, 1997 [Thesauruses and synonym dictionaries] P. Roget, Thesaurus of English words and Phrases, New edition, 1987 Henri Bénac, Dictionnaire des Synonymes, Paris, Hachette, 1956 – 1982 [Grammars] Whilst this is not a course in French (or English) grammar as such, it is obvious that translation tasks raise problems of correct usage and grammatical accuracy, and it is envisaged that students will ask for questions of grammar to be discussed from time to time. The following is just a sample of the grammars of French currently available. Price, G. A Comprehensive French Grammar, Oxford, Blackwell, 6th ed., 2008 Jubb, M. & Rouxeville, A. French Grammar in Context. Analysis and Practice, London, Arnold, 1998 Hawkins, R., Lamy M-N. & Towell R. French Grammar and Usage, London, Arnold, 1996 L’Huillier, M. Advanced French Grammar, Cambridge University Press, 1999 Hurford, J. R. Grammar. A Student’s Guide, Cambridge University Press, 1994 Batchelor, R. E. & Offord, M. H. Using French. A Guide to Contemporary Usage, Cambridge University Press, 1983 Burchfield, R. W. (ed.) The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage, 3d ed., Oxford, Clarendon, 1996 Frequent reference will be made to the following text books: Baker, M. (2009) In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation, Routledge: London and New York Chartier, D. & Lauga-Hamid, M.-CL. (2002) Introduction à la traduction: méthodologie pratique (anglais-français), PUM Chuquet, H. & Paillard, M. (1989) Approche linguistique des problèmes de traduction : anglais-français, Ophrys
6 Hervey, J.P. and Darbelnet, J. (1958). Thinking French Translation. London: Routledge Hervey, S. & Higgins, I. (2002) Thinking French Translation. Routledge, 2nd ed. Hiernard, J-M. (2003) Les règles d’or de la traduction : anglais-français, français- anglais, Ellipses Edition Newmark, P. (1998) A Textbook of Translation. Phoenix ELT Rey, J. (1984) Dictionnaire sélectif et commenté des difficultés de la version anglaise, Ophrys. Robinson, D. (2003) Becoming A Translator: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Translation, Routledge, 2nd ed. Vinay, J. P. & Darbelnet, J. (1958) Stylistique comparée du français et de l’anglais, Paris: Didier Here are some web sites which may be useful: www.lai.com/lai/companion.html www.breizhoo.fr/pratique/traduction.php3 www.freelang.com/traduction www.translationideas.org.uk www.webweevers.com/translators.htm
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DEFINITIONS
(THROUGHOUT THESE DEFINITIONS THE FOLLOWING ABBREVIATIONS ARE USED: SL =
SOURCE LANGUAGE, I.E. THE LANGUAGE YOU ARE TRANSLATING FROM; ST = SOURCE
TEXT, I.E. THE TEXT YOU ARE TRANSLATING FROM; TL = TARGET LANGUAGE, I.E. THE
LANGUAGE YOU ARE TRANSLATING INTO; TT = TARGET TEXT, I.E. THE TRANSLATED
TEXT YOU ARE TRYING TO PRODUCE)
COLLOCATION: Two or more words that go naturally with each other (for example,
‘to make a speech’ rather than ‘to pronounce a speech’). The two (or more) words are
known as ‘collocates’ (see Newmark, pp. 212 – 13, and — a much fuller treatment of
the subject — Baker, Chapter 3).
MARKED COLLOCATION: A collocation which is deliberately unusual but which
alludes to an authentic collocation, e.g. ‘peace has broken out’ (which, of course,
alludes to the authentic collocation ‘war has broken out’).
COMMUNICATIVE TRANSLATION: Translation which gives priority to the reader or
listener rather than to the writer. It is prepared to sacrifice the structures, lexis, style or
other features of the ST in order to ensure that the essential message is understood by
the reader.
COMPENSATION: Any technique used to make up for translation loss (see Hervey &
Higgins, pp. 35 – 40). For example, if the original text includes a pun in French that
cannot be translated as such into English, you might use a different pun somewhere
else in the TT or use some other kind of joke.
