A METHODOLOGY FOR TRANSLATION
Translated by Juan C.Sager and M.-J.Hamel
A
can be condensed to just seven, each one corresponding to a higher degree of
complexity. In practice, they may be used either on their own or combined with one
or more of the others.
T FIRST THE different methods or procedures seem to be countless, but theyDirect and oblique translation
Generally speaking, translators can choose from two methods of translating, namely
direct, or literal translation and oblique translation. In some translation tasks it
may be possible to transpose the source language message element by element into
the target language, because it is based on either (i) parallel categories, in which
case we can speak of structural parallelism, or (ii) on parallel concepts, which are
the result of metalinguistic parallelisms. But translators may also notice gaps, or
“lacunae”, in the target language (TL) which must be filled by corresponding
elements, so that the overall impression is the same for the two messages.
It may, however, also happen that, because of structural or metalinguistic
differences, certain stylistic effects cannot be transposed into the TL without
upsetting the syntactic order, or even the lexis. In this case it is understood that
more complex methods have to be used which at first may look unusual but
which nevertheless can permit translators a strict control over the reliability of
their work: these procedures are called oblique translation methods. In the
listing which follows, the first three procedures are direct and the others are
oblique.
1958/1995
A METHODOLOGY FOR TRANSLATION 85
Procedure 1: Borrowing
To overcome a lacuna, usually a metalinguistic one (e.g. a new technical process,
an unknown concept), borrowing is the simplest of all translation methods. It
would not even merit discussion in this context if translators did not occasionally
need to use it in order to create a stylistic effect. For instance, in order to introduce
the flavour of the source langugae (SL) culture into a translation, foreign terms
may be used, e.g. such Russian words as “roubles”, “datchas” and “aparatchik”,
“dollars” and “party” from American English, Mexican Spanish food names
“tequila” and “tortillas”, and so on. In a story with a typical English setting, an
expression such as “the coroner spoke” is probably better translated into French
by borrowing the English term “coroner”, rather than trying to find a more or
less satisfying equivalent title from amongst the French magistrature, e.g.:
coroner prit la parole”
Some well-established, mainly older borrowings are so widely used that they are
no longer considered as such and have become a part of the respective TL lexicon.
Some examples of French borrowings from other languages are
“redingote”, “paquebot”, “acajou”,
“carburetor”, “hangar”, “chic” and expressions like “déjà vu”, “enfant terrible”
and “rendez-vous” are no longer considered to be borrowings. Translators are
particularly interested in the newer borrowings, even personal ones. It must be
remembered that many borrowings enter a language through translation, just like
semantic borrowings or faux amis, whose pitfalls translators must carefully avoid.
The decision to borrow a SL word or expression for introducing an element of
local colour is a matter of style and consequently of the message.
“Le.“alcool”,etc. In English such words as “menu”,Procedure 2: Caique
A calque is a special kind of borrowing whereby a language borrows an expression
form of another, but then translates literally each of its elements. The result is either
i a lexical caique, as in the first example, below, i.e. a caique which respects
the syntactic structure of the TL, whilst introducing a new mode of
expression; or
ii a structural caique, as in the second example, below, which introduces a new
construction into the language, e.g.:
English-French caique
Compliments of the Season! Compliments de la saison!
Science-fiction Science-fiction
As with borrowings, there are many fixed caiques which, after a period of time,
become an integral part of the language. These too, like borrowings, may have
undergone a semantic change, turning them into faux amis. Translators are more
interested in new caiques which can serve to fill a lacuna, without having to use an
86 JEAN-PAUL VINAY AND JEAN DARBELNET
actual borrowing (cf.
German language). In such cases it may be preferable to create a new lexical form
using Greek or Latin roots or use conversion (cf.
This would avoid awkward caiques, such as:
“économiquement faible”, a French calque taken from the“l’hypostase”; Bally 1944:257 ff.).Procedure 3: Literal translation
Literal, or word for word, translation is the direct transfer of a SL text into a
grammatically and idiomatically appropriate TL text in which the translators’ task
is limited to observing the adherence to the linguistic servitudes of the TL.
In principle, a literal translation is a unique solution which is reversible and complete
in itself. It is most common when translating between two languages of the same
family (e.g. between French and Italian), and even more so when they also share
the same culture. If literal translations arise between French and English, it is
because common metalinguistic concepts also reveal physical coexistence, i.e.
English source
occupational therapy
Bank for Commerce and Development
the four great powers
The French Premier
Matrimony is a fifty–fifty association.
the man in the street
[instead of “l’homme de la rue”
or “le Français moyen”]
fellow-traveller
Most major decisions regarding the
Near-East were taken when
Churchill pretended that the chair
occupied by France on the international
scene was empty.
