TRANSLATION PROCEDURES &

STRATEGIES
 Tanslation:
study that describes
the process of literal rendering of meaning
while adhering to form
Emphasis on general accuracy
orm and content – Jakobson’s claim
“all cognitive experience and its classification
is conveyable in any existing language” (e.g.
cultural turn, NHS, democratic deficit,
balkanizam, domovinski rat, Lijepa naša,
štrukli, pašticada, American pie ...)
any concept peculiar to a specific culture
(though inexistent in another culture) can be
expressed any target language
Only poetry, by definition, is untranslatable
 Ivir (1989):

Languages are differently equipped to expres

the same extralinguistic contents
 A classical dichotomy between
Sense/content and form/style
– E.g. Written form of names in Harry Potter books –
contribute to their meaning (Tom Marvolo Riddle – a riddle
in itsef (an anagram of ‘I am Lord Voldemort’) – revelas the
character’s true identity
• FR: Tom Elvis Jedusor – Je suis Voldemort
• jedusor (je/u du sort) = ‘game of fate’
Content preseved by changing the form

translation into CRO? (HP and the Chambers of Secrets)

 Literal vs free TR
Tyical dichotomy of the West (since Roman

Translating holy scripts (the Greek Septuagin

Literal word-for-word TR (an aid to the Latin
reader, reasonably acquainted with Greek SL
“ -for-word approach but, as an orator, I
sought to preserve the general style and
force of language”
 Jerome (395 AD)
I render not wordd-for-word but sense for
sense approach in translating a sensitive text
(the Bible: repository of truth and the word
o God)
Translator should remain true to the ‘official’
interpretation of the word of God
– TR into the
vernacular – persecution and execution
 Literal and free
Still valuable TR strategies (tourist brochures,
operating instructions, etc.)
Especially in closely related languages
However, the risk of creating false friends or
‘translationese’ (translator’s habit – TR too
transparent)

Multi-fruit / Mehrfrucht = više/mnogo(?) voæ

a (nekoliko vrsta voæ a; tri vrste voæ a?)
fund-raising campaign
 ‘Translationese’
Pejorative term
Stilted form of the TLT (formal, pompous,
or bombastic) from calquing SL lexical an
syntactic patterns

one of TR universals
 Translation universals
Interference
Explicitation
Domestication

‘Translatorese’ (Newmark 2003) – automatic

choice of the most ‘common’ (?) dictionary
translation of a word (often inappropriate to
the context!)
omprehensibility vs translatabilit
Literal translations fail to realise that not all
texts or text users are the same (e.g. literary-
serious vs pragmatic texts
Impared comprehensibility – a major proble
TRANSLATABILITY: ‘extent to which, despite
obvious linguistic differences (grammar,
vocabulary), meaning can still be
adequately expresed in another language’
 Is everything translatable?
Yes, to a certain extent (Jakobson 1957),
FULL translatability – an unrealistic ideal

– ‘to make somebody ashamed of his

behaviour’ (modern translation of the Bible) =
– (?) ‘to heap coal of fire on his head’
(original Hebrew
– ‘Blackening his head’ = unspeakable shame
 Procedure, Dict. Def.:
1. A manner of proceeding; a way of performing
or effecting something: standard procedure.
2. A series of steps taken to accomplish an end:
medical procedure; evacuation procedures.
…
[French procédure, from Old French, from
proceder, to proceed; see proceed.]
 Strategy
a particular long- m plan for success, esp. i
business or politics
a plan or method for achieving something,
especially over a long period of time e.g.
– successful language-learning strategies
– The countries hope to devise a common
strategy to provide aid.
Procedure: a way of acting or progressing in
a course of action, esp. an established
method (one sentence, clause, phrase, word)

strategy: a plan or method for achieving a

specif goal (the whole text)
 Translation procedures
(Gallagher 1996)
“Technical devices used to transfer meanin
of a text in one language into atext in
anothe language” (p.31), i.e.:
– adding structural or lexical elements to those prese
in SL or substracting from them
– eliminating elements that are obligatory in the SL b
unnecessary in the TL or with no counterpart in TL
– and where disparity between the two media goes
beyond language patterns, adapting the
contentof teh message so that the TL text will as
close as possble to the content of the SL text and
create a similar impact
 TR Procedures:
Mailhac, J.P. (2007)
A procedure is a means of translating a particular element as part of
a strategy (e.g. cultural borrowing, calque, cultural substitution and
definition are amongst the procedures available for the translation of
cultural references).
Some procedures are limited in scope, others can apply to wider units,
including a whole text (e.g. exoticism with minimum/maximum presenc
of the translator in the case of cultural references; see Mailhac 1996a).
A procedure is thus a tool to be exploited in the broader context of
a strategy in order to solve a translation problem.
To the extent that the properties of a tool are determined by its intende
use, procedures are goal oriented and, being part of the translational
output, they are visible (e.g. one can see whether a culture-specific
term has been borrowed, defined in a footnote, etc. in the translation).
Types: lexical & syntactic procedures

Formulating
strategies for the translat http://accurapid.com/journal/40strategies.h
 (1) - Lexical

- lexical repetition (It's very good > To je jako, jako dobro) (Cro.?)
- use of lexical superlative/diminutive (I love > obožavam)

- addition of noun (hers > od Marije, Marijino)

- addition of adverb or adverbial phrase (lijepo i fino)

- addition of interjection (pardon, oprostite, vidite, gledajte, na primjer,

k vragu)
- addition of particle (zar ne, usput, ne, li, etc.)

- addition of adjective or adjectival phrase (one > jedini, jedincati)

- addition of verb (but all he said was > ali zadovoljio se je time što je pita

- addition of conjunction (Who are you? > Et qui es-tu, toi?)

