FIDESCU

Cursos de traduccin / Resumen de los procedimientos de la traduccin.

Fundacin para la Investigacin

y Desarrollo de la Cultura Espaola

RESUMEN DE LOS PROCEDIMIENTOS DE TRADUCCIN

En la lista no se incluyen los procedimientos especiales para la traduccin de
la metfora ni de metalenguaje.
LA TRANSFERENCIA
Es el proceso de transferir una palabra de la LO al texto de la lengua LT en
tanto cuanto se utiliza como un procedimiento translatorio. Incluye la
conversin de los distintos alfabetos (cirlico, griego, arbigo, etc.) al espaol.
Ej.: utilizar en la LT bypass, perestroika, glasnost...
LA NATURALIZACIN
Sigue a la transferencia y consiste en adaptar una palabra de la LO a la
pronunciacin y morfologa normales de la LT y adems en ese orden.
Ej.: cheque, gol, majorismo, Edimburgo...
EL EQUIVALENTE CULTURAL
Es la traduccin aproximada de un trmino cultural de la LO por otro trmino
cultural de la LT y adems en ese orden.
Ejemplos de equivalentes culturales aproximados y de uso limitado:
"A" levels: "la selectividad (inglesa)"
Delicatessen: "tienda de ultramarinos"
He met her in the pub: "La encontr en el bar"

FIDESCU

Cursos de traduccin / Resumen de los procedimientos de la traduccin.

EL EQUIVALENTE FUNCIONAL
Consiste en utilizar una palabra culturalmente neutra y aadir, a veces, un
nuevo trmino especfico. Por tanto, se neutraliza o generaliza la palabra de la
LO y, a veces, se aade un detalle.
Ej.:

Roget: "diccionario ideolgico ingls"

Baccalaurat: "examen de selectividad francs"
Butterfly cushion: "mariposa lumbar"

EL EQUIVALENTE DESCRIPTIVO
Consiste en considerar la descripcin en relacin con la funcin.
Ej.: samovar es "vasija rusa de cobre con hornillo interior" y su funcin es
"calentar agua para el t" tanto una como la otra estn fusionadas en la
palabra "tetera".
LA SINONIMIA
Consiste en acudir a un equivalente cercano en la LT para una palabra de la
LO dentro de un contexto, exista o no un equivalente exacto.
Se usa sobretodo con adjetivos y adverbios de cualidad que en principio estn
"fuera" de la gramtica y su importancia es menor que la de otros
componentes de la oracin.
Ej.: kind person: "persona amable"
awkward: "difcil"
LA TRADUCCIN DIRECTA
Es los que se conoce como calque o prstamo, o sea una traduccin literal de
colocaciones corrientes, de nombres de organizaciones, de los componentes
de palabras compuestas y de alocuciones.
Ej.: supermarket: "supermercado"
conscientious objetor: "objetor de conciencia"
EEC: "Comunidad Econmica Europea"
LA TRANSPOSICIN
Conlleva un cambio en la gramtica al pasar un texto de la LO a la LT.

FIDESCU

Cursos de traduccin / Resumen de los procedimientos de la traduccin.

Ej.: furniture: "muebles"

advice: "consejos"

Working with you is a pleasure:

"El trabaja contigo..."

"El trabajo..."
II ne tardera pas rentrer:
"l volver pronto"
As we CAME out of the theatre: "a la salida del teatro"
LA MODULACIN
Tipo de variacin hecho mediante un cambio de punto de vista, de perspectiva
y muchas veces de categora de "pensamiento".
Newmark destaca el del "positivo por doble negativo", aunque existen otros.
Ej.: Don't delay: "Date prisa"
No te quepa duda: "Get this straight"
No tiene nada de tonto: "He is extremely intelligent"
LA TRADUCCIN RECONOCIDA
Como norma general, si la traduccin de un trmino institucional es ya oficial o
est comnmente aceptada, hay que utilizarla.
Ej.: Intelligence Service: "Servicio de Inteligencia del Ejrcito"

LA ETIQUETA DE TRADUCCIN
Traduccin provisional, generalmente de un trmino institucional nuevo que
debera figurar siempre entre comillas y que se irn quitando discretamente.
Ej.: Herital language: "lengua de herencia"

LA COMPRENSACION
Consiste en compensar en otra parte de la oracin o en una contigua la
prdida de significado, efectos sonoros, efecto pragmtico etc. que se produce
en una parte de sta.

