Molina Hurtado Albir, translation
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498
Meta, XLVII, 4, 2002
Translation Techniques Revisited:
A Dynamic and Functionalist Approach
LUCÍA MOLINA AND AMPARO HURTADO ALBIR
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
RÉSUMÉ
Cet article a pour objectif de cerner la notion de technique de traduction entendue
comme un des instruments d’analyse textuelle qui permet d’étudier le fonctionnement
de l’équivalence par rapport à l’original. Nous rappelons tout d’abord les différentes
définitions et classifications qui ont été proposées ainsi que les confusions termi-
nologiques, conceptuelles et de classification qui en ont découlé. Nous donnons ensuite
notre définition de la technique de traduction en la différenciant de la méthode et de la
stratégie de traduction et proposons une approche dynamique et fonctionnelle de celle-
ci. Pour terminer, nous définissons chacune des diverses techniques de traduction
existantes et en présentons une nouvelle classification. Cette proposition a été appliquée
dans le cadre d’une recherche sur la traduction des éléments culturels dans les traduc-
tions en arabe de
Cent ans de solitude
de García Márquez.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this article is to clarify the notion of translation technique, understood as an
instrument of textual analysis that, in combination with other instruments, allows us to
study how translation equivalence works in relation to the original text. First, existing
definitions and classifications of translation techniques are reviewed and terminological,
conceptual and classification confusions are pointed out. Secondly, translation tech-
niques are redefined, distinguishing them from translation method and translation strat-
egies. The definition is dynamic and functional. Finally, we present a classification of
translation techniques that has been tested in a study of the translation of cultural ele-
ments in Arabic translations of
A Hundred Years of Solitude
by Garcia Marquez.
MOTS-CLÉS/KEYWORDS
translation technique, translation method, translation strategy, translation equivalence,
functionalism
1. TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES AS TOOL FOR ANALYSIS:
THE EXISTING CONFUSIONS
The categories used to analyze translations allow us to study the way translation
works. These categories are related to text, context and process. Textual categories
describe mechanisms of coherence, cohesion and thematic progression. Contextual
categories introduce all the extra-textual elements related to the context of source
text and translation production. Process categories are designed to answer two basic
questions. Which option has the translator chosen to carry out the translation
project, i.e., which
method
has been chosen? How has the translator solved the prob-
lems that have emerged during the translation process, i.e., which
strategies
have
been chosen? However, research (or teaching) requirements may make it important
to consider textual micro-units as well, that is to say, how the result of the translation
Meta, XLVII, 4, 2002
translation techniques revisited
499
functions in relation to the corresponding unit in the source text. To do this we need
translation
techniques.
We were made aware of this need in a study of the treatment
of cultural elements in Arabic translations of
A Hundred Years of Solitude
1
. Textual
and contextual categories were not sufficient to identify, classify and name the
options chosen by the translators for each unit studied. We needed the category of
translation techniques
that allowed us to describe the actual steps taken by the trans-
lators in each textual micro-unit and obtain clear data about the general method-
ological option chosen.
However, there is some disagreement amongst translation scholars about trans-
lation techniques. This disagreement is not only terminological but also conceptual.
There is even a lack of consensus as to what name to give to call the categories,
different labels are used (procedures, techniques, strategies) and sometimes they are
confused with other concepts. Furthermore, different classifications have been pro-
posed and the terms often overlap. This article presents the definition and classifica-
tion of translation techniques that we used in our study of the treatment of cultural
elements in Arabic translations of
A Hundred Years of Solitude
. We also present a
critical review of earlier definitions and classifications of translation techniques.
2. THE DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO CLASSIFYING
TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES
2.1. Translation Technical Procedures
in the
Compared Stylistics
.
Vinay and Darbelnet’s pioneer work
Stylistique comparée du français et de l’anglais
(SCFA) (1958) was the first classification of translation techniques that had a clear
methodological purpose. The term they used was ‘procédés techniques de la traduc-
tion.’ They defined seven basic procedures operating on three levels of style: lexis,
distribution
(morphology and syntax) and message. The procedures were classified as
direct (or literal) or oblique, to coincide with their distinction between direct (or
literal) and oblique translation.
Literal translation occurs when there is an exact structural, lexical, even mor-
phological equivalence between two languages. According to the authors, this is only
possible when the two languages are very close to each other. The literal translation
procedures are:
• Borrowing. A word taken directly from another language, e.g., the English word
bull-
dozer
has been incorporated directly into other languages.
• Calque. A foreign word or phrase translated and incorporated into another language,
e.g.,
fin de semaine
from the English
weekend.
• Literal
translation. Word for word translation, e.g
., The ink is on the table
and
L’encre est
sur la table
.
Oblique translation occurs when word for word translation is impossible. The
oblique translation procedures are:
•
Transposition. A shift of word class, i.e., verb for noun, noun for preposition e.g.,
Expéditeur
and
From.