- addition of lexical sequence

- focus (Pour ma part / što se mene tiè e, s moje strane)

- surprise (Kakve li ideje!)

- lexical harmonisation (use of an idiomatic expression appropriate to the
context: This time there could be no mistake > ovog puta nije bilo
apsolutn nikakve sumnje [= ... there could not be the shadow of a doubt])
 (2) Syntactic procedures

syntactic reprise (ante- and post-position: (there &

rheme) I know what you want : Ah, ti, znam ja dobro što
ti želiš! [literally: Ah, you, I know what you want])

adding a clause (što se mene tiè e)

cleft sentences (I did it > Ja sam to uè inio; Ja sam

taj koji je to uè inio)

change of sentence type (to exclamatory, negative,

interrogative, etc.:You would tell Olivia ... > Zašto si to
zaboga trebao reæ i Oliviji ….. [= Why on earth did
you
have to tell Olivia...?])
R Procedures (Mailhac, 2007), ct
) Morphological procedures
stressed personal pronoun forms (mene, tebe,
njega, nju etc.); use of reinforcement (vi osobno
demonstrative pronouns (e.g. taj isti, ta ista,
on isti)
demonstrative adjectives (e.g. taj, to, onaj )
(4) Phonetic procedures (vowel/consonant
lengthening: Dreadfully old-fashioned >
Strrrrrrašno staromodno
R Procedures (Mailhac, 2007), ct
(5) Punctuation (commas, suspension points, dashes, exclamation mark
inverted commas)
(6) Typographical marker (e.g. bold, italics, underlining)
(7) Descriptive label (...she replied, sounding surprised –..
odgovori / odgovorila je, izgledajuæ i iznenað eno)
(8) Compensation (e.g. transfer of emphasis from that to a reinforced
negation— du tout / nikako—in the following example: Oh, I shouldn't
li that! > O, ne bih to želio, nikako!;)
(9) Combination of procedures (e.g. morphological + typographical: As
i would talk on such a subject > Comme si moi, j'allais parler d'une
chose pareille!): Cro: Kao da bih se ja usudio govoriti o neè em takvom!
(10) Deletion (I have tasted eggs, certainly > J'ai certainement goûté à d
oeufs: the emphasis on the auxiliary is not actually rendered because of
the presence of certainly): Cro: Svakako, probao sam jaja …
Criteria Definition
1. Formal complexity The extent to which the
structure involves a single
or many elements.
2. Functional complexity The extent to which the
meanings realized by a
structure are transparent or
opaque.
3. Reliability The extent to which the rule
has exceptions.
4. Scope The extent to which the rule
has broad or narrow
coverage.
5. Metalanguage The extent to which the rule
can be provided simply with
minimum metalanguage.
6. L1/L2 contrast A feature that corresponds
to an L1 feature is easier
than a feature that does
not.
 TR Strategies (Mailhac, J.P. 2007)
'strategy' is conceptually broader than 'procedure,'
hence it refers to a “method employed to translate a given
element/unit (including a whole text) making use of one
or more procedures selected on the basis of relevant
parameters.”
A strategy thus links procedures with the conditions which
obtain when they are used, these being specified in terms
of parameters.
It can be either ad hoc, and be restricted to a specific contex
or more general, and be reusable in a range of contexts,
When generalizable, a strategy can be construed as a rule
 TR procedures (Gallagher 1996)
Transcription
Transliteration
Borrowing
Literal TR
Transposition – Translation shifts
Modulation
Adaptation
• Cf. J. D. Gallager (1996) German-English translation : texts on politics and econo
= Deutsch-englische U¨ bersetzungsu¨ bun
 TR procedures - Nida (1964)

Technical procedures:
– analysis of the source and target languages;
– a through study of the source language text before making attempts transla
it;
– Making judgments of the semantic and syntactic approximations. (pp. 241-4

Organizational procedures:
– constant reevaluation of the attempt made;
– contrasting it with the existing available translations of the same text done
other translators, and
– checking the text's communicative effectiveness by asking the target langua
readers to evaluate its accuracy and effectiveness and studying their reactio
(pp. 246-47).
Kings (1986:18): translation strategy:
"translator's potentially conscious plans for solving concrete
translation problems in the framework of a concrete
translation task,"
Seguinot (1989) - three global strategies:
(i) translating without interruption for as long as possible
(ii) correcting surface errors immediately;
(iii) leaving the monitoring for qualitative or stylistic errors in the text t
the revision stage.
 Harvey (2000:2-6) techniques for translating CBT
(culture-based texts)

Functional Equivalence: It means using a referent in the TL culture whose functi

is similar to that of the source language (SL) referent.
Formal Equivalence or 'linguistic equivalence': It means a 'word-for-word'
translation.
Transcription or 'borrowing' (i.e. reproducing or, where necessary, transliteratin
the original term): It stands at the far end of SL-oriented strategies. If the term is
formally transparent or is explained in the context, it may be used alone. In othe
cases, particularly where no knowledge of the SL by the reader is presumed,
transcription is accompanied by an explanation or a translator's note.
Descriptive or self-explanatory translation: It uses generic terms (not CBTs) to
convey the meaning. It is appropriate in a wide variety of contexts where formal
equivalence is considered insufficiently clear. In a text aimed at a specialized
reader, it can be helpful to add the original SL term to avoid ambiguity.
 Venuti (1998:240)
translation strategies: "involve the basic task
of choosing the foreign text to be translated
and developing a method to translate it."

the concepts of:

– domesticating and
– foreignizing
 Newmark (1988b)

difference between translation methods

nd translation procedures:

[w]hile translation methods relate to whole

exts, translation procedures are used for
entences and the smaller units of language"
 Methods of translation: Newmark (1988)