COMPONENTIAL ANALYSIS: A technique in which denotations and connotations of a
word are listed so that they can be compared with the denotations and connotations of
other words in the same or a different language. The purpose is to ensure as accurate a
translation as possible. A diagram is usually drawn up, something like this:
with or
with or
for men
without
without
without
without
women
Word
sleeves
sleeves
sleeves
either
collar
collar
collar
with
with
for
shirt * * *
chemise * * * *
blouse * * *
chemisier * * *
top * * *
tee shirt * * * *
débardeur * * * *
CONNOTATION: The meaning of a word or expression including any suggestive
meaning or associations which it may have either in its own right or in specific8
contexts. For example, ‘dainty’ has positive connotations whereas ‘weedy’ has
negative connotations.
CONTRESENS: Translation in which the TT gives a sense which is totally different
from or the opposite of the sense of the ST.
CULTURAL REFERENCE: reference to a thing or event specific to the culture of the
source language, e.g. in English ‘a maiden over’, in French ‘les grandes écoles’.
CURRENCY: The status of a word, idiom or syntactic structure at the period of writing
(SL or TL); either within or outside the context, as exemplified first in its frequency
of use, and also in its degree of novelty, validity and obsolescence. (Newmark)
STATUS: (of a construction, idiom or word) A more comprehensive term than
currency; a complete statement for the translator, including frequency, acceptance,
milieu, degree of formality, technicality, emotional tone, favourableness
(positive/negative), likely future — in and outside the context (Newmark). A good
example of an error in CURRENCY or STATUS is the following road sign:
ATTENTION – DESCENTE DANGEREUSE
ATTENTION – DANGEROUS DECLIVITY
‘Declivity’ does indeed mean ‘a downwards slope’ — so this is correct
denotationally — but the word has almost no currency at all in modern English and
none whatsoever within the context of road signs, where the standard collocation
would, of course, be ‘Danger — Steep Hill’.
Deceptive Cognates: see Faux ami
DECODING: The first stage in the translation process: extracting the sense from the
ST.
DENOTATION: The specific (dictionary) meaning of a word or expression as
distinguished from its suggestive meaning or associations.
ENCODING: The second stage of the translation process: deciding how to express the
decoded meaning in the TL.
EQUIVALENT EFFECT: The aim of producing for your TL readers the same effect as
was produced on the SL readers. Some authorities would claim that this is impossible.
FAUX AMI: A word in one language which has a deceptive similarity with a word in
another but where the meaning is partially or totally different. For example, French
luxure does not mean the same as English ‘luxury’. Sometimes the mismatch is not
total. For example, ‘Il est important de savoir…’ can be translated as ‘It is important
to know…’, but ‘Elle a perdu une somme importante’ would not be ‘She has lost an9 important sum’ but ‘She has lost a large / considerable sum’. We can therefore speak of DECEPTIVE or PARTIALLY DECEPTIVE COGNATES. A COGNATE is a word that derives from the same root (‘etymon’) as another. Thus French important and English ‘important’ are cognates: they both derive from Late Latin ‘importantem’ FREQUENCY: how commonly used a word is, whether in the SL or the TL (see also CURRENCY) GENRE: A set of texts, spoken or written, which are institutionalised in so far as they are considered by a given speech community to be of the same type and have predictable characteristics in common (such as their subject-matter, style, register, length, lexis, etc.) Examples: novel, newspaper report, advertising copy, user instructions, etc. etc. GLOSS: (MOST OFTEN: ‘TEXTUAL GLOSS’) A means of including in the translation, for the benefit of the reader, some extra information to help understanding or to avoid vagueness, ambiguity, etc. For example, translating lycée as ‘high school’ or ‘the later years of secondary school’. HOUSE STYLE: The set of rules or conventions accepted by the publisher / editor of a book, journal or