FIDESCU

Cursos de traduccin / Resumen de los procedimientos de la traduccin.

ANLISIS COMPONENECIAL:
Reduccin y expansin
Ej.: computer science: "informtica"
live-giving:
"vivificante"

La Parfrasis
Ampliacin o explicacin del significado de un fragmento del texto.

LA EQUIVALENCIA
Se trata de diferentes modos de verter los tpicos y aspectos estereotipados
del lenguaje.
Ej.: The story so far: "Resumen de los captulos precedentes"
LA ADAPTACIN
Es el uso de un equivalente reconocido entre dos situaciones; es un
procedimiento como la equivalencia cultural.
Ej.: Yours faithfully: "Le saluda atentamente"
LOS DOBLETES
Los dobletes, tripletes y cuatripletes combinada respectivamente dos, tres o
cuatro de los procedimientos antes mencionados para hacer frente a un solo
problema.
NOTAS, ADICIONES Y GLOSAS
La informacin adicional que un traductor puede introducir en su versin es por
lo general cultural (aclaracin de la diferencia entre las culturas de la LO y la
LT), tcnica (en relacin con el tema) o lingstica (explicacin del uso irregular
de los vocablos). La adicin o no de esta informacin depende de las
exigencias de sus lectores.

FIDESCU

Cursos de traduccin / Resumen de los procedimientos de la traduccin.

MECHANICS OF Composition: Punctuation

I. Full stop (period in American English), semi-colon, colon, comma.
A. Full stop:
1. To mark the end of a sentence.
2. To mark an abbreviation: C.O.D., Geo., F. Smith, p.m., etc.
3. To show omission in quoted material:
In his last recent book, Dr. Johnson has written:
Walter Whit's first novel, The fire in the flint, is an antilynching tract...
and was written in twelve days. (p. 1247).
4. For numbers: a. Between integral and decimal parts: 62.35 m.
b. Between hours and minutes: 10.45.
B. Semi-colon:
1. Used between two clauses of a compound sentence, usually where the use
of a conjunction detracts from some desired effect (dramatic pause,
contract, etc.). Ex.: We invited Don Webb, the captain of the team; Sue
Mills, the president of our class; and Joe Wynn, the chairman of our group.
C. Colon:
1. To introduce an example. Every sentence should begin with a capital letter.
Ex: The day was beautiful.
2. To introduce a list (of examples):
I consider these the major nuisances of train journeys: transistor radios,
freezing carriages, undisciplined children and people eating oranges.
3. To introduce a quotation:
It was the renowned Dr. Samuel Johnson who is reported to have said:
'Claret is the liquor for boys; port, for me...'
4. After the salutation of a business letter (in American English):
Dear Sir:
D. Comma:
1. Separate clause, phrases or words in the following cases: a.
A list of nouns, adjectives or adverbs:
She is trying to write a textbook, a detective novel and a travel book.
b. A single word or phrase which may modify the entire sentence
(optional): This is, in effect, a result rather than a cause.
c. S subordinate adverbial clause which precedes the main clause:
When my cousin came to see me, she found an unpleasant surprise.
d. A non-defining clause: The gulf stream, which surrounds the British
Isles, normally ensures a temperature climate.
e. To introduce direct speech (see next section).

FIDESCU

Cursos de traduccin / Resumen de los procedimientos de la traduccin.

f.

Phrase in apposition, items in address and dates: Ruthland, the

smallest English county, would oppose incorporation.
She was born on June 12, 1932, n Wichita.
g. After the salutation of a friendly or informal letter (and in British English,
after the salutation of a business letter):
Dear Sir: (Am. English)/ Dear Sir, (British English)
Dear Mary, (Am. and British English).
II. The apostrophe:
A. To denote omitted letters: he'll, isn't, it's, etc.
B. The case of possession:
1. A singular noun: the millionaire's death.
2. A plural noun: the workers' representative.
3. A plural noun not ending in s: the men's voices.
4. A singular noun of two or more syllables ending in /s/ or /z/, having an
accent (primary or secondary) on the final syllable: add s. Ex.: the
marquise's jewels; Alphonse's; Denis's (American English also Denis').
5. A singular noun of one syllable ending in /s/ or /z/m add s: class's;
Marx's James's.
6. With some names, chiefly classical ones, add only: Sophocles';
Cervantes', Guy Fakes' Night.
7. To denote duration of time: an hour's wait, the centuries' pace.
8. In some expressions, such as: for goodness' sake.
C. To denote plurals of letter, figures, or symbols: Two a's; two and's.
III. Inverted commas (American English: Quotation Marks).
A. To set off direct speech:
British English: 'Where are you going?' he asked.
American English: "Where are you going?" he asked.
-