Word-for-word translation: in which the SL word order is preserved and the words
translated singly by their most common meanings, out of context.
Literal translation: in which the SL grammatical constructions are converted to their neare
TL equivalents, but the lexical words are again translated singly, out of context.
Faithful translation: it attempts to produce the precise contextual meaning of the original
within the constraints of the TL grammatical structures.
Semantic translation: which differs from 'faithful translation' only in as far as it must take
more account of the aesthetic value of the SL text.
Adaptation: which is the freest form of translation, and is used mainly for plays (comedies
and poetry; the themes, characters, plots are usually preserved, the SL culture is converte
to the TL culture and the text is rewritten.
Free translation: it produces the TL text without the style, form, or content of the original.
Idiomatic translation: it reproduces the 'message' of the original but tends to distort
nuances of meaning by preferring colloquialisms and idioms where these do not exist in th
original.
Communicative translation: it attempts to render the exact contextual meaning of the
original in such a way that both content and language are readily acceptable and
comprehensible to the readership (1988b: 45-47).
 ewmark – translation procedure
Transference: it is the process of transferring an SL word to a TL text. It includes
transliteration and is the same as what Harvey (2000:5) named "transcription."
Naturalization: it adapts the SL word first to the normal pronunciation, then to the norma
morphology of the TL. (Newmark, 1988b:82)
Cultural equivalent: it means replacing a cultural word in the SL with a TL one. however,
"they are not accurate" (Newmark, 1988b:83)
Functional equivalent: it requires the use of a culture-neutral word. (Newmark, 1988b:83
Descriptive equivalent: in this procedure the meaning of the CBT is explained in several
words. (Newmark, 1988b:83)
Componential analysis: it means "comparing an SL word with a TL word which has a
simila meaning but is not an obvious one-to-one equivalent, by demonstrating first their
commo and then their differing sense components." (Newmark, 1988b:114)
Synonymy: it is a "near TL equivalent." Here economy trumps accuracy. (Newmark,
1988b:84)
Through-translation: it is the literal translation of common collocations, names of
organizations and components of compounds. It can also be called: calque or loan
translation. (Newmark, 1988b:84)
 Newmark – TR procedures, ctd.
Shifts or transpositions: it involves a change in the grammar from SL to TL, for instance, (i)
change from singular to plural, (ii) the change required when a specific SL structure does n
exist in the TL, (iii) change of an SL verb to a TL word, change of an SL noun group to a TL
noun and so forth. (Newmark, 1988b:86)
Modulation: it occurs when the translator reproduces the message of the original text in t
TL text in conformity with the current norms of the TL, since the SL and the TL may appear
dissimilar in terms of perspective. (Newmark, 1988b:88) – different points of view
Recognized translation: it occurs when the translator "normally uses the official or the
generally accepted translation of any institutional term." (Newmark, 1988b:89)
Compensation: it occurs when loss of meaning in one part of a sentence is compensated i
another part. (Newmark, 1988b:90)
Paraphrase: in this procedure the meaning of the CBT is explained. Here the explanation i
much more detailed than that of
descriptive equivalent. (Newmark, 1988b:91) Couplets: it occurs when the translator
combines two different procedures. (Newmark, 1988b:91)
Notes: notes are additional information in a translation. (Newmark, 1988b:91)
 TRANSLATION PROCEDURES:

chnical devices used to transfer meaning of a text in

another language:
ADDING / SUBTRACTING FROM:
structural or lexical elements beside those r~t in SLT

ELIMINATING elements that are obligatory in SL but

unnecessary / with no counterpart in TL

ADAPTING the content of the message SO THAT the TLT

comes as close as possible to the INTENT of the SL T and
create a similar IMP ACT
 transfer:

) grammatically
) by lexical means
by direct reference to extralinguistic situation
) by a combination of the above
 Vinay - Darbelnet (1958)

ylistique comparée
(1958) first systematic
attempt:
PREMISE: the translation process manifests itsel
as a series of linguistically comprehensible
procedes techiques. (3+4 = 7)
teral (traduction directe): emprunt,
calque, traduction literale
on-literal (tr. oblique): transposition,
modulation, equivalence, adaption
 Types of TR procedures:
Transcription
Transliteration
Borrowing
Calquing (Vinay-Dalbernet)
Cultural equivalent (èquivalence) (Vinay-Dalbernet)
Literal TR
Transposition – Translation shifts
Modulation
Adaptation
. Parphrase
. Definition
. Deletion, omission
- J. D. Gallager (1996) German-English translation : texts on politics and econo
= Deutsch-englische U¨ bersetzungsu¨ bu
- Davies, Scott-Tennent, Torras ((2
Training in the application of translation strategies for undergraduate scientific translation. Meta,
XL http://www.erudit.org/revue/meta/2001/v46/n4/002490a
 1. Transcription
A representation of speech sounds in phonetic symbols, i.e.
rendering SL sounds into TL form (letter) (transference):
– Names in scripts (Arabic, hebrew, Chinese, Japanese): Fujiya
– Fudžijama; Beijing – Peking – Beidžin; Esmail, Ismail, Sala m,
Selam, Salaam, As-Sala mu `Alaykum (ϤϜϴϠϋ ϡϼδϟ Ϣ
Also: from Latin, )
alphabet into another language using Lating alph. (samne alphabet
but lacking some sounds): Caesar - Cesare, Tzar, car
Phonological systems of an SL may be very different from th
TL => pronunciations quite different
Pron. – in accordance with TL phonological rules of
established convention for the transcription of certain name
(usu. approximations of SL pronunciation): Muenchen =
Munich, Cologne, Prague; Pariz, Venecija (Mleci), Prag,
Transliteration occurs when the translator transcribes the SL characters
sounds in the TL (Bayar, 2007).[1]
In other words, this procedure refers to the conversion of foreign letters
into the letters of the TL.
this operation usually concerns proper names that do not have
equivalents in the TLT.
– many scholars and authorities refuse to consider transliteration as a translation prope
since it relies on transcription rather than searching for the cultural and semantic
equivalent word in the TL.
– Yet, if we believe in the truth of this judgment, how can we define or call the operatio
where the translator finds himself obliged to transcribe proper nouns or culturally-
bound words in the SLT for the sake of preserving the local color?
 2. Transliteration
Transliteration is the practice of transcribing a word or text written in
one writing system into another writing system. It is also the system
of rules for that practice. (Wikipedia 2006)

