7 TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES TO FACILITATE YOUR WORK

So, today were going to talk about translation techniques. Just as there are different types of translation and
different methods of translation, there are different techniques of translation.
TRANSLATION METHODS VS TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES
What is the difference between a translation method and a technique? Its very simple: a method is applied to the
entire text to be translated, while the technique may vary within the same text according to each case and
depending on the specific verbal elements to be translated. The classical taxonomy of translation procedures dates
back to 1958 and is the work of J. P. Vinay and J. Darbelnet. It consists of seven categories:
1. BORROWING
Borrowing is a translation procedure that involves using the same word or expression in original text in the target
text. The word or expression borrowed is usually written in italics. This is about reproducing an expression in the
original text as is. In this sense, it is a translation technique that does not actually translate
Example: The gaucho was wearing a black sombrero and a worn old pair of bombachas.
2. CALQUE
When a translator uses a calque, he or she is creating or using a neologism in the target language by adopting the
structure of the source language.
Example: The English word handball is translated into Spanish as balonmano. Or the English
term skyscraper is gratte-ciel in French or rascacielos in Spanish.
3. LITERAL TRANSLATION
Usually this is called a literal translation or metaphrase. This means a word-for-word translation, achieving a text in
the target language which is as correct as it is idiomatic. According to Vinay and Darbelnet, a literal translation can
only be applied with languages which are extremely close in cultural terms. It is acceptable only if the translated text
retains the same syntax, the same meaning and the same style as the original text.
Example: Quelle heure est-il? What time is it?
4. TRANSPOSITION
Transposition involves moving from one grammatical category to another without altering the meaning of the text.
This technique introduces a change in grammatical structure.
Example: The President thinks that Selon le Prsident
5. MODULATION
Modulation is about changing the form of the text by introducing a semantic change or perspective.
Example: Maybe youre right Tu nas peut-tre pas tort.
6. EQUIVALENCE OR REFORMULATION
This is a translation procedure which uses a completely different expression to transmit the same reality. Through
this technique, names of institutions, interjections, idioms or proverbs can be translated.
Example: Chat chaud craint leau froide Once burned, twice shy.
7. ADAPTATION
Adaptation, also called cultural substitution or cultural equivalent, is a cultural element which replaces the original
text with one that is better suited to the culture of the target language. This achieves a more familiar and
comprehensive text.
Example: baseball football
Since the sixties, several authors (Michel Ballard, Hlne Chuquet, Michel Paillard, etc.) have established other
methods of translation, such as explicitation (introducing specific details in the text of the target language),
collocation (using a sequence of words that usually go together in the target language) and compensation (where an
allusion or reference does not appear in one part of the text as in the source version, but later in the target text).
1. Borrowing
This means taking words straight into another language. Borrowed terms often pass into general usage, for
example in the fields of technology ("software") and culture ("punk"). Borrowing can be for different reasons,
with the examples below being taken from usage rather than translated texts:
the target language has no (generally used) equivalent. For example, the first man-made satellites were
Soviet, so for a time they were known in English as "sputniks".
the source language word sounds "better" (more specific, fashionable, exotic or just accepted), even
though it can be translated. For example, Spanish IT is full or terms like "soft[ware]", and Spanish
accountants talk of "overheads", even though these terms can be translated into Spanish.
to retain some "feel" of the source language. For example, from a recent issue of The Guardian
newspaper: "Madrileos are surprisingly unworldly."
2. Calque
This is a literal translation at phrase level. Sometimes calques work, sometimes they don't. You often see them
in specialized, internationalized fields such as quality assurance (aseguramiento de calidad, assurance qualit,
Qualittssicherung...).
3. Literal Translation
Just what it says - "El equipo est trabajando para acabar el informe" - "The team is working to finish the
report". Again, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. For example, the Spanish sentence above could
not be translated into French or German in the same way - you would have to use technique no. 4...
