Document généré le 27 sept. 2021 08:17 Meta Journal des traducteurs Translators' Journal The Occurrence of Calque in Translation Scripts Penelope M. Sewell Volume 46, numéro 3, septembre 2001 Résumé de l'article Pour l'auteur, il semblerait que les étudiants font un plus grand nombre de URI : https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/004120ar calques en traduisant du français à l'anglais que de l'anglais au français. Cet DOI : https://doi.org/10.7202/004120ar article explore d'abord la notion de calque pour en arriver à une définition opérationnelle, ensuite identifie et discute les cas de calques dans deux textes Aller au sommaire du numéro traduits durant des conditions d'examen, c'est-à-dire sans dictionnaire. Les étudiants sont ensuite divisés en deux catégories selon leur L1 et les observations sont faites sur le nombre de calques exposés par chaque groupe. Éditeur(s) Les résultats soulèvent un certain nombre de questions auxquelles seulement des recherches plus approfondies peuvent répondre. Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal ISSN 0026-0452 (imprimé) 1492-1421 (numérique) Découvrir la revue Citer cette note Sewell, P. M. (2001). The Occurrence of Calque in Translation Scripts. Meta, 46(3), 607–615. https://doi.org/10.7202/004120ar Tous droits réservés © Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal, 2001 Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d’auteur. L’utilisation des services d’Érudit (y compris la reproduction) est assujettie à sa politique d’utilisation que vous pouvez consulter en ligne. https://apropos.erudit.org/fr/usagers/politique-dutilisation/ Cet article est diffusé et préservé par Érudit. Érudit est un consortium interuniversitaire sans but lucratif composé de l’Université de Montréal, l’Université Laval et l’Université du Québec à Montréal. Il a pour mission la promotion et la valorisation de la recherche. https://www.erudit.org/fr/ BLOC-NOTES The Occurrence of Calque teaching of French. Instead, we have theorised it as in Translation Scripts a skill in its own right and offer a final-year option in translation from and into French, with empha- RÉSUMÉ sis on translation strategies and contrastive Pour l’auteur, il semblerait que les étudiants font stylistics. un plus grand nombre de calques en traduisant du Over the years it has become apparent that français à l’anglais que de l’anglais au français. Cet my colleague, who deals with French into English article explore d’abord la notion de calque pour translation, and I, who do the English to French en arriver à une définition opérationnelle, ensuite translation, are preoccupied by different problems. identifie et discute les cas de calques dans deux I am concerned to ensure adequate exploration of textes traduits durant des conditions d’examen, c’est-à-dire sans dictionnaire. Les étudiants sont the lexical and syntactic options in French, he, on ensuite divisés en deux catégories selon leur L1 et the other hand, wages a continuing battle against les observations sont faites sur le nombre de cal- calque. This has prompted me to ask, “Is it the case ques exposés par chaque groupe. Les résultats that translations into French (for the majority, the soulèvent un certain nombre de questions aux- L2) produce fewer calques than the other way quelles seulement des recherches plus approfon- round? If so, why should that be? Where do stu- dies peuvent répondre. dents whose L1 is not English stand with regard to ABSTRACT this phenomenon?” This paper in an enquiry into It seemed to the author that students were mak- the nature of calque and a search for confirmation ing a larger number of calques when translating that calque is a more serious problem for people from French into English than from English into translating into English (L1 for the majority) than French.This paper first explores the notion of the other way. What, though, constitutes a calque calque in order to arrive at an operational defini- and what approach to it have linguists taken? tion, then identifies and discusses instances of calque in two texts translated under examination Studies of calque conditions, without dictionaries. The students are then divided into categories according to their L1 It was Vinay and Darbelnet (1958) who, for me, and observations are made about the amount of first put calque on the map, but the idea goes back calquing exhibited by each group. The results far further than that. The word comes from the raise a number of questions to which only further Latin “calcare”, meaning to tread, or press, which research can find an answer. itself is a derivative of “calx”, heel. The word is not MOTS-CLÉS/KEYWORDS passed to us directly, but comes via Italian , (Lewis bilingualism, calque, comparative stylistics, error and Short, 1955). analysis. Chambers (1981) gives “to