[instead of: “la place” or “le
fauteuil”]
French calque
thérapie occupationnelle
Banque pour le Commerce et le
Développement
les quatre Grands
le Premier Français
Le mariage est une association à
cinquante—cinquante.
(
l’homme dans la rue
(
compagnon de route
(
La plupart des grandes décisions sur
le Proche-Orient ont été prises à un
moment où Sir Winston Churchill
affectait de considérer comme
“vide” la “chaise” de la France sur la
scène internationale.
(
J’ai laissé mes lunettes sur la table en
bas.
Où êtes-vous?
Ce train arrive à la gare Centrale à
10 heures.
I left my spectacles on the table
downstairs.
Where are you?
This train arrives at Union Station
at ten.
Les Nouvelles Littéraires, October 1955)Revue des Deux Mondes, May 1955)Le Monde, March 1956)Le Monde, March 1956)A METHODOLOGY FOR TRANSLATION 87
periods of bilingualism, with the conscious or unconscious imitation which attaches
to a certain intellectual or political prestige, and such like. They can also be justified
by a certain convergence of thought and sometimes of structure, which are certainly
present among the European languages (cf. the creation of the definite article, the
concepts of culture and civilization), and which have motivated interesting research
in General Semantics.
In the preceding methods, translation does not involve any special stylistic
procedures. If this were always the case then our present study would lack
justification and translation would lack an intellectual challenge since it would be
reduced to an unambiguous transfer from SL to TL. The exploration of the possibility
of translating scientific texts by machine, as proposed by the many research groups
in universities and industry in all major countries, is largely based on the existence
of parallel passages in SL and TL texts, corresponding to parallel thought processes
which, as would be expected, are particularly frequent in the documentation
required in science and technology. The suitability of such texts for automatic
translation was recognised as early as 1955 by Locke and Booth. (For current
assessments of the scope of applications of machine translation see Hutchins and
Somers 1992, Sager 1994.)
If, after trying the first three procedures, translators regard a literal translation
unacceptable, they must turn to the methods of oblique translation. By unacceptable
we mean that the message, when translated literally
i gives another meaning, or
ii has no meaning, or
iii is structurally impossible, or
iv does not have a corresponding expression within the metalinguistic experience
of the TL, or
v has a corresponding expression, but not within the same register.
To clarify these ideas, consider the following examples:
While we can translate the first sentence literally, this is impossible for the second,
unless we wish to do so for an expressive reason (e.g. in order to characterise an
Englishman who does not speak very good conversational French). The first example
pair is less specific, since
renders the demonstration invalid.
If translators offer something similar to the second example, above, e.g.:
portait comme un charme”,
of the two messages, something their “neutral” position outside both the TL and the
SL enables them to do. Equivalence of messages ultimately relies upon an identity
of situations, and it is this alone that allows us to state that the TL may retain
certain characteristics of reality that are unknown to the SL.
If there were conceptual dictionaries with bilingual signifiers, translators would
He looked at the map
He looked the picture of health.
Il regarda la carte.
Il paraissait l’image de la santé.
Il avait l’air en pleine forme.
“carte” is less specific than “map”. But this in no way“Il sethis indicates that they have aimed at an equivalence88 JEAN-PAUL VINAY AND JEAN DARBELNET
only need to look up the appropriate translation under the entry corresponding to
the situation identified by the SL message. But such dictionaries do not exist and
therefore translators start off with words or units of translation, to which they apply
particular procedures with the intention of conveying the desired message. Since
the positioning of a word within an utterance has an effect on its meaning, it may
well arise that the solution results in a grouping of words that is so far from the
original starting point that no dictionary could give it. Given the infinite number of
combinations of signifier s alone, it is understandable that dictionaries cannot
provide translators with ready-made solutions to all their problems. Only translators
can be aware of the totality of the message, which determines their decisions. In the
final analysis, it is the message alone, a reflection of the situation, that allows us to
judge whether two texts are adequate alternatives.
Procedure 4: Transposition
The method called transposition involves replacing one word class with another
without changing the meaning of the message. Beside being a special translation
procedure, transposition can also be applied within a language. For example:
annoncé qu’il reviendrait”,
with a noun, thus:
which we call the base expression, we refer to the second one as the transposed
expression. In translation there are two distinct types of transposition: (i) obligatory
transposition, and (ii) optional transposition.
The following example has to be translated literally (procedure 3), but must also
be transposed (procedure 4):
In this example, the English allows no choice between the two forms, the base form
being the only one possible. Inversely, however, when translating back into French,
we have the choice between applying a caique or a transposition, because French
permits either construction.
In contrast, the two following phrases can both be transposed:
From a stylistic point of view, the base and the transposed expression do not
necessarily have the same value. Translators must, therefore, choose to carry out a
transposition if the translation thus obtained fits better into the utterance, or allows
a particular nuance of style to be retained. Indeed, the transposed form is generally
more literary in character.