Each speech, or fragment of speech, should be in inverted commas (or

quotation marks) and in a new paragraph.

Any word or phrase normally set within inverted commas which comes
inside the direct speech will have double commas or viceversa (a quotation
within a quotation):
'I heard "Keep out" being shouted' he explained. (especially British Eng.)
'I heard 'Keep out' being shouted' he explained (American Eng.)

B. To set off words with special meaning: slang, nicknames, foreign words, etc.
C. To set off titles of articles, chapters of books, short poems and stories.

FIDESCU

Cursos de traduccin / Resumen de los procedimientos de la traduccin.

IV. Parentheses, brackets, dashes. hyphens and italics:

A. Parentheses: To enclose matter apart from the mail thought: if you come to
see me (and I hope you do), be sure to...
B. Brackets:
a. For parenthesis within parenthesis: He had said that this poem / The
Raven / had made Poe famous.
b. To enclose phonetic transcription.
C. Dash:
a. To set off a summarizing statement; or for emphasis: For a thousand
dollars -a mere thousand dollars - he betrayed.
b. To indicate omission of a letter or words (usually taboo).
D. Hyphen:
a. To indicate a compound (ninety-one; well-to-do).
b. To facilitate reading (re-educate).

Italics:
a. To set off the titles off books, ships, painting, news papers, and magazines
(British Eng. Sometimes uses inverted comm.)
To emphasize a word: l'll never do that again!
WILLIAMS. Joseph (1990). Style: Toward clarity an grace. The University of
Chicago Press, Chicago/London.

1. Clarity: Finding a useful language: some first steps.

Readers are likely to feel that they are reading prose that is clear and direct
when
1. the subjects of the sentences name the cast of characters, and
2. the verbs that go with those subjects name the crucial actions those
character are part of.
Some stylistic consequences:
Write more specifically, more concretely: when we turn verbs into nouns and
then delete the characters, we fill a sentence with abstraction. When we use
subjects to name characters and verbs to name their actions, we write

FIDESCU

Cursos de traduccin / Resumen de los procedimientos de la traduccin.

sentences that are more specific and concrete:

There has been an affirmative decision for program termination
The Director decided to terminate the program.

Avoid using too many prepositions: when we use verbs instead of abstract
nouns, we can also eliminate most of the prepositional phrases.
An evaluation of the program by us will allow greater efficiency in
service to clients.
We will evaluate the program so that we can serve clients better.

Put your ideas in a logical order: when we turn verbs into nouns and then
string them through prepositional phrases, we can confuse the logical
sequence of the actions.
The closure of the branch and the transfer of its business and nonunionised employees constituted an unfair labour practice because the
purpose of obtaining an economic benefit by means of discouraging
unionization motivated the closure and transfer.
The partners committed an unfair labour practice when they closed the
branch and transferred its business and nonunionized employees in
order to discourage unionization and thereby obtain an economic
benefit.
Use connectors to clarify logical relationships: because, although if.
The more effective presentation of needs by other Agencies resulted in
our failure acquiring federal funds, despite intensive lobbying efforts on
our part.
Although we lobbied Congress intensively, we could not acquire federal
funds because other Agencies presented their needs more effectively.
Write short sentences: There is nothing wrong with a long sentence if its
subjects and verbs match its characters and actions, what count is not the
number of words in a sentence, but how easily we get from beginning to
end while understanding everything in between.

2. Nominalizations
= a noun derived from a verb or an adjective not to express action but to state
that an action exists.
Discover

react

discovery
reaction

difficult

difficulty
applicable
applicability

FIDESCU

Cursos de traduccin / Resumen de los procedimientos de la traduccin.

