Linguistic Aspects of Translation Between French and English

Abstract

Translation is the transfer of a message from one language - which can be referred to as the source language - into another language, designated as the target language. Whether translators are born or can be trained is an open-ended question. However, by observing and being aware of certain facts, one can go beyond the glaring erroneous translations that result from a lack of experience or sometimes even from a lack of time. Avoiding cultural bias and paraphrasing are important tools for a translator. However, linguistic differences between both languages make it important and necessary to be prudent and diligent while translating. A range of differences between the two languages – seemingly simple aspects like the use of punctuation, capitalization or more prevalent aspects like semantics - all pose a challenge to translators. This paper treats the challenges that translators could face in their activity due to certain linguistic elements.