Rendering of any alphabet or script (e.g. non-Latin) into

another (e.g. Latin alphabets) – (e.g. Greek for science
symbolism) – a barrier in TR
from Arabic / Hebrew etc. into Croatian / English / German / Italian
e.g. intifada, salaam aleikum, Asalaam 'Alaykum; harakiri; Laozi not
Lao Zi; but Confucius - not Kongfuzi; shalom; Jehovah, Jahve

Orthographic modifications: Russian in cyrilic scripts has to

be translated into a TL using Latin alphabet
usually: examples entail both transcription and transliteration:
Kremlin < Kreml (Kremlj) (citadel); Performanz (G) - performanse
Beijing, Myanmar, Mumbai
 Transliteration:
a transcription from one alphabet to another
the practice of taking words from one
language, written in one alphabet, and putting
them in another language with another
alphabet.
• http://blog.kennypearce.net/archives/000132.

Bible translators often choose to transliterate word

and thus create new words in English, instead of
using existing English words with equivalent or
nearly equivalent meanings (sometimes because
they don't think English has a nearly equivalent
word).
“Translation” - identifying the corresponding word(s) in one
language to their meaningful equivalent in another language
“Transliteration,” - essentially means converting word(s) in
one language to word(s) in another language by means of
their close approximation in sound. This is usually done
because:
– it’s more intuitive or easier
– meaningful corresponding word(s) simply do not exist in the target
language (as is oftentimes the case with names and places)
 3. BORROWING
mprunt): when the TL has no equivalent for a SL
unit; gaps in the resources of TL filled by borrowing
cluster of SL lexemes without formal or semantic modification:

Lexical: Blitzkrieg, snorkel; perestroika; (E <.' G / R);

know-how, jet-set, teenager, brain-wc;shing, talk-show, output, pub , talkshow,
hardtalk, ambience, detent, coup, attentat, demarche

Structural: (pI. / gender: coilsi, baksa,fajla; (-er: tanker, /tramper; doksiderice,

jeans,
(er. naturalisation) - orthographic and phonological adaptations)

Concept + structural: pub, superman (ftomUbermensch); ombudsman;

Knesset; Bundestag; Sabor; Montecitorio; Capitol; tea-break, baseball
 4. CALQUING / CALQUES
- LOAN TRANSLATION
option by the TL of a phrase or a compound word whose
components are literal translation of a corresonding
phrase compund in the SL
teorija skupova radno/kapitalno intenzivna ulaganja, stopa
rasta,
planiranje obitelji, kontrola ƌĂĜĂŶũĂ,sastanak na vrhu,
lovac presretaè ,
željezna zavjesa, papirnati tigar, part-time job / work
(Teilzeitarbeit), case study (Fallstudie), reasonable price
(vernuenftiger Preis); send a clear message; prepoznati
problem, biti u crvenom (financije, dugovi)
Semantic borrowing: nominacija; modna industrija
 5. LITERAL TRANSLATION
one-to-one STRUCTURAL and
CONCEPTUAL correspondence: borrowing
and word-for-word TR
Syntactic structure = isomorphic
– He has stolen the money. - On je ukrao novac.
Word-for-word TR: word as a unit of TR
(assumption: there is a structural
correspondence between a pair of languages
 Different classifications:

stinction between:

LITERAL vs FREE

LITERAL vs NON-LITERAL

SL-ORIENTED vs TL-ORIENTED
 Definitions

insufficiently differentiated, no clear-cut border

degrees of literalness & freedom ,

Terminology: conceptually not clear, vague,

varying with authors, schools, traditions:
– word-for-word; word-by-word
– Wort-für-Wort Übersetzung, wortliche Übersetzung
– traduction literal, traduction directe, traduction
mo à mot
 WORD-FOR-WORD

'Literal TR is the easiest and simplest form of translation,

it occurs whenever word-by-word replacement is

possible without breaking (grammatical) rules in the
target language;

this, however, is “quite rare unless the two languages are

very closely related.” - Vachon-Spilka (1968)
 TR procedures:

TRANSLATION PROCEDURES

LITERAL FREE

Word-for- literal free

word
FREE TR is always unbounded (i.e. equivalences shunt
up and down the rank-scale), but tend to be at the
higher rank - sometimes between larger units than a
sentence.
WORD-FOR-WORD TR generally means what it says:
i.e. it is essentially rank-bound (i.e. remaining) at wor
rank (but may include some morpheme-morpheme
equivalences)
LITERAL TR lies between these extremes; it relies on
the word-for-word translation, but makes changes in
conformity with TL grammar. . .; this may make it a
group-to-group or clause-to-clause translation. ‘
Some theorists use the words (literal & 1:1)
interchangeably
 have read the book.
habe das Buch gelesen
ch habe gelesen das Buch.
) Ho letto il libro.
sam proè itao (tu) knjigu

oè itao sam (tu) knjigu.

ave read the / that book. > (1:1 TR = lit. tr)
oè itao sam (tu) knjigu. > *Read have the book.
sam knjigu proè itao. > *The have book read.
Occasionally LIT & 1:1 TR are the same:

Where is the boy? Gdje je djeè ak?

He will probably come. On æ e vjerojatno doæ i.

