Translation
“Her tone betrays the fear that linguists may invade and ravage precious literary territory.” From R. Fowler (1971)
Y a-t-il une traduction parfaite et unique pour un texte?
NON! Une traduction n’est jamais la seule possible, mais d’autres versions du même texte traduit sont valables, si elles respectent certains paramètres.
Deux types principaux de traduction:
transcodage: traduction littérale, c’est-à-dire mot-à-mot: tous les éléments du texte de départ réapparaissent dans le texte d’arrivée ;
traduction libre: retransmission libre au-delà de la structure morpho-syntaxique de l’énoncé du texte d’arrivée
La traduction littérale est aussi une traduction scolaire/pédagogique, qui ne contrôle que les structures de la langue étrangère et son vocabulaire, sans aucune considération du contexte.
La traduction littérale est rarement publiable à cause de son détachement de son contexte linguistique et extralinguistique.
“Words travel worlds. Translators do the driving.” – Anna Rusconi, Translator
“Without translation, I would be limited to the borders of my own country. The translator is my most important ally. He introduces me to the world.” – Italo Calvino
“Translating literary works from French to English requires much more than exchanging one word for another, more than trading sentences between languages. It takes an understanding of the author’s message to capture the vision, the essence, of the writing.” – Susanna McLeod
“If culture is a house, then language was the key to the front door; to all the rooms inside. Without it, you ended up wayward, without a proper home or a legitimate identity.” ― Khaled Hosseini
“Translation is that which transforms everything so that nothing changes.”- Günter Grass
“Translators should imagine their work as establishing a relation not only to the source text but also to the receiving culture. They need to immerse themselves in their particular cultural situation, to know and evaluate it, to take a position in relation to it.” – Lawrence Venuti
“The translator is a privileged writer who has the opportunity to rewrite masterpieces in their own language.”– Javier Marías
“A translator is a reader, an interpreter and a creator all in one.”- Bijay Kumar Das
“Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about”. – Benjamin Lee Whorf
Spanish Language
The definite article
Singular Plural
masculine el hombre los hombres
feminine la mujer las mujeres
Neutre lo (the article lo is neuter and cannot accompany a noun. Example Lo difícil es encontrar trabajo).
English Language
Did you know?
Listening to BBC Radio 4’s ‘The Today Programme’ or its ‘P.M.’ show, can help you improve your English.
Useful Internet Links for English Language Learners.
Italian Language
Lo sapevate?
Il linguaggio umano è un sistema complesso che ha sì una sua logica interna, ma che è anche continuamente riorganizzato e ristrutturato dagli eventi storici e sociali, che sono spesso difficilmente prevedibili e formalizzabili.
How Do You Translate the Italian Word “tutti”(everybody, everyone pron all of [sth]) into French?
You translate with “tout le monde”.
- Tutti gli vogliono bene. Tout le monde l’aime. Everyone loves him.
- Sono andati via tutti. Tout le monde est parti. Everybody has left or Everyone is gone.
Tout le monde is a false friend, it doesn’t mean “tutto il mondo” or “the whole world”. The correct translation for that is “le monde entier”.
Example
Ha girato tutto il mondo. Il a visité le monde entier. He’s traveled around the world.
When talking about a third person, Italians tend to put articles in front of the names but that is not the case in French. Articles are also omitted in English.
1.Il Rossi ha telefonato. Dupont a téléphoné. Rossi called.
2. La Maria non potrà venire. Marie ne pourra pas venir. Maria won’t come.
3. Madame Trucmuche arrive demain. La signorina Pincoppalino arriva domani. Miss Trucmuche is arriving tomorrow.
4. Mademoiselle désire? La signorina desidera? What would you like, young lady?
5.Madame est servie. La signorina è servita.
French Language
Did you know?
French is the official language of 29 countries. The international organisation representing French-speaking countries and regions is called la Francophonie, which consists of 88 member states and governments. This means that there are different forms of the French language and a variety of accents across the board. All these French-speaking countries have idioms that are unique to them. A native French speaker from France will never understand them. For example:
- Pickpockets are referred to as les deux-doigts which literally means two-fingers, in Mali. A French speaking person from France would normally say pickpocket (which is anglicism/English loan word) or voleur à la tire, voleuse à la tire.
- A free range of chicken is un poulet-bicyclette in Ivorian French. However, in France this would be les poulets fermiers or les poulets élevés en plein air.
Did you know?
TV5 is the greatest accomplishment of the Francophonie. It is the third largest television network after BBC and CNN.
Did you know? The French Language has a lot of expressions with food. For example:
- It’s none of your business! C’est pas tes oignons! The literal translation is “they’re not your onions!”.
- Stop telling tales! Arrête de raconter des salades! The literal translation is “stop telling salads!”
- I have lots of energy. J’ai la pêche. The literal translation is “I have the peach”.
Did you know?
Over 30% of English words are of French origin. Most of which are cognates – words that look the same or similar and have the exact same meaning in both languages. For example: souvenir, fiancé, déjà vu, pot-pourri (a mixture of dried petals and spices placed in a bowl to perfume a room.), abbreviation, academic, accent, accept, access, baggage, duvet, fabulous, fatigue, omelette, pair et cetera, et cetera.
