Translation Techniques

Chanson d’automne

Les sanglots longs
Des violons
De l’automne
Blessent mon coeur
D’une langueur
Monotone.

Tout suffocant
Et blême, quand
Sonne l’heure,
Je me souviens
Des jours anciens
Et je pleure;

Et je m’en vais
Au vent mauvais
Qui m’emporte
Deçà, delà,
Pareil à la
Feuille morte.

… and for the non-French linguists, here is my translation (feel free to comment or amend)

Autumn Song

As the lengthy sighing begins
From the violins
Of the autumn tunes,
Piercing my heart
In a monotonous languor

Pale and pained,
My breath fails me, when
The hour tolls deep.
I recall days long gone
And I weep.

And I depart
As ill winds blow,
And carries me forth
Hither, thither
Just like
A dead leaf.

The content for my September blog had been considered over several days: a poem about Autumn; an explanation, then use the poem as a metaphor for how language dies, but is resurgent in the Spring. However, as I translated the first poem (attempting to convey Verlaine’s original: rhyme; syntax; lexis; and poetic meter), I decided to focus on a few useful translation techniques.

These may be of use to undergraduate and A level students of French, or teachers as they embark on a new academic year and tackle the translation tasks (‘version’ or ‘thème’ – translation or prose respectively).

In each section below, I have given a brief explanation, then some examples [please contact me at robknell1962@gmail.com should you want further examples or to enquire about my availability to visit your school to deliver a translation ‘cours magistral’.

I am also available to speak about my role as a translator/interpreter at the Paris Olympics and in the professional football world; I have spoken at several schools on such topics and been able to inspire pupils to opt for a foreign language at GCSE/A Level, or motivate students to consider a foreign language as a degree choice or subject adjunct.

 Etoffement

This translation technique involves adding information or contextual details to render it more precise. Prepositions require an adjective, a past participle, or a further preposition, and the addition of more detail may be in the form of a noun or a verb.

• From 6 o’clock → A partir de 18 heures

• The people on the course will have to book their own room
  → Les personnes participant à la formation devront réserver elles-mêmes leur chambre d’hôtel

• You will endeavour to master all the concepts presented in the course. To achieve this, your full commitment will be required
  → Vous tenterez de maîtriser tous les concepts présentés lors du cours. Pour atteindre cet objectif, vous devrez faire preuve d’un engagement sans faille

 Dépouillement

This is effectively the opposite of the technique above, ensuring a succinct translation, and may include ‘stripping away’ the original text either in quantity or semantic precision.

• L’influence de l’immigration sur la littérature, la nourriture et les arts en France ne fait aucun doute → … is undisputed

• Les immigrés ont contribué au rayonnement de la culture française dans le domaine culinaire → … influence of French culture in the food sector

• On explore l’océan à la recherche de … → They explore the ocean for …

 Postpositions [le chassé-croisé]

These are notoriously awkward to translate from English to French. English describes the action before mentioning the ‘result’, whereas French focusses more on the ‘result’ of the action, then describes the manner or the conditions in which things happen. The complement of the verb or the preposition in English becomes a verb in French and the verb in English will be chosen as the complement of the new verb.

• He tiptoed into the lounge 
  → Il est entré dans le salon sur la pointe des pieds

• He crept down to the kitchen
  → Il est descendu jusqu’à la cuisine à pas de loup

• He swam across the river
  → Il a traversé la rivière à la nage

• He elbowed his way through the crowd
  → Il s’est frayé un chemin à travers la foule en jouant des coudes

• He flew across the Channel
  → Il traversa la Manche en avion

• The train roared into the station
  → Le train est entré dans la gare avec un bruit fracassant

 Inference in French (compared to English)

French is more à l’aise in terms of inference, whereas English tends to be more literal.

• I’ll walk you home → Je t’accompagnerai chez toi

• I asked him to stand beside me
  → Je lui ai demandé de rester à côté de moi

• He always travels in the back → Il s’installe toujours à l’arrière

 ‘Intellectual’ v ‘affective’ vocabulary

The former are words that hardly elicit an emotion, whereas the latter draw on our sensitivities.

• le personnel hospitalier → hospital personnel

• un homme hospitalier → a hospitable man

• la classe enfantine → an infants class

• un raisonnement enfantin → a childish reasoning

• une idée vague → a vague idea

• un terrain vague → a wasteland

• A plateau lay between two ranges
  → Un plateau s’étendait entre deux chaînes

• Our production has now reached a plateau
  → Notre production attaint maintenant un palier

 Part of speech

Would a different part of speech be more ‘comfortable’?
E.g.: Translate an adverb + adjective phrase

• It is unbearably hot = Il fait une chaleur insupportable

 Specific meanings (faux-amis/cultural awareness/technicalities)

Such words or phrases require an in-depth cultural knowledge and experience

• Une Grande Ecole

• Une Ecole Normale

• Le smoking

• Un préservatif (dans la confiture !)

Now try these …

• A picture by Monet

• A picture book for children

• It is a Paramount picture

• The pictures in this text are excellent

• This is a picture of him when he was five

• The picture of the King is on stamps and pound coins

Adverbs

• Consider different parts of speech options in French.

• Soigneusement

• de manière/façon soigneuse

• avec soin

A second Autumn poem is by Guillaume Apollinaire [1880-1918]; I have not translated this, so am effectively giving a ‘homework’ task! [My translation will be in October’s blog]

Automne malade

Automne malade et adoré
Tu mourras quand l’ouragan soufflera dans les roseraies
Quand il aura neigé
Dans les vergers 

Pauvre automne
Meurs en blancheur et en richesse
De neige et de fruits mûrs
Au fond du ciel
Des éperviers planent
Sur les nixes nicettes aux cheveux verts et naines
Qui n’ont jamais aimé

Aux lisières lointaines
Les cerfs ont bramé

Et que j’aime ô saison que j’aime tes rumeurs
Les fruits tombant sans qu’on les cueille
Le vent et la forêt qui pleurent
Toutes leurs larmes en automne feuille à feuille
Les feuilles
Qu’on foule
Un train
Qui roule
La vie
S’écoule

Fun bite …

How would you translate the following ? [answers at the end]

• But granny liked my food

• Pas d’elle yeux Rhône que nous

• A green worm pours a glass towards a glassmaker around 8 p.m.

• Sèche chevaux

• Home Alone (film)

• Mi-figue mi-raisin

• Wait, your aunt holding your time so much, you have so many horseflies in your tent

Why do translation mistakes happen?

1. Machine-generated translation is accurate (AI), but figurative language, idiom, and humour are tricky

2. Amateur translators may struggle with technical language, complex grammar, or specific terms

3. Faux-amis: these are a false path for amateur translators or AI

So, what are my top tips?

1. Keep it simple. Not everything needs to be translated word-for-word, so think about the idea that needs to be conveyed (especially re poetry)

2. Read as much as possible in the foreign language

3. Practise as much as possible

4. Expand the lexical base

Merci de bien vouloir lire le blog en octobre (thank you well to want read the October blog!)

Answers

• Mais mamie a aimé mon mets

• Paddle your own canoe

• Un ver vert verse un verre vers un verrier vers vingt heures

• Horse dryer (did you read ‘cheveux’?)

• Maman, j’ai raté l’avion

• Neither fish, nor foul (i.e. so, so)

• Attend, ta tante tenant ton temps tant, t’en a autant de taons dans ta tente