When there is a shift between two signifiers, it is called
crossed
transposition, e.g.,
He limped across the street
and
Il a traversé la rue en boitant
.
•
Modulation. A shift in point of view. Whereas transposition is a shift between gram-
matical categories, modulation is a shift in cognitive categories. Vinay and Darbelnet
500
Meta, XLVII, 4, 2002
postulate eleven types of modulation: abstract for concrete, cause for effect, means for
result, a part for the whole, geographical change, etc., e.g., the geographical modulation
between
encre de Chine
and
Indian ink.
Intravaia and Scavée (1979) studied this proce-
dure in depth and reached the conclusion that it is qualitatively different from the
others and that the others can be included within it.
• Equivalence. This accounts for the same situation using a completely different phrase,
e.g., the translation of proverbs or idiomatic expressions like
, Comme un chien dans un
jeu de quilles
and
Like a bull in a china shop
.
• Adaptation. A shift in cultural environment, i.e., to express the message using a differ-
ent situation, e.g.
cycling
for the French,
cricket
for the English and
baseball
for the
Americans
.
These seven basic procedures are complemented by other procedures. Except for
the procedures of compensation and inversion, they are all classified as opposing pairs.
•
Compensation. An item of information, or a stylistic effect from the ST that cannot be
reproduced in the same place in the TT is introduced elsewhere in the TT, e.g., the
French translation of
I was seeking thee, Flathead
. from the
Jungle Book
Kipling used the
archaic
thee
, instead of
you
, to express respect, but none of the equivalent French pro-
noun forms (
tu, te, toi
) have an archaic equivalent, so the translator expressed the same
feeling by using the vocative,
O
, in another part of the sentence:
En verité, c’est bien toi
que je cherche, O Tête-Plate.
•
Concentration vs. Dissolution. Concentration expresses a signified from the SL with
fewer signifiers in the TL. Dissolution expresses a signified from the SL with more
signifiers in the TL, e.g.,
archery
is a dissolution of the French
tir a l’arc
.
•
Amplification vs. Economy. These procedures are similar to concentration and dissolu-
tion. Amplification occurs when the TL uses more signifiers to cover syntactic or lexical
gaps. According to Vinay and Darbelnet, dissolution is a question of
langue
and adap-
tation of
parole
, e.g.,
He talked himself out of a job
and
Il a perdu sa chance pour avoir
trop parlé
. The opposite procedure is economy, e.g.,
We’ll price ourselves out of the mar-
ket
and
Nous ne pourrons plus vendre si nous sommes trop exigeants
.
•
Reinforcement vs. Condensation. These are variations of amplification and economy
that are characteristic of French and English, e.g., English prepositions or conjunctions
that need to be reinforced in French by a noun or a verb:
To the station
and
Entrée de la
gare
;
Shall I phone for a cab?
and
Voulez-vous que je téléphone pour faire venir une
voiture?
Mallblanc (1968) changed Vinay and Darbelnet’s reinforcement for over-char-
acterization, because he found it was more appropriate for the traits of French and
German. He pointed out that German prepositions, such as,
in
can be translated into
French as
dans le creux de, dans le fond de
, or,
dans le sein de
.
•
Explicitation vs. Implicitation. Explicitation is to introduce information from the ST
that is implicit from the context or the situation, e.g., to make explicit the patient’s sex
when translating
his patient
into French. Implicitation is to allow the situation to indi-
cate information that is explicit in the ST, e.g., the meaning of
sortez
as
go out
or
come
out
depends on the situation.
•
Generalization vs. Particularization. Generalization is to translate a term for a more
general one, whereas, particularization is the opposite, e.g., the English translation of
guichet, fenêtre
or
devanture
by
window
is a generalization.
•
Inversion. This is to move a word or a phrase to another place in a sentence or a para-
graph so that it reads naturally in the target language, e.g
., Pack separately … for conve-
nient inspection
and
Pour faciliter la visite de la douane mettre à part ….