Our request is that on your return, you conduct a review of the data and
provide an immediate report.
We request that when you return, you review the data and report
immediately.
2.1 A few patterns of useless nominalizations are easy to spot and revise
1. When the nominalization follows a verb with little specific meaning,
change the nominalization to a verb that can replace the empty verb.
The police conducted and investigation into the matter.
The police investigate the matter.
2. When the nominalization follows there is, there are, change the
nominalization to a verb and find a subject.
There is a need for further study of this program.
The engineering staff must study this program further.
3. When the nominalization is the subject of an empty verb, change the
nominalization to a verb and find a subject.
The intention of the IRS is to audit the records of the program.
The IRS intends to audit the records of the program.
4. When you find consecutive nominalizations, turn the first one into a verb.
The either leave the second or turn it into a verb in a clause beginning
with why or how.

or

There was first a review of the evolution of the dorsal fin.

First, she reviewed the evolution of the dorsal fin.
First, she reviewed how the dorsal fin evolved.
The discovery of a method for the manufacture of artificial skin will
have the result of an increase in the survival of patients with
radical burns.
If researchers can discover how to manufacture artificial skin,
more patients will survive radical burns.

2.2 In some case nominalization are useful:

1. The nominalization is a subject referring to a previous sentence: they let
us link sentences into a more cohesive flow.
This decision can lead to costly consequences.

FIDESCU

Cursos de traduccin / Resumen de los procedimientos de la traduccin.

2. The nominalization names what would be the object of its verb.

I do not understand either her meaning or his intention.
3. A nominalization can replace an awkward "the fact that"
The fact that I denied what he accused me of impressed the jury.
My denial of his accusations impressed the jury buy why not.
When I denied his accusations, I impressed the jury.
4. Some nominalizations refer to ideas that we can express only in
nominalizations: freedom, death, love, hope, life, wisdom.
5. We often use a nominalizations after there is/are to introduce a topic
that we develop in subsequent sentences (= 2.1. (2))
There is no need, however, for argument about the existence of
such a thing a good English and correct English.

3. Passive and agents

In addition to avoiding abstract nominalizations, you can make your style more
direct if you also avoid unnecessary passive verbs.
A new approach to toxic waste management detailed in a chemical
industry plan will be submitted. A method of decomposing toxic byproducts of refinery processes has been discovered by Genco
Chemical.
When we combine passive with nominalizations, we create that wretched prose
we call legalese, sociologicalese, bureaucratese who confuse authority and
objectivity with polysyllabic abstraction.
In many cases, however, we may find that the passive is, in fact, the better
choice.
To choose between the active and the passive, we have to answer two
questions: First, must our audience know who is performing the action?
Second, are we maintaining a logically consistent string of subjects? And third,
if the string of subjects is consistent, is it the right string of subjects?
Those who are found guilty of murder can be executed.
Valuable records should always be kept in a fireproof safe.
In sentences like these the passive is the natural and correct choice.
If in a series of passive sentences, you find yourself shifting from one unrelated

10

FIDESCU

Cursos de traduccin / Resumen de los procedimientos de la traduccin.

subject to another, try rewriting those sentences in the active voice. If, however,
you can make your sequence of subjects appropriately consistent, then choose
the passive. In the next passage, the writer wanted to write about the end of
World War II from the point of view of Germany and Japan:
By March of 1945, the Axis nations had been essentially defeated; all
that remained was a final climax. The borders of Germany had been
breached, and both Germany and Japan were being bombed around the
clock.
If, however, she had wanted to write about the end of the war from the point of
view of the Allied nations, she would have chosen the active

Syllabic Division
Division at the end of a line is by syllables. The following examples give an
idea of how to determine where a syllable begins and ends:
1. Similar double consonants divide: syl-lable; bet-ter.
2. Three consonants between vowels divide after the first consonant:
tram-ple; wrin-kled.
3. Two vowel sounds, unless they form a dipthong, divide: reli-ability.
4. Vowel followed by diphthong divides: decidu-ous.
5. A prefix or suffix divides: under-tone.
6. -cial, -cian, -sion, -tial, -tion form a division: commer-cial; musi-cian;
confusion.
7. -ing forms a division: part-ing; boat-ting.
Do not divide: one-syllable words; short words of two syllables; proper nouns.

11