BUT: frequently 1:1 TR is inadequate (distorsion of texts)

HOWEVER: 1:1 TR is better than NO TR at all
– E.g. in MT procedures, restricted languages, LSP communication/text

RECTIONALITY of TR:

LITERAL set up bi-directionally 1:1

not –bi-directional NON-LITERAL
unidirectional
 Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Bezbojne zelene ideje žestoko spavaju.
Healthy young babies sleep soundly.
a Zdrave male bebe è vrsto spavaju.

ore or less) same syntactic principle:

1a: logically incoherent, making sense (in line with
speaker's experience)
-1a: equally strange to an English or Croatian speaker
2a: identifiable & acceptable to both E & Cro speakers:

SAME semantic
CONCEPTS
Poor literal translation frequent in
advertising
Instructions, etc.
 Literalness:
Due to adherence to the lexical and syntactic
properties of SLT

1:1 literal free

 Literalness depends on:
Text type (eg. Legal documents)
Audience
Purpose
General translation strategy of the TLR
Competence in the foreign language
Cultural awareness
ranslatability is possible because
eaning understood in terms of:
ST contents
Communicative purpose
Target audience
Purpose of translation
Shared knowledge and culture
Cultural gaps are bridgeable
 Understanding utterances:

NOT only dependent on GRAMMATICAL

correctness

BUT
– (sharing or lacking of) SEMANTIC CONCEPTS
– LOGICAL COHERENCE
– COMMUNICATIVE INTENT (PRAGMATICS), etc
SL text mechanically reproduced in a TL text:
• distorts the grammatical and stylistic patterns of the receptor

language, and
• distorts the message (misunderstanding, hard

understanding)

Clinton has no intention to resign. ('faux amis' TR)

Clinton nema namjeru *rezignirati. (dati ostavku)

You are the director and he is the producer.

Ti si redatelj (*direktor) a on je producent.

•NB: (semantic aspects of literal TR: resign: (step down vs

be demoralized) because of the lack of interlingual lexical
COMMENSURABILITY
 a kind of interlingual synonymy

Literal TR: issues

Level/Unit: Word for word; phrase for phrase; clause for
clause; sentence for sentence
Assumption: for each word in the TL there is acorrespondin word in the SL -

– Even technical texts contain many lexical items having a

wide variety of meanings
– Words are additionally influenced by contextual /
situational restrictions (context of situation)
– BUT: No 1:1 correspondence
– Only for internationally standardised terms (closed syste
words / restricted languages: chemistry, physics, norms)
 6. Èquivalence
ylistic equivalence (Vinay-Darbelnet 1957)
equivalence-oriented translation as a procedure which
'replicates the same situation as in the original, whilst
usin completely different wording' (Vinay-Darbelnet:342).
if this procedure is applied during the translation process, it
can maintain the stylistic impact of the SL text in the TL text.
equivalence is therefore the ideal method when the
translator has to deal with proverbs, idioms, clichés, nomina
or adjectival phrases and the onomatopoeia of animal
sounds.

– Bacaleureat – A-Level / Abitur / matura

– prvostupnik / BSc – inženjer - diplomirani inženjer – magistar –
magistar struke ? (problem nazivlja prema Bologni)
– diploma, svjedodžba?
 7.

replacing a grammatical structure in SL with a

grammatical structure of a different type in TL
i order to achieve the same effect;

rendering of a SL element by syntactico-

syntagmatic structures which have the
same meaning but do not correspond
formally

bordering on or closer to non-literal translation

) There is absolutely no truth in his deposition..
Njegova izjava (prijava za sud) nije uopæ e bila istinita.

) John's face was red with shame.

Johnovo/Ivanovo se lice zacrvenjelo od stida.

) The airplane made a smooth landing in spite of its engine trouble.

Zrakoplov se lagano spustio usprkos teskoæ ama s motorima

: several possibilities of (ie. TR renderings) - even within the same

language (from various forms of transposition to paraphrase)
Transpositions: obligatory vs optional
BLIGATORY transpositions:
.: must be made if the SL structure of the utterance does not comply w
the grammatical rules of TL:

g. word order (in Engl.) vs. Croatian I German word order:

Juè er je Hrvatska pobijedila Njemaè ku.

Njemaè ku je jucer pobijedila Hrvatska.
Croatia beat Germany yesterday (3:0).

This is to certify that ... Ovime se potvrð uje da ...

It is herewith certified that …
XY hereby confirmns that …

Working with you is a pleasure.. Raditi s Vama bit æ e mi

zadovoljstvo Bit æ e mi darago ako budem radio s Va
…

payment advice obavijest o plaæanju / doznaci

PTIONAL transpositions:

if paraphrase is possible, the form (betw. SL & TL) is optional

(optional forms: context- and esp. situation-dependent)

He made a nice speech Održao je lijep

govor
He spoke nicely Govorio je lijepo
 Classes of transposition
replacement of one 'GRAMMATICAL form by another
GRAMM. form
e.g. He drinks all the time / heavily. - On stalno / jako pije

nominal phrase (make/take/let + N) - verbalized

An assessment was made of the situation
Procijenili su situaciju.
Payment of the bill was made via …
Raè un je plaæ en putem ...

replacement of a grammatical form by a LEXICAL one and

vice versa
e.g. On stalno / jako pije. He is a chronic/heavy drinker.
We are pleased to declare … Sa zadovoljstvom izjavljujemo …
CLASSES OF (GRAMMATICAL) TRANSPOSITIONS -
SHIFTS

CLASS SHIFT (change in word class I ,part of speech)

UNIT SHIFT (change in rank: word - phrase - clause & v.