4. Transposition
This is the mechanical process whereby parts of speech "play musical chairs" (Fawcett's analogy) when they
are translated. Grammatical structures are not often identical in different languages. "She likes swimming"
translates as "Le gusta nadar" (not "nadando") - or in German, "Sie schwimmt gern", because gerunds and
infinitives work in different ways in English and Spanish, and German is German (bringing in an adverb to
complicate matters). Transposition is often used between English and Spanish because of the preferred position
of the verb in the sentence: English wants the verb up near the front; Spanish can have it closer to the end.
5. Modulation
Now we're getting clever. Slightly more abstract than transposition, this consists of using a phrase that is
different in the source and target languages to convey the same idea - "Te lo dejo" - "You can have it".
6. Reformulation (sometimes known as quivalence)
Here you have to express something in a completely different way, for example when translating idioms or, even
harder, advertising slogans. The process is creative, but not always easy. Would you have given the name
Sonrisas y lgrimas to the film The Sound of Music in Spanish?
7. Adaptation
Here something specific to the source language culture is expressed in a totally different way that is familiar or
appropriate to the target language culture. Sometimes it is valid, and sometimes it is problematic, to say the
least. Should a restaurant menu in a Spanish tourist resort translate "pincho" as "kebab" in English? Should a
French text talking about Belgian jokes be translated into English as talking about Irish jokes (always assuming
it should be translated at all)? We will return to these problems of referentiality below.
8. Compensation
Another model describes a technique known as compensation. This is a rather amorphous term, but in general
terms it can be used where something cannot be translated from source to target language, and the meaning
that is lost in the immediate translation is expressed somewhere else in the TT. Fawcett defines it as: "...making
good in one part of the text something that could not be translated in another". One example given by Fawcett is
the problem of translating nuances of formality from languages which use forms such as tu and usted (tu/vous,
du/Sie, etc.) into English which only has 'you', and expresses degrees of formality in different ways. If you want
to read more, look at Fawcett 1997:31-33.
 Translation Techniques
As somebody who has been translating professionally for over 15 years now, I must confess the topic of Translation
Techniques poses somewhat of a challenge; trying to pin down strategies that you use almost intuitively every day
of your life becomes a rather difficult task.
That is why I decided to outline a widely-accepted list of translation techniques in the hope that the reader may
become interested in knowing a little bit more about translation and its nuances.
Direct Translation Techniques
Direct Translation Techniques are used when structural and conceptual elements of the source language can be
transposed into the target language.
Direct translation techniques include:
Borrowing
Calque
Literal Translation
Borrowing
Borrowing is the taking of words directly from one language into another without translation. Many English words are
"borrowed" into other languages; for example software in the field of technology and funk in culture. English also
borrows numerous words from other languages; abbatoire, caf, pass and rsum from French; hamburger and
kindergarten from German; bandana, musk and sugar from Sanskrit.
Borrowed words are often printed in italics when they are considered to be "foreign".
Calque
A calque or loan translation (itself a calque of German Lehnbersetzung) is a phrase borrowed from another
language and translated literally word-for-word. You often see them in specialized or internationalized fields such as
quality assurance (aseguramiento de calidad, assurance qualit taken from English). Examples that have been
absorbed into English include standpoint and beer garden from German Standpunkt and Biergarten; breakfast from
French djeuner (which now means lunch in Europe, but maintains the same meaning of breakfast in Qubec).
Some calques can become widely accepted in the target language (such as standpoint, beer garden and breakfast
and Spanish peso mosca and Casa Blanca from English flyweight and White House). The meaning other calques
can be rather obscure for most people, especially when they relate to specific vocations or subjects such as science
and law. Solucin de compromiso is a Spanish legal term taken from the English compromise solution and although
Spanish attorneys understand it, the meaning is not readily understood by the layman. An unsuccessful calque can
be extremely unnatural, and can cause unwanted humor, often interpreted as indicating the lack of expertise of the
translator in the target language.
