Transpositions et modulations en traduction

Abstract EN

The absence of total equivalence among languages on all levels makes translation a difficult if not an impossible mission.

Does this mean that we should stop translating? Of course not.

In this paper, we primarily shed light on the techniques translators use to overcome the difficulties they face, specially transposition and modulation.

These techniques are now well known, particularly since the pioneering work Stylistique comparée du français et de l'anglais by Jean-Pierre Vinay and Jean Darbelnet (Didier, 1958: new edition 1977) and more recent research.

It is important the student realize that he/she can call on a great many techniques to move from one language to another and must at all costs avoid word-for-word translations.

In transposition, the translator changes the grammatical category of the word.

It may be compulsory or optional and multiple combinations are possible.

Thus, we can move (in translating from English into French) from the noun to the verb and from the adverb to the adjective, etc., and from the adverb to the absolute object in translating from English to Arabic or from French into Arabic.

Modulation involves switching angle or point of view in order to translate a word or expression that "moves" awkwardly from one language to another.

It operates by metonymic transfer – the part for the whole, the container for the content, etc.

Translators are obliged to use these techniques of oblique translation to render a text that does not deform the target language but abides with its styles.

It goes without saying that translators should not overuse these techniques but resort to them only in cases when they cannot construct a smooth text in the target language.