STRUCTURE SHIFT (change in word order)

INTERNAL SHIFT (change in number or case: within a

word itself)
 CLASS SHIFT
ange in word class / part of speech
Which word classes?
– (N, Adj, V, Adv) - combinations:
To nam je dalo moguæ nost da ... This made it possible for us to ...
But he is in control. Ali on kontrolira sve
I’m not in a silly mood Ne osjeæ am se glupo i …
… held a sign proclaming him to be HUNGRY and HOMELESS
i držao karton na kojem je pisalo
GLADAN I BESKUÆ NIK
They faked an ambush Postavili su lažnu zasjedu.
Well, you get to live, for one thing. Pa, bit æ ete živi, za poè etak
Darby spooned he coffee … Darvy je žlicom miješala kavu …
He averaged one year… U prosejku je obavljao jedan posao godišnje.
I’m a readskins freak. Lud sam za Redskinsima.
–V
It was a dead giveawayOtktrila se ...
–N
...but four mounted policemen were close enouhgh to prevent trouble...
Ali è etvoro policajaca na kolnjima bili su dovoljno blizu da sprijeè e nered
A
East immediatel disliked the President
– Easrt Predsjedniku odmah postane antipatiè an ...
Well, you get to live, for one thing. Pa, bit æ ete živi, za poè etak.
–A
He did not appear to be a sweetheart at this moment. U ovom
trenutku niej bio drag.
 UNIT SHIFT - rank shift
hange in the rank of unit from:
– word to phrase
– word to clause
– phrase to clause
– and v. v.
enerally, there are three ways to approach the problem.
pæ enito govoreæ i, postoje tri pristupa rješenju problema.
e issue discussed in detail has been reiterated several times.
tanje koje je bilo potanko raspravljano, ponovljeno je nekoliko puta.

l/Germ/Fr - English: preposizioni articolate (fused article): dell', zur, du

 STRUCTURE SHIFT
he necessary change in the word order
requent feature of H/G - E translation: Ab > Ba
hanges in position, dominance (superordinate /
subordinate) focus

shing describes how a vague referent resulted in the death

o 101 people in an air crash ...
shing opisuje kako je u jednom zraè nom sudaru 101 è
ovjek poginuo uslijed nejasnog znaè enja rijeè i.

Adj + N = V + Adv
– He made a nice speech
– He spoke nicely
 INTERNAL SHIFT
anges within a word:
– voice (active/passive/reflex. pron);
– transitivity (transitive / intransitive/ ergative);
– degree of comparison;
– attrib. vs. predic. use of the adjective;
– number;
– def. vs. indef article;
– tense etc.

Navigation is prohibited in 4 miles radius.

Zabranjuje se plovidba na udaljenosti od 4 milje.
Zabranjena je plovidba ...
Informacije vs information

savjeti advice
znanja knowledge
physics fizika
 Transpositions, concl.
ot easy to to structly standarise:
Overlapping
Conversion into lexis
Very useful procedure – for the purpose
o stylistic diversity
Not to be recommended intranslating
lega texts
 8. MODULATION:

change in point of view that allows us to

express the same phenomenon in a
different way
Gérard Hardin and Gynthia Picot (199
) Fixed modulation
) Free modulation
 Fixed modulation
HERE IS / ARE ... :
(locative meaning): biti, nalaziti se, postojati, imati
There was a tree near the road - Pokraj ceste bilo je jedno stablo..
(for descriptive use):
There was a tree near the road Pokraj ceste nalazilo se je jedno stablo

The ship/aircraft must carry a radio officer.

Brod mora imati radijskog è asnika. ,
(na brodu mora biti /mora se nalaziti, *prevoziti)

omment: Equivalence ofthe PHRASE, not of the VERB:

CARRY / BE CARRIED (active vs passive)
 Equivalence: change of point of view / aspect:
CARRY / BE CARRIED (active vs passive)

echnical terms (workshop & sales language) terms derived from

concepts:

failsafe operation / einwandfrei – siguran rad (viewpoint

changed: from ‘neg’ to ‘pos’/ neutral)

mantic shifts: positive - negative & v. v; part – whole, etc.:

Opasno po život- (*?Mortally dangerous)
- no English equivalent: Danger! (+ sign language)
 Types of modulation
(Vinay and Darbelnet, 1977: 11):

1. recorded / fixed / modulation: (standard modulation), e.g.

in bilingual dictionaries (two-to-one; one-to-two; one-to-
nought; nought-to-one correspondence);
• a ready-made procedure: fixed - invariant (established TR
equivalences)

2. free modulation:
• more practical in cases where "the TL rejects literal
translation"
• used when grammatical means are inadequate
• An equivalent is created for the specidic occasion
(all modulations were originally FREE mod.)
 Free modulation:
as (semantic content) underlying modulation:
1. INCLUSION - SPECIALISATION
(general/particular): crew – posada / è lan
posade (abstract/concrete):

2. GENERALISATION
(part-whole) county - city - municipality;
Wall Street; Bonn – metonymy
Zagreb (the Croatian Government) je odgovorio umjerenom noto

3. OPPOSITION (+/-)
(animate – inanimate) (choking of the nozzle - zatvaranje sapnice)
(static – dynamic)
(positive – privative) (Jack, shortage, failure; naked light; fail; un-, -less, -free, etc.)
(cause – effect): cause, give rise to, in consequence of, as a result of
(positive – negative) it is possible … it is not impossible …/ nije nemoguæ
e Half hot / napola hladno
 Lexical oppositions:
Dimensions
(depth - height of the ship's hull;
heavy rain/wind/waves:
jak/snažan/visok + kiša/vjetar (*težak )
directions
quantity – quality (half full / half empty)
symbols
sensations
 Modification:

a semantic-pragmatic procedure that changes:

– the category of thought,
– the focus,
– the point of view and
– the whole conceptualization
Negated contrary - a procedure that relies on changing the
value of the ST in translation from negative to positive or vic
versa,
e.g. 'it is difficult' may be translated by ‘nije lako ';
'he never sleeps' can be translated by ‘on je uvijek budan';
'remember to pay the tax', nemoj zaboraviti platiti porez'.

