An Analysis of the Similiarities and Differences in Technical, Journalistic, and Literary Texts

• Published in: Revista de documentação de estudos em lingüística teórica e aplicada 2004-02, Vol.20 (1), p.1-25
• Main Author: de Camargo, Diva Cardoso
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• ISSN: 0102-4450

By using a corpus of technical, journalistic, & literary texts, originally written in English & translated into Portuguese, we may analyze the prevailing strategies employed by the translators when dealing with similarities & differences of source & target texts, languages, & cultures. With this purpose in mind, we applied the descriptive-comparative model suggested by Aubert (1984, 1998). This model adapts the categories proposed by Vinay & Darbelnet (l958, 1977, 1995) in order to first identify, then classify, the procedures or modalities that characterize the translation of these text genres. According to data comparison, the most common modalities in the three corpora are found to be literal translation, transposition, & modulation. Because the high frequency of literal translation appears in technical texts &, contrary to what was expected, also occurs in journalistic texts with an even higher %, we may infer a tendency towards automatism in the translation of these two text types. On the other hand, the greater need for modulations & transpositions with modulation may be said to be related to the literary text translators' more active participation in attempting to escape from literalism towards re-elaboration, in order to convey features commonly attached to the language of the novel. 1 Table, 67 References. Adapted from the source document