French SMS Language or Textspeak
- Bonjour is Bjr!
- Salut is SLT!
- Ça va? is CV?
- Merci is Mr6
- Ciné is 6né
- Rendez-vous is Rdv
- D’accord is Dak
Did you know?
Verlan is a French slang use by teenagers and in hip-pop music. So, they take a word in French, then swap around the syllables, add or leave the letters out. For example, la musique changes into la sicmu, and café changes into féca.
Le saviez-vous?
“Mademoiselle est désormais pratiquement réservé aux très jeunes filles, Madame est utilisée indifféremment pour les femmes mariées ou non mariées”.Françoise Bidaud So, in France every adult woman is Madame whether married or not.
Did you know?
All the 26 letters in the French alphabet are masculine. Un s; un e.
Did you know?
Some adjectives are invariable words; they are not modified according to gender, number or person. For example: snob, chic, standard and taboo.
C’était une soirée très chic, nous n’avons pas abordé les sujets tabou, mais les filles étaient vraiment trop snob. (It was a nice evening, we didn’t broach any taboo subject, but the girls were too snob.)
Did you know?
When forming the negative form in French both the indefinite articles (un, une, des) and the partitive articles (du, de la, de l’, des) becomes “de”.
J’ ai un vélo – je n’ai pas de vélo
I’ve a bike. I don’t have a bike.
J’ai une voiture – je n’ai pas de voiture
I’ve a car. I don’t have a car.
J’ai des lunettes – je n’ai pas de lunettes
I’ve glasses. I don’t have glasses.
J’ai du chagrin – je n’ai pas de chargrin.
I’m sad. I’m not sad.
J’ai de la chance – je n’ai pas de chance.
I am lucky. I’m not lucky.
J’ai de l’argent – je n’ai pas d’argent
I’ve money. I don’t have money.
French expressions with “tout”.
Tout de suite= immédiatement
Ils ont répondu tout de suite à ma demande. They replied to my question immediately.
Tout à fait= complètement
Je suis tout à fait reposé après cette bonne sieste. I feel completely/absolutely rested after this good siesta.
Tout à l’heure= il y a peu de temps ou dans peu de temps
Il m’a téléphoné tout à l’heure. He called me just now.
Il me rappellera tout à l’heure. He is going to call me shortly.
Le tout- Paris = les personnes les plus importantes et connues. Everybody who is anybody in Paris.
À la finale de Roland Garros, il y avait le tout-Paris.
At the final of the Roland Garros, there was everybody who is anybody in Paris.
Pour tout dire = en résumé
To sum up, in a nutshell, to put it simply…
Why Should You Learn a Second Language?
According to Pachler, Barnes and Field (2009) ‘one important reason for the study of MFL is the recognition that it has an important role in terms of contributing to the personal, social, cultural and general linguistic development of pupils in preparation for their adult lives, both for work and leisure.’
Pachler, N., Barnes, A. and Field, K. (2009). Learning to Teach Modern Foreign Languages in the Secondary School. 3rd ed. Routledge, p.6.
“With languages you are at home anywhere.” –Edward de Waal
“Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.” –Rita Mae Brown
“A different language is a different vision of life.”- Federico Fellini
“Learning another language is like becoming another person.”- Haruki Murakami
“I know lots of people speak English but being prepared to say something in someone else’s language is a way of showing them that you care, that you’re prepared to make the effort and you don’t just expect them to speak your language. That’s quite arrogant actually, isn’t it?” – Diane Modahl
“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.” –Flora Lewis
What Can Help You Learn a Second Language?
‘Language is a learned behaviour and is acquired through imitation’ (Cooke 2014, p 77).
Cooke, A. (2014) A qualitative inquiry into the construction of modern foreign language teachers’ beliefs and pedagogical content knowledge. Norwich: University of East Anglia.
In my language tuitions, I always use the target language giving students the opportunity to practice speaking the language.
According to the national curriculum (DfE, 2014) as far as language learning is concerned “the teaching should enable pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing”. Therefore, you must take every opportunity to practice speaking the target language.
DfE (2014) National Curriculum in England: complete framework for key stages 1 to 4 – for teaching from September 2016. London: Crown Publications.
“A foreign language is like a frail, delicate muscle. If you do not use it, it weakens.” – Jhumpa Lahiri
Did you know?
To become fluent in a language you need to spend time reading, writing, speaking and listening.
What Makes Language Learning Difficult?
According to Ellis (1997, p.23) language “acquisition follows a U-shaped course of development; that is, initially learners may display a high level of accuracy only to apparently regress later before finally once again performing in accordance with target-language norms”. This definition is similar to that found in Krashen’s (1982) concept of affective filter, which claims that feelings such as anxiety, stress or low-self-esteem pose barriers on learning.
Ellis, R. (1997) Second Langage Acquistion. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Krashen, S.D. (1982) Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquistion, Oxford: Pergamon Press
Language Tuition Online and Translation - French, Italian and Spanish 