All the examples Above are free translations(their correctness depends

the context)
modulations become compulsory when there is a lexical gap in
oppositio (Newmark, 1988)
 Free modulation:
abstract for concrete,
cause for effect,
space for time,
impersonal or active for passive
(the most frequent and procedure):

– He is said to be serious. - Kažu da je ozbiljan

 Modulation occurs:
when there is a change of perspective
accompanied with a lexical change in the TL

However, it should better be avoided unless i

is necessary for the naturalness of the
translation
 9. ADAPTATION
(free translation) - a translation procedure
whereby
the translator replaces a social, or
cultural, reality in the source text with a
corresponding reality in the target text
this new reality needs to be more usual to th
audience of the target text.
rendering the situation depicted in SL - BUT – not in TL, e.g. proverbs:

ubiti dvije muhe jednim udarcem - kill two birds with one stone
( zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe schlagen)
BUT: zabijati glavu u pijesak - burry one's head in the sand

creation of a situation in TL analogous to one in the SL (i.e.:

such a situation does not exist in TL culture)
cricket (engl. nacionalni sport); American football; vs
nogomet standard (=normalan);
ekonomija: economy (also ekonomika, ekonomicnost)
facility: kapaciteti, uredaji, postrojenja, ponuda
Leistung: efficiency, power, capacity, output, life, achievement, result
guns/arms
lexical hierarchies/taxonomies (family/kinship terms, country /..
administrative structures / divisions; school marks; university ranks; miliraty ran
rectionalitvyof TR:
LITERAL TR: set up bi-directionally - WORD-FOR- WORD: not bi-
directional
NON-LITERAL TR: unidirectional
FORMAL EOUIVALENCE TR vs DYNAMIC Eq. (Nida)

RMAL EQUIVALENCE:
SL-oriented:
Attempts to reproduce several formal elements:
a) grammatical units (N = N, V = V; keeping phrases intact; punctuation
b) consistency in word usage
c) meanings in terms of source text
In adaptation, the translator works on changing the content
and the form of the ST in a way that conforms to the rules o
the language and culture in the TL community.
In general, this procedure is used as an effective way to deal
with culturally-bound words/expressions, metaphors and
images in translation.
That is, the translator resorts to rewriting the SLT according
the characteristics of the TLT = TL-oriented translation
Monia Bayar (2007) argues that adaptation is based on thre
main procedures:
– cultural substitution,
– paraphrase and
– omission.
In adaptation 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 sa
the least.
Should a restaurant menu in a Spanish tourist resort
translat "pincho" as "kebab" in English?
Should a French text talking about Belgian jokes be translate
into English as talking about Irish jokes (always assuming it
should be translated at all)?
Should “è evapè iæ i” be translated as “kebab”?
 Examples of adaptation
(Wikipedia)
in the Belgian comic book The Adventures of Tintin, Tintin's trusty canine sidekic
Milou, is translated as Snowy in English, Bobbie in Dutch, and Struppi in German
likewise the detectives Dupond and Dupont become Thomson and Thompson in
English, Jansen and Janssen in Dutch, Schultze and Schulze in German,
Hernánde and Fernández in Spanish,
Similarly, when Quebec playwright Michel Tremblay adapted Gogol's play Revizo
(The Inspector General), as Le gars de Québec, he transposed the setting from
Russia to his home province.
 Examples of adaptation, ctd.
translation of the names of Disney
characters as many names employ similar
vocal sounds or puns.
Adaptation is often used when translating
poetry, works of theatre and advertising.

Cf. also the Croatian translation of names in

Alice in Wonderland and the Harry Potter
series
 10. Reduction and expansion

These two procedures are usually used in poor written texts, and lead to a change in lexica
and stylistic aspects. Expansion refers to the case where the translator exceeds the
numbe of words of the SLT in translation, e.g. 'homme noir', 'dark skinned man'. Here, we
notice a shift from n+adj in French into adj+ptp (compound adj) +noun.
Further, expansion procedure also occurs when the translator tries to move from the implicit
into the explicit. For instance, 'the child cries for the game', should not be translat by
'l'enfant pleure pour le jeux', since the element 'pour' does not convey the right meanin and
may mislead the reader. So, here the translator should look for another explicit meani of the
element 'pour', which is (in order to get), 'pour avoir', thus the example is correctly read as
'l'enfant pleure pour avoir le jeux‘ (djeè ak plaè e kako bi dobio igraè ku).
In reduction procedure, (omission, deletion) the translator is more likely to reduce in the
number of elements that form the SLT. This procedure should respect the principle of
relevance, that is, the translator should make sure that no crucial information is dropped i
translation. An example of reduction in translation is 'science politique', 'politics'. Here, th
SL adjective plus noun becomes a general noun (politics / politika) in the TL.

Cf. translation universals!!!

 11. Additions, notes and glosses

In general, these procedures are used by translators to add information about

a culturally-bound word/expression, or a technical term that is related to a
speci domain.
They may occupy various places within the text. They might be used inside the
text, and here they can be positioned between round or square brackets, excep
in case these brackets are used as parts of the SLT.
They are also used as notes in the bottom of the page, or at the end of the
chapter, unless the chapter is too long.
Further, additional information can be written as glosses in the end of t
book, with the help of number references. Yet, the latter procedure is le
favored, since it is an irritating and exhausting task for the reader, who
finds himself obliged to go to the end of the book every time he comes
across a foreign word.
Finally, the use of these procedures depends on the readership and the
degree of the gap that exists between his language and the SLT.
Besides, these procedures should not be used at random in translation.
They should better be preceded by a short introduction, where the
translator discusses the difficulty of the authors' terms and his ways and
degrees of assistance in transferring their meanings.
 Stylistic aspects of LITERAL TR
Es ist verboten die Gleise zu ueberschreiten.
• Zabranjeno prelaziti prugu / traè nice.
• Zabranjeno prelaženje pruge / traè nica.
– It is forbidden to cross the lines.
– No crossing the lines/tracks.
– Do not cross the lines.
– Only authorised personnel us allowed to cross the lines.
– Passengers are not allowed to cross the lines.