calque or calk: to copy by rubbing the back with colouring matter Introduction and then tracing with a blunt point”. Le Petit Rob- It seemed to the author that students were making ert (1995) says: a larger number of calques when translating from – Exact reproduction of a drawing or pattern, French into English than from English into obtained by copying (en calquant). French. This paper first explores the notion of – Literal translation into another language (of calque in order to arrive at an operational defini- a complex expression or a word used figura- tion, then identifies and discusses instances of tively). calque in two texts translated under examination It will be seen that neither Chambers nor Le conditions, without dictionaries. The students are Petit Robert gives any hint of a negative dimension then divided into categories according to their L1 to the idea: we are simply talking about copying and observations are made about the amount of and tracing. Le Petit Robert goes on to give the ex- calquing exhibited by each group. The results raise amples lune de miel and gratte-ciel as being a number of questions to which only further re- calqued on the English “honeymoon” and “sky- search can find an answer. scraper”. Calque figures among the seven Procédés Background techniques de la traduction as defined by Vinay and Darbelnet. The first three involve direct transfer In the French Department at Birkbeck College, from the source language (SL) to the target lan- translation is only rarely used as a tool in the guage (TL), and they are: l’emprunt (borrowing), Meta, XLVI, 3, 2001 03.Meta.46/3.2e partie 607 30/07/01, 17:42 608 Meta, XLVI, 3, 2001 calque, and la traduction littérale (literal transla- neologising power of the calque mechanism as a tion). “Borrowing” needs little comment. The pro- way of both conveying new concepts to new target cedure takes a word or phrase from the SL and audiences and of enriching the vocabulary of the uses it as part of the TL. Borrowings in English receptor language. Both these writers are con- from French are legion (“pied à terre, cul de sac, cerned to provide an adequate definition of honni soit qui mal y pense”), as they are in French calque, as is Romaine (1995: 55-59), who also from English (le meeting, le stress, le fair-play). discusses other types of lexical borrowing within “Literal translation” is the name given to the the context of languages in contact. A study of En- third procedure which involes translating word- glish calques in Chicano Spanish by Smead and for-word in cases where the translated phrase is Clegg (1996: 123-130) concludes that “the major- entirely acceptable in the TL. Vinay and Darbelnet ity of the forms examined are both formally and give as an example: “I left my spectacles on the semantically convergent and duplicate an existing table downstairs” translating perfectly adequately message-type”, an observation which is clearly of as J’ai laissé mes lunettes sur la table en bas. interest in a sociolinguistic context, but which However, Vinay and Darbelnet’s account of again focuses on defining and categorising. A. the second procedure, calque, has some surprises: Duval (1990: 27-33), on the other hand, is more concerned to show the limitations of bilingual Calque is a particluar kind of borrowing: a dictionaries which function on word-for-word phrase is borrowed from the foreign lan- equivalents, whereas, he says, translators need to guage, and its component parts are trans- be aware of words in context and of usage. Duval’s lated. […] insights are more in line with the preoccupations It would seem advisable to coin new words of the present paper, since it is the (inadvertent) using the Greek and Latin basis of our lexi- production of calque by translators which is the con […]. By doing so, one can avoid painful focus here. calques such as: Thérapie occupationnelle Taking into account all the above discussions (Occupational Therapy); Banque pour le Com- of classification, I propose as a working definition merce et le Développement; les quatre Grands; of calque, that it is the very close, but not necessar- le Premier français, and others which, in the ily word-for-word, translation into a target lan- minds of some translators, constitute the guage (TL) using TL forms, of forms in a source lowest depths to which one could sink. language. (The original text reads: … qui sont, dans l’esprit de certains traducteurs, l’expression la The related notions of cognate and plus concrète de l’abomination de la désola- false friend tion). What distinguishes cognates and false friends from The note of caution, one might even say calques? Intralinguistic cognates are those words panic, is somewhat unexpected. In Vinay and of a language which are formally related to one Darbelnet’s eyes it is advisable not to calque (i.e.