newspaper and which all writing for that publication must obey. Typically this includes rules about punctuation marks (for example, single inverted commas or double?), spelling (organize? organise?), abbreviations, whether to put additional or explanatory information in footnotes or in brackets, whether to write numbers in figures or in words, etc. HYPONYM: A specific word in a semantic field. For example, in the field ‘TREES’, ‘conifer’ and ‘deciduous tree’ are hyponyms. In the field ‘DECIDUOUS TREES’, ‘elm’, ‘beech’, ‘chestnut’ are hyponyms. (Cf SUPERORDINATE) See Baker, Chapter 2. INTERLINEAR TRANSLATION: A translation which provides a word-for-word TL equivalent of the ST, regardless of TL grammar or authentic collocations. It can be used as a translation tool to highlight what the translator needs to do to turn an interlinear translation into a TT which is accurate, appropriate and authentic (see Hervey and Higgins, Chapter 2). For example, an INTERLINEAR TRANSLATION of the French informal expression J’en ai ras le bol! would be ‘I have of it at the level of the top of the bowl.’ A COMMUNICATIVE TRANSLATION of this would be: ‘I’m up to here with it!’ or ‘I’m pissed off with it!’ LEXICAL GAP: When a single word in the SL has no single word equivalent in the TL (e.g. lycée, normalien, Garde des Sceaux or ‘wicket’, ‘solicitor’). Translating it may require a GLOSS or a TRANSFER. This is not always a cultural problem: French has, for example, no exact one-word equivalent of English ‘to scream’. OVERTRANSLATION: A translation that (unnecessarily) gives more information than the ST or that adds some element of style or register that was not present or suggested in the ST.
10
REGISTER: A variety of language that a user considers appropriate to a specific
situation (Baker). Characteristics of a text which indicate the level of
formality/informality existing between the two participants in a conversation or
between writer and target audience. Register should be considered as a continuous
scale running from extreme informality to extreme formality, with a large number of
shades of formality in between. For convenience, however, it is sometimes divided
into three or more sections (R1, R2, R3, see Batchelor & Offord, Chapter 1).
‘SCENARIO’:
where is your translation to appear?
what is the text aiming to do?
who is likely to read it?
how much help will they need to understand what you are writing?
what are the conventions, house-style etc. of the kind of publication that you are
thinking of?
This would be an important part of your translation strategy. It would govern
decisions about such things as the register you choose, the style you adopt, how you
deal with non-equivalence or cultural specifics, etc.
SUPERORDINATE: A general word in a semantic field. In the field of ‘trees’, ‘tree’ is
the superordinate of ‘conifer’ and ‘deciduous tree’, ‘conifer’ is the superordinate of
‘pine’, ‘fir’, ‘spruce’ (Cf. HYPONYM) See Baker, Chapter 2.
SEMANTIC TRANSLATION: A form of faithful translation which privileges the source
text to a large extent and is, to some extent prepared to leave the reader to struggle if
necessary with complex expressions, unusual collocations, ‘stretched’ connotations,
etc. Often an appropriate technique for translation of poetry.
TEXT TYPE: The type of text to be translated classified in terms of its purpose(s). For
example, a text may seek principally to convey precise information, to inspire
particular emotions, to draw a picture, to persuade the reader to do something. Most
texts are a mixture. The translator will need to consider the purpose when making
her/his choices. Newmark (Chapter 4) distinguishes 6 basic text types or functions:
EXPRESSIVE: The writer aims to express her/his feelings or opinions.
INFORMATIVE: The writer aims to convey information or instruction.
VOCATIVE: The writer aims to persuade the reader to do something.
ÆSTHETIC: The writer aims to please or appeal to the reader’s senses or
imagination.
PHATIC: The writer addresses some form of greeting or some endearing
strategy to the reader.
METALINGUAL: The writer uses language to discuss or analyse features of
language.