Literal Translation
A word-for-word translation can be used in some languages and not others dependent on the sentence structure: El
equipo est trabajando para terminar el informe would translate into English as The team is working to finish the
report. Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not. For example, the Spanish sentence above could not be
translated into French or German using this technique because the French and German sentence structures are
different. And because one sentence can be translated literally across languages does not mean that all sentences
can be translated literally. El equipo experimentado est trabajando para terminar el informe translates into English
as The experienced team is working to finish the report ("experienced" and "team" are reversed).
Oblique Translation Techniques
Oblique Translation Techniques are used when the structural or conceptual elements of the source language cannot
be directly translated without altering meaning or upsetting the grammatical and stylistics elements of the target
language.
Oblique translation techniques include:
Transposition
Modulation
Reformulation or Equivalence
Adaptation
Compensation
Transposition
This is the process where parts of speech change their sequence when they are translated (blue ball becomes boule
bleue in French). It is in a sense a shift of word class. Grammatical structures are often different in different
languages. He likes swimming translates as Er schwimmt gern in German. Transposition is often used between
English and Spanish because of the preferred position of the verb in the sentence: English often has the verb near
the beginning of a sentence; Spanish can have it closer to the end. This requires that the translator knows that it is
possible to replace a word category in the target language without altering the meaning of the source text, for
example: English Hand knitted (noun + participle) becomes Spanish Tejido a mano (participle + adverbial phrase).
Modulation
Modulation consists of using a phrase that is different in the source and target languages to convey the same idea:
Te lo dejo means literally I leave it to you but translates better as You can have it. It changes the semantics and
shifts the point of view of the source language. Through modulation, the translator generates a change in the point
of view of the message without altering meaning and without generating a sense of awkwardness in the reader of
the target text. It is often used within the same language. The expressions es fcil de entender (it is easy to
understand) and no es complicado de entender (it is not complicated to understand) are examples of modulation.
Although both convey the same meaning, it is easy to understand simply conveys "easiness" whereas it is not
complicated to understand implies a previous assumption of difficulty that we are denying by asserting it is not
complicated to understand. This type of change of point of view in a message is what makes a reader say: "Yes, this
is exactly how we say it in our language".
Reformulation or Equivalence
Here you have to express something in a completely different way, for example when translating idioms or
advertising slogans. The process is creative, but not always easy. Would you have translated the movie The Sound
of Music into Spanish as La novicia rebelde (The Rebellious Novice in Latin America) or Sonrisas y lgrimas (Smiles
and Tears in Spain)?
Adaptation
Adaptation occurs when something specific to one language culture is expressed in a totally different way that is
familiar or appropriate to another language culture. It is a shift in cultural environment. Should pincho (a Spanish
restaurant menu dish) be translated as kebab in English? It involves changing the cultural reference when a
situation in the source culture does not exist in the target culture (for example France has Belgian jokes and
England has Irish jokes).
Compensation
In general terms compensation can be used when something cannot be translated, and the meaning that is lost is
expressed somewhere else in the translated text. Peter Fawcett defines it as: "...making good in one part of the text
something that could not be translated in another". One example given by Fawcett is the problem of translating
nuances of formality from languages that use forms such as Spanish informal t and formal usted, French tu and
vous, and German du and sie into English which only has 'you', and expresses degrees of formality in different
ways.
As Louise M. Haywood from the University of Cambridge puts it, "we have to remember that translation is not just a
movement between two languages but also between two cultures. Cultural transposition is present in all translation
as degrees of free textual adaptation departing from maximally literal translation, and involves replacing items
whose roots are in the source language culture with elements that are indigenous to the target language. The
translator exercises a degree of choice in his or her use of indigenous features, and, as a consequence, successful
translation may depend on the translator's command of cultural assumptions in each language in which he or she
works".
If you are interested in reading further on the subject, please refer to Peter Fawcett, Translation and Language, St.
Jerome, Manchester, 1997 (especially Chapter 4 on Translation Techniques).