– E: G syntax pattern in E
lexical corresp. unchanged: - ignore the natural standards of TL(E
a foreign stylistic ring
H – E: idiomatic TR in TL - departure from SL syntax (non-literal TR)
12. Compensation / substitution
a translation procedure whereby the translator solves the problem
aspects of the source text that cannot take the same form in the
target language by replacing these aspects with other elements o
forms in the source text.
For example, many languages have two forms of the second
perso pronoun: an informal form and a formal form (the French tu
and vous, the Spanish tú, vos and usted, the German du and Sie,
the Croatian Vi), while most modern-day dialects of English no
longer recognize the T-V distinction, and have retained the you
form only. Hence, to translate a text from one of these languages
to English, the translator may have to compensate by using:
– a first name or nickname, or
– by using syntactic phrasing that are viewed as informal in English (I'm, you're,
gonna, dontcha, etc.), or
– by using English words of the formal and informal registers.
13. Translator's notes & definitions
A translator's note is a note (usually a footnote or an
endnote) added by the translator to the target text to provid
additional information pertaining to the limits of the
translation, the cultural background or any other
explanations; Some translation exams allow or demand such
notes. Some translators regard resorting to notes as a failure
although this view is not shared by most professionals.
cultural comments (definitions)
 14. Paraphrase

Paraphrase, sometimes called periphrasis, is a translation procedure whereby t

translator replaces a word in the source text by a group of words or an expressio
in the target text.
An extreme example of paraphrase can be found in the BBC reports of June 22,
2004 of the identification of the "most untranslatable" word. The word chosen i
Ilunga, a word supposedly from a language in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo. The BBC article states that "Ilunga means 'a person who is ready to forgi
any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time'.
Incidentally, the word Ilunga is of questionable provenance, as some Congolese
(notably the Congo government) claim that it is simply a name, without addition
connotations. See the article Ilunga for more information.
Another example of paraphrase is the Portuguese word saudade, which is often
translated at a loss into English as "missing a person who is gone".
 Conclusion
Translation procedures are different in characteristics and
uses.
Each procedure has its own advantages that differ according
to the texts under translation.
No one can judge the validity and prevalence of one
procedure over the other.
It is up to the translator to choose the one he sees more
practical and helpful in his translation task.
Besides, the translator may restrict himself to one procedur
or exceed it to two, three, or even four procedures in the
same translated text
 TR Parameters: Mailhac (2007)
A parameter corresponds to any factor which needs to be taken into
account when choosing a procedure (e.g. communicative/pragmatic
function and readership are among the parameters to be taken into
account when translating culture-bound references).
Parameters can apply to a small unit (e.g. word) or a larger unit (e.g.
whole text).
Given their role in the selection of procedures, parameters also act as
evaluation criteria, since any factor relevant to the choice of procedures
must be relevant to translation-quality assessment.
Parameters will normally combine and interact with each other requirin
the translator to assess their relationship in order to reach a decision
about the most appropriate procedures.
Linguistic medium (spoken vs. written: this will affect the possibility of
rendering intonation by intonation as opposed to some written
equivalent)
Pragmatic context (e.g. the existence of a narrator or the option of stag
directions would make the use of descriptive labels possible)
Nature of the text (e.g. one would expect options to be more restricted
a sonnet than a novel)
Readership (e.g. there could be the possibility of slightly different use of
typographical conventions for emphasis in children's literature)
Style (e.g. nineteenth-century English prose; Carroll's highly frequent us
of emphasis)
Level of speech (e.g. colloquial language would alter the range of lexical
and syntactic options in French; see Wood 1991:128)
 Linguistic frequency norms concerning various means of conveying
emphasis in the SL and TL (e.g. the much higher frequency of cleft
constructions in French compared to English; Volsik 1991:86)2
Pragmatic function (e.g. expressing contrast, surprise, confirmation,
challenge, contradiction, impatience, suggestion, order)
Sentence type (e.g. the use of the interjection diable in exclamatory or
interrogative sentences).
0) Nature of word emphasised (e.g. emphasis on personal pronouns wou

often result in a morphological procedure; see Wood 1991:125)

1) Presence of other emphasizing element (e.g. the presence of certainly
the following example makes it possible not to render the emphasis on
the auxiliary without any real loss: I have tasted eggs, certainly > J'ai
certainement goûté à des oeufs)
 Study the TR procedures used in
the following pair of texts:
Rule of Interpretation PRAVILO ZA TUMAÈ ENJE
n the adjustment of general Prilikom likvidacije zajedniè ke
average the following Rules shall havarije primijenit æ e se
apply to the exclusion of any Law sljedeæa pravila, iskljuè ujuæ i
and Practice inconsistent primjenu bilo kojeg njima
therewith. protivnog prava ili prakse.
Except as provided by the Rule Uz iznimku onoga što je predvið eno
Paramount and the numbered Vrhovnom pravilu i u pravilima
Rules, general average shall be oznaè enim brojevima, zajedniè
adjusted according to the k havarija likvidirat æ e se prema
lettered Rules. pravilima koja su oznaè ena
slovima.
Rule Paramount VRHOVNO PRAVILO
n no case shall there be any Ni u kojem sluè aju neæ e se priznati
allowance for sacrifice or žrtva ili izdatak, osim ako su
expenditure unless reasonably razborito bili uè injeni ili uloženi.
made or incurred.