TRANSFER: Retaining the SL term in the TT rather than translating it, usually printing
it in italics and perhaps supplying a translation in a footnote or in brackets, e.g. ‘Many
French government ministers are énarques.’[footnote: ‘part of the ruling elite who are
graduates of the prestigious École Nationale d’Administration in Strasbourg.’]11 Transfer is usually used to compensate for a LEXICAL GAP, although it can also be used simply for stylistic effect or because it’s seen as trendy to include foreign words in your text UNDERTRANSLATION: Translation in which the TT fails to render some information or some feature of style or register which was present in the ST. UNIT OF TRANSLATION: the smallest unit of the SL text for which a TL equivalent has to be found by the translator. This may be the word, the collocation, the phrase, clause, or sentence. in extreme cases it might even be the paragraph or the entire text. Newmark considers that the unit of translation should always be ‘as small as is possible and as large as is necessary’. (See Newmark Chapter 6).
12
TRANSLATION AS AN EXERCISE
The first questions to be asked are to do with the nature of the exercise itself. What do
you do when you translate a text? And what are the processes you need to engage in
order to translate successfully?
Translation is an intellectual and intuitive operation which requires you to decode the
meaning before re-encoding it in another form. It depends as much on your
understanding and judgement of English as it does on your command of the French
language.
Translation produces a result, a new text, which should be able to stand independently
of the source text which generated it. To become a proficient translator, you need to
go through the following stages:
- read the text at least twice (and be aware of the formal qualities in the original
English);
- establish in your own mind the meaning of each part of the text and make sure
that you have understood the passage as a whole;
- think about how you might express in French the same idea, retaining not only
meaning but tone, register and style;
- refer to dictionaries, not just to check the meanings of words in the source
language (English) and their equivalents in the target language (French), but
also to cross-check possible synonyms in both languages, making preparatory
notes as you go along;
- create your taget text (your own translation of the original) in French. Do not
be afraid to depart from the exact pattern of the English sentences as in some
cases this will be necessary. Be mindful of the specificities of each language
(English, for example, tends to use passive structures, where French would use
active ones), as well as being sensitive to nuance in your choice of a particular
word for a particular context..
- check your translation very carefully when you have completed it, trying to
put out of your thoughts the original English version. Ask yourself these
questions: does your version make sense as a text in its own right? And does it
create a similar experience for the French reader as the original created for you
in English? Have you eradicated all the careless mistakes (verb conjugations,
agreements, spelling, etc)?13 The Source Texts The translation exercises for this course comprise sets of sentences as well as longer passages and these are taken from works of a literary, journalistic and broadly sociocultural nature. The sentences illustrate a particular point or technique and test your acquisition of it. The passages for translation also contain specific problems for you to recognise and solve, but these give you the opportunity to contextualise your translation and provide you with more interest as you practise. Within both the sentences and the passages you may find underlined words or short sectrions. This underlinging indicates that there is a specific problem to be solved and requires you to justify your answer by providing a commentary on it. The justifications are a way of indicating your thought processes, of demonstrating that you have understood the issues at stake and the techniques for dealing with these. Techniques for Translation into French This course is designed to introduce you to the basic principles of translation and requires you to understand and develop seven fundamental techniques: 1. Countering ‘automatic’ translation THE basic principle of the course. Translation is not a question of simple transposition from one language into another and requires you to go through each and all of the steps under Translation as an exercise above. It requires that you understand in one language and express appropriately in another the meaning of each word and sentence. 2. Advanced dictionary work (using bilingual and monolingual dictionaries) dictionaries can help in two ways. They can help you to find a wod quickly and efficiently and they can guide you as to the appropriate word to use in a given context (through examples). They contain a wealth of other information too and one fo the aims of the course is to encourage you to exploit this resource fully, to use for example the synonym/antonym function and to study examples (different and complex units of words and grammar points) to build upon your proficiency in French. 3. Conventions Different languages express different cultures. There is no real translation in English for the word baguette, nor in French for the word pub. Measurements of all kinds (height, weight, distances, temperature, currency) are also different, mostly because France has a long history of metrification. To translate English measurements directly is, therefore, often meaningless to a French reader who would have no idea what