A special and frequently used case of transposition is that of interchange.
Dès son lever…
As soon as he gets up…
As soon as he gets/got up…
Dès son lever…
Dès qu’il se lève…
Après qu’il sera revenu…
Après son retour…
After he comes back…
After his return…
“Il acan be re-expressed by transposing a subordinate verb“Il a annoncé son retour”. In contrast to the first expression,A METHODOLOGY FOR TRANSLATION 89
Procedure 5: Modulation
Modulation is a variation of the form of the message, obtained by a change in the
point of view. This change can be justified when, although a literal, or even
transposed, translation results in a grammatically correct utterance, it is considered
unsuitable, unidiomatic or awkward in the TL.
As with transposition, we distinguish between free or optional modulations and
those that are fixed or obligatory. A classical example of an obligatory modulation
is the phrase, “The time when…”, which must be translated as
The type of modulation which turns a negative SL expression into a positive TL
expression is more often than not optional, even though this is closely linked with
the structure of each language, e.g.:
It is not difficult to show… Il est facile de démontrer…
The difference between fixed and free modulation is one of degree. In the case of
fixed modulation, translators with a good knowledge of both languages freely use
this method, as they will be aware of the frequency of use, the overall acceptance,
and the confirmation provided by a dictionary or grammar of the preferred
expression.
Cases of free modulation are single instances not yet fixed and sanctioned by
usage, so that the procedure must be carried out anew each time. This, however,
is not what qualifies it as optional; when carried out as it should be, the resulting
translation should correspond perfectly to the situation indicated by the SL. To
illustrate this point, it can be said that the result of a free modulation should lead
to a solution that makes the reader exclaim, “Yes, that’s exactly what you would
say”. Free modulation thus tends towards a unique solution, a solution which
rests upon an habitual train of thought and which is necessary rather than
optional. It is therefore evident that between fixed modulation and free
modulation there is but a difference of degree, and that as soon as a free
modulation is used often enough, or is felt to offer the only solution (this usually
results from the study of bilingual texts, from discussions at a bilingual
conference, or from a famous translation which claims recognition due to its
literary merit), it may become fixed. However, a free modulation does not
actually become fixed until it is referred to in dictionaries and grammars and is
regularly taught. A passage not using such a modulation would then be
considered inaccurate and rejected. In his M.A. thesis, G.Panneton, from whom
we have borrowed the term modulation, correctly anticipated the results of a
systematic application of transposition and modulation:
La transposition correspondrait en traduction à une équation du premier
degré, la modulation à une équation du second degré, chacune
transformant l’équation en identité, toutes deux effectuant la résolution
appropriée.
(Panneton 1946)
“Le moment où…”.90 JEAN-PAUL VINAY AND JEAN DARBELNET
Procedure 6: Equivalence
We have repeatedly stressed that one and the same situation can be rendered by two
texts using completely different stylistic and structural methods. In such cases we
are dealing with the method which produces equivalent texts. The classical example
of equivalence is given by the reaction of an amateur who accidentally hits his
finger with a hammer: if he were French his cry of pain would be transcribed as
“Aïe!”, but if he were English this would be interpreted as “Ouch!”. Another striking
case of equivalences are the many onomatopoeia of animal sounds, e.g.:
cocorico cock-a-doodle-do
miaou miaow
hi-han heehaw
These simple examples illustrate a particular feature of equivalences: more often
than not they are of a syntagmatic nature, and affect the whole of the message. As
a result, most equivalences are fixed, and belong to a phraseological repertoire of
idioms, clichés, proverbs, nominal or adjectival phrases, etc. In general, proverbs
are perfect examples of equivalences, e.g.:
Il pleut à seaux/des cordes. It is raining cats and dogs.
Like a bull in a china shop. Comme un chien dans un jeu de
quilles.
Too many cooks spoil the broth. Deux patrons font chavirer la
barque.
The method of creating equivalences is also frequently applied to idioms. For
example, “To talk through one’s hat” and “as like as two peas” cannot be translated
by means of a caique. Yet this is exactly what happens amongst members of socalled
bilingual populations, who have permanent contact with two languages but
never become fully acquainted with either. It happens, nevertheless, that some of
these calques actually become accepted by the other language, especially if they
relate to a new field which is likely to become established in the country of the TL.
For example, in Canadian French the idiom “to talk through one’s hat” has acquired
the equivalent
such caiques into a perfectly organised language should not fall upon the shoulders
of translators: only writers can take such liberties, and they alone should take
credit or blame for success or failure. In translation it is advisable to use traditional
forms of expression, because the accusation of using Gallicisms, Anglicisms,
Germanisms, Hispanisms, etc. will always be present when a translator attempts to
introduce a new caique.
