Translating without betraying. : Translating a theoretical text about translation, using the strengthening of cohesive links as the principal strategy of translation.

Translating without betraying. Translating a theoretical text about translation, using the strengthening of cohesive links as the principal strategy of translation. The aim of this study was to examine some aspects of the translation of a theoretical text on translation, written in French. In order to do that I started off by translating a passage of the book Introduction à la traductologie. Penser la traduction: hier, aujourd’hui, demain by Mathieu Guidère (2010). The book is intended for students and others interested in translation and translation studies. The theoretical framework of this study makes references to, among others, Blum-Kulka (1986) and to Vermeer (2012) and the skopos theory. As Guidère has a pedagogical aim with his book, it is particularly relevant to pay a special attention to the function of the text while translating. In several cases the source text proved to be both ambiguous and unclear. The skopos theory claims that the function of the target text should be at the center of the translator’s interest. The fact that the translation process requires an interpretation by the translator in the mediation of the message to be transmitted brings, according to Blum-Kulka (1986), about a text that is more redundant than the source text. This redundancy results in a higher level of cohesive explicitness that strengthens the textual cohesion. For this, Blum-Kulka (ibid) suggests that explicitness and greater cohesion can be seen as forming a general strategy in translation. To achieve a greater level of cohesion in the target text and to make it easier to read, I used some translation procedures, namely explicitness, simplification, reference and lexical cohesion (cf. Blum-Kulka 1986, Mauranen & Kujamäki 2004 and Halliday & Hassan 1976). I hope to have shown that these procedures were appropriate for the translation of this source text but also for the function of the target text. At the same time it turned out that these categories were in no way waterproof – on the contrary – many times they actually overlapped. I also found passages where textual coherence could not be achieved through translation strategies. In those cases, the translator faces the choice of either transmitting the inconsistency of the source text by translating them, or leaving the field of translation and rewriting the text. I opted for staying in the field of translation. The analysis of my own translation is of course a translation commentary rather than a scientific research. To really conduct a thorough research on translation procedures related to the function of the target text, you would have to analyze texts from other translators in order to have a more objective study object.