translation techniques revisited
501
Table 1
Vinay and Darbelnet’s translation procedures
Borrowing
Bulldozer (E)
⇒
Bulldozer (F)
Calque
Fin de semaine (F)
⇒
Week-end (E)
Literal translation
L’encre est sur la table (F)
⇒
The ink is on the table (E)
Transposition
Défense de fumer (F)
⇒
No smoking (E)
Crossed transposition
He limped across the street (E)
⇒
Il a traversé la rue en boitant (F)
Modulation
Encre de Chien (F)
⇒
Indian Ink (E)
Equivalence
Comme un chien dans un jeu de quilles (F)
⇒
Like a bull in a china
shop (E)
Adaptation
Cyclisme (F)
⇒
Cricket (E)
⇒
Baseball (U.S)
Compensation
I was seeking the
e,
Flathead (E)
⇒
En vérité, c’est bien t
oi
que je
cherche, O
Tête-Plate (F)
Dissolution
Tir à l’arc (F)
⇒
Archery (E)
Concentration
Archery (E)
⇒
Tir à l’arc (F)
Amplification
He talked himself out of a job (E)
⇒
Il a perdu sa chance pour
avoir trop parlé (F)
Economy
Nous ne pourrons plus vendre si nous sommes trop exigeants (F)
⇒
We’ll price ourselves out of the market (E)
Reinforcement
Shall I phone f
or
a cab? (E)
⇒
Voulez-vous que je télép
h
o
n
e p
o
ur
fair
e
ven
ir une voiture? (F)
Condensation
Ent
r
ée d
e
la garde (F)
⇒
T
o
the station (E)
Explicitation
His patient (E)
⇒
Son patient / Son patiente (F)
Implicitation
Go out/ Come out (E)
⇒
Sortez (F)
Generalization
Guichet, fenêtre, devanture (F)
⇒
Window (E)
Particularization
Window (E)
⇒
Guichet, fenêtre, devanture (F)
Articularization
In all this
immense variety of conditions,… (E)
⇒
E
t
c
epen
dant
,
malg
r
é
la diversité des conditions,… (F)
Juxtaposition
Et
c
epen
dant
,
malg
r
é
la diversité des conditions,… (F)
⇒
In all this
immense variety of conditions,… (E)
Grammaticalization
A man in
a blue suit (E)
⇒
Un homme vêt
u
de blue (F)
Lexicalization
Un homme vêt
u
de blue (F)
⇒
A man in
a blue suit (E)
Inversion
Pack
se
p
ar
a
t
ely
[
…] for convenient inspection (E)
⇒
Pour faciliter
la visite de la douane me
t
t
re
à par
t
[
…] (F)
2.2. The Bible translators
From their study of biblical translation, Nida, Taber and Margot concentrate on
questions related to cultural transfer. They propose several categories to be used
502
Meta, XLVII, 4, 2002
when no equivalence exists in the target language:
adjustment techniques, essential
distinction, explicative paraphrasing, redundancy and naturalization
.
2.2.1. Techniques of adjustment
Nida (1964) proposes three types:
additions, subtractions and alterations
. They are
used: 1) to adjust the form of the message to the characteristics of the structure of
the target language; 2) to produce semantically equivalent structures; 3) to generate
appropriate stylistic equivalences; 4) to produce an equivalent communicative effect.
• Additions.
Several of the
SCFA procedures are included in this category. Nida lists dif-
ferent circumstances that might oblige a translator to make an addition: to clarify an
elliptic expression, to avoid ambiguity in the target language, to change a grammatical
category (this corresponds to SCFA’s transposition), to amplify implicit elements (this
corresponds to SCFA’s explicitation), to add connectors (this corresponds to SCFA’s
articulation required by characteristics of the TL, etc.). Examples are as follows. When
translating from St Paul’s Epistles, it is appropriate to add the verb
write
in several
places, even though it is not in the source text; a literal translation of
they tell him of her
(Mark I:30) into Mazatec would have to be amplified to
the people there told Jesus about
the woman
, otherwise, as this language makes no distinctions of number and gender of
pronominal affixes it could have thirty-six different interpretations;
He
went up to
Jerusalem. There he taught the people
some languages require the equivalent of
He went
up to Jerusalem. H
avi
ng ar
rived
there, he taught the people.
• Subtractions.
Nida lists four situations where the translator should use this procedure,
in addition to when it is required by the TL: unnecessary repetition, specified refer-
ences, conjunctions and adverbs. For example, the name of God appears thirty-two
times in the thirty-one verses of Genesis. Nida suggests using pronouns or omitting
God
.
• Alterations. These changes have to be made because of incompatibilities between the
two languages. There are three main types.
1) Changes due to problems caused by transliteration when a new word is introduced
from the source language, e.g., the transliteration of
Messiah
in the Loma language,
means
death’s hand
, so it was altered to
Mezaya
.
2) Changes due to structural differences between the two languages, e.g., changes in
word order, grammatical categories, etc. (similar to SCFA’s transposition).
3) Changes due to semantic misfits, especially with idiomatic expressions. One of the
suggestions to solve this kind of problem is the use of a
descriptive
equivalent
i.e.,
a satisfactory equivalent for objects, events or attributes that do not have a stan-
dard term in the TL. It is used for objects that are unknown in the target culture
(e.g., in Maya
the
house where the law
was read for
Synagogue
) and for actions that
do not have a lexical equivalent (e.g., in Maya
desire what another man
has for
covetousness, etc.)
Nida includes footnotes as another adjustment technique and points out that
they have two main functions: 1) To correct linguistic and cultural differences, e.g.,
to explain contradictory customs, to identify unknown geographical or physical
items, to give equivalents for weights and measures, to explain word play, to add
information about proper names, etc.; 2) To add additional information about the
historical and cultural context of the text in question.
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