14 fifteen miles represents, even though the words themselves can be translated. There are also conventions governing titles, both for people and for works, time (French uses the 24-hour clock more readily), sizes and numerals. 4. Recognition of faux amis and an understanding of how these work Words which look alike in two different languages can often mislead. By looking more closely at faux amis you will become more sensitive to this particular translation difficulty, building your vocabulary so that you know how and when to use particular words and expressions in their proper context. See particularly Batchelor and Offor, Using French, chapter 2 and Thody and Evans, Faux Amis and Key Words. 5. Understanding the unit of translation The idea of a ‘unit’ of translation is crucial, since a group of words in one language may be translated by a single word in another and vice cersa. For example, the verbs to lock and to kick in English require a group of words in French, fermer à clé and donner un coup de pied respectively. 6. Use of Conversion Conversion is a process which translated a word of one kind (i.e. noun, verb, adjective) by a word form of a different kind. Englsih nouns can often be translated by verbs in French, particularly where the noun ends in –er. He’s an early riser/Il se lève de bonne heure. The same can, however, also be true the other way around, as sometimes it is more natural to translate an ENglish verb with a noun in French. e.g. What does your brother specialise in?/Quelle est la spécialisation de votre frère? There are some instances where it is possible to translate using either a verb or a noun. Other types of conversion are from an adjective to a verb (e.g. to have the wrong house/se tromper de maison), noun + noun in English to noun + adjective in French (e.g. flower show/exposition florale) or to be + adjective in English becoming avoir + noun in Fren,ch (e.g. to be hungry/hot/wrong = avoir faim/chaud/tort). 7. Awareness of word order (created by grammatical differences between French and English) This covers many different grammatical differences from the position of adjectives or adverbs in French to stylistic effects achieved by placing an object at the end of the sentence when logically, it should come at the beginning, e.g. Elle est belle, l’Angleterre. Examples which will be of particular interest to you in translating into French are the problems posed by composite adjectives in English (e.g. a serious- looking girl/une fille à l’air sérieux), preprositional verbs (e.g. to rush in/stagger out/swim across = entrer précipitamment/sortir en trébuchant/traverser à la nage), as well as active/passive structures (e.g. someone is being attacked in there/ils sont en train d’attaques quelqu’un là-dedans). These techniques will help you to develop semantic and grammatical strategies for dealing with certain translation problems, but you will need to complement your
15 development of these techniques with a thorough revision of French grammar. A list of the grammatical points which require most revision in the context of translation follows, but it should be emphasised that work on grammar is an ongoing activity and one for which you will need to develop your won sels-study strategies, using the grammar reference manuals which youprefer, not just for this course, but for the development of your French more generally. List of grammatical points to help with translation into French Past tenses of the indicative (perfect, imperfect, pluperfect, past historic and past anterior) Agreements (past participles, reflexive verbs, adjectives) passive and active voices Complex sentence structures (particularly for questions of emphasis and relative clauses) The subjunctive The conditional Modal auxiliaries: vouloir, savoir, pouvoir, devoir, falloir Impersonal structures : Il est important/utile de… Indefinite, definite and partitive articles Direct and indirect pronouns, indefintie pronouns and adjectives Conjunctions Prepositions Position of negatives and adverbs Present participles and gerund
16
STATEMENTS OF STRATEGY
The same approach will not necessarily be right for every text or type of text.
However, some of the following points should give some pointers to what you should
be thinking about.
1. To what genre does this piece of writing belong?
2. What is its purpose as a ST? To what text type does it belong? What is it trying to
do? (Remember that there may well be more than one answer to this question).
3. As a TT, where would it be likely to appear? Who would read it? What would they
already know?
4. In the light of the purpose, the readership and the genre, what aspects of the text
should be given priority if it comes to a choice (precision of message? style?
structure? cultural resonances? appeal? humour? etc.)?
5. Are there any features of the lexis which will require particular attention (e.g.
specialised / technical vocabulary? emotive words? officialese? jargon? slang?
clichés?)?
6. Does the text present any problems of cultural specificity? What will be your
approach in dealing with these (you need to relate this to point 4.)?
7. Does the text present any problems or features of syntax that the translator may
have to deal with, especially characteristic SL structures that should not be carried
over into the TT? Should sentence length be adjusted? Should the order of
presentation be changed? Are connectors used / not used and should this be changed?