“parler à travers son chapeau”. But the responsibility of introducingProcedure 7: Adaptation
With this seventh method we reach the extreme limit of translation: it is used in those cases
where the type of situation being referred to by the SL message is unknown in the TL
A METHODOLOGY FOR TRANSLATION 91
culture. In such cases translators have to create a new situation that can be considered as
being equivalent. Adaptation can, therefore, be described as a special kind of
equivalence, a situational equivalence. Let us take the example of an English father who
would think nothing of kissing his daughter on the mouth, something which is normal in
that culture but which would not be acceptable in a literal rendering into French.
Translating, “He kissed his daughter on the mouth” by
bouche”,
situation may be that of a loving father returning home and greeting his daughter after a
long journey. The French rendering would be a special kind of over translation. A more
appropriate translation would be,
course, the translator wishes to achieve a cheap effect. Adaptations are particularly
frequent in the translation of book and film titles e.g.:
Trois hommes et un couffin Three men and a baby. [film]
Le grand Meaulnes The Wanderer. [book title]
The method of adaptation is well known amongst simultaneous interpreters: there
is the story of an interpreter who, having adapted “cricket” into “Tour de France”
in a context referring to a particularly popular sport, was put on the spot when the
French delegate then thanked the speaker for having referred to such a typically
French sport. The interpreter then had to reverse the adaptation and speak of cricket
to his English client.
The refusal to make an adaptation is invariably detected within a translation
because it affects not only the syntactic structure, but also the development of ideas
and how they are represented within the paragraph. Even though translators may
produce a perfectly correct text without adaptation, the absence of adaptation may
still be noticeable by an indefinable tone, something that does not sound quite right.
This is unfortunately the impression given only too often by texts published by
international organizations, whose members, either through ignorance or because of
a mistaken insistence on literalness, demand translations which are largely based on
caiques. The result may then turn out to be pure gibberish which has no name in any
language, but which René Etiemble quite rightly referred to as
“Il embrassa sa fille sur lawould introduce into the TL an element which is not present in the SL, where the“Il serra tendrement sa fille dans ses bras”, unless, of“sabir atlantique”,which is only partly rendered by the equivalent “Mid-Atlantic jargon”. Translations
cannot be produced simply by creating structural or metalinguistic caiques. All the
great literary translations were carried out with the implicit knowledge of the methods
described in this chapter, as Gide’s preface to his translation of
One cannot help wondering, however, if the reason the Americans refused to take the
League of Nations seriously was not because many of their documents were unmodulated
and un-adapted renderings of original French texts, just as the
atlantique”
Here, we touch upon an extremely serious problem, which, unfortunately, lack of
space prevents us from discussing further, that of intellectual, cultural, and linguistic
changes, which over time can be effected by important documents, school textbooks,
journals, film dialogues, etc., written by translators who are either unable to or who
dare not venture into the world of oblique translations. At a time when excessive
centralization and lack of respect for cultural differences are driving international
organizations into adopting working languages sui generis for writing documents
Hamlet clearly shows.“sabirhas its roots in ill-digested translations of Anglo-American originals.92 JEAN-PAUL VINAY AND JEAN DARBELNET
which are then hastily translated by overworked and unappreciated translators, there
is good reason to be concerned about the prospect that four fifths of the world will
have to live on nothing but translations, their intellect being starved by a diet of
linguistic pap.
Application of the seven methods
These seven methods are applied to different degrees at the three planes of expression,
i.e. lexis, syntactic structure, and message, For example, borrowing may occur at
the lexical level—
“bulldozer”, “réaliser”, and “stopover” are French lexicalTable 1
(Methods in increasing order of difficulty)
Summary of the seven translation proceduresA METHODOLOGY FOR TRANSLATION 93
borrowings from English; borrowing also occurs at the level of the message, e.g.
“O.K.”
where each procedure is exemplified for each plane of expression.
It is obvious that several of these methods can be used within the same sentence,
and that some translations come under a whole complex of methods so that it is
difficult to distinguish them; e.g., the translation of “paper weight” by “pressepapiers”
is both a fixed transposition and a fixed modulation. Similarly, the
translation of PRIVATE (written on a door) by DÉFENSE D’ENTRER is at the
same time a transposition, a modulation, and an equivalence. It is a transposition
because the adjective “private” is transformed into a nominal expression; a
modulation because a statement is converted into a warning (cf. Wet paint: Prenez
garde à la peinture, though “peinture fraîche” seems to be gaining ground in Frenchspeaking
countries); and finally, it is an equivalence since it is the situation that has
been translated, rather than the actual grammatical structureand “Five o’clock”. This range of possibilities is illustrated in Table 1,
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