8. What are the important features of style in this passage and can they be retained in
the TT? If not, how will you compensate? Are there any particular effects on which
the text depends for its appeal (e.g. humour, irony, allusioveness) and can you
reproduce these in the TT? If not, can you compensate?17
2018-2019
WEEK DATE PREPARATION IN CLASS
Presentation of the course +
13 9.01.19 introduction to techniques in
translation + initiation exercise
14 16.01.19 - translate 20 sentences Use of Dictionaries ,
- short passage Collocation/Connotation
15 23.01.19 - translate 13 sentences Conventions
- translate 10 sentences +
20 words
16 30.01.19 Faux Amis
- find the possible translation
for 7 words and expressions
- translate 10 sentences
17 06.02.19 - find the possible translation Unit of translation
for 13 words and expressions
18 13.02.19 revisions DST 1
Reading Week
20 27.02.19 - translate 10 sentences Correction of the DST
- short passage Conversion/Transposition
21 06.03.19 - translate 10 sentences Word Order, Modals
22 13.03.19 - translate 10 sentences Use of Past Tenses and
- short passage Agreements of Past Participles
23 20.03.19 - translate 10 sentences Active and Passive Voice
24 27.03.19 revisions DST 218
Marking Criteria – Translation Into Foreign Language
I (70% +) A II. I (60-69%) B II. II (50-59%) C III (40-49%) D-E Fail (39% and
below) F
Understanding and The English text Most of the English Reasonable but not Often poor and Incompetent
communication of has been faithfully original has been always accurate inaccurate rendering of
meaning and accurately rendered faithfully. rendering of rendering although English text.
rendered. Nuances The meaning of the English text. the meaning of the Lack of evidence
of meaning are English text has The meaning of the English text has that English text
precisely captured. been generally English text has been generally has been fully
understood. been generally understood. understood.
conveyed but the
students’
translation feels
like a text
translated from a
foreign language.
Command of Sophisticated use Good use of syntax Reasonable use of Syntactic structures Numerous mistakes
syntax and of syntax and and grammatical syntax and very basic and in the manipulation
grammar grammar accuracy. grammatical accuracy is of syntax and
practically free accuracy compromised by a inadequate
from errors number of very understanding of
intrusive and basic grammar.
errors.
Knowledge and use Excellent range and Good knowledge of Reasonable use of Shortcomings in Lack of knowledge
of vocabulary in knowledge of vocabulary and vocabulary and the use of of basic
target language vocabulary and idioms. Paraphrase idioms. Frequent appropriate vocabulary.
idioms, always will sometimes be and sometimes vocabulary and Frequent errors in
responding employed, but will incorrect idioms. Will the use of
accurately to generally be correct paraphrase. contain gaps or vocabulary and
English text. Rare where used. invented words or idioms compromise
or no need to large amounts of communication
paraphrase. incorrect throughout the
paraphrase. work.
Ability to use Excellent use of Mostly appropriate Register not always Frequent No idea of
appropriate register appropriate register use of register and appropriate and shortcomings in the appropriate register
and understand in the target awareness of some failures to use of register and or cultural context.
cultural context language and cultural context. show awareness of evidence of little
awareness of cultural context understanding of
cultural context. cultural context.
Fluency and Excellent level of Good level of Reasonable level of Little fluency and No fluency and
adaptability in style fluency and fluency and fluency and poor manipulation failure to
manipulation of the manipulation of the manipulation of the of the language in manipulate the
language in light of language in light of language in light of light of demands of language in light of
demands of demands of demands of translation demands of
translation translation translation translation.
Spelling and Spelling practically Minor spelling A number of Substantial Communication is
punctuation free from errors. errors and spelling errors. Use interference from put at risk by the
Excellent use of competent use of of punctuation not source language. A frequent number of
punctuation. punctuation. always accurate. marked number of spelling and
spelling errors. punctuation errors.
Lack of familiarity
with punctuation
conventions in the19
target language.You can also read
