Revisiting Translation Strategies and Techniques

Many translation researchers, scholars and students or trainees have the tendency to use the terms ‘translation strategy’,’ translation technique’ ‘translation method’ and ‘translation procedure’ invariably, and sometimes with varying shades of meaning This paper attempts to define, distinguish and clarify these terms in a bid to give the study of translation the scientific basis it deserves, given that scientific terminology is bound to be clear and unequivocal. Employing the qualitative research method and secondary or documentary sources, the paper provides elaborate explanations of the terms using sourced and invented examples. The paper concludes that the term ‘translation strategy’ should be used strictly to refer to a global or general decision a translator takes before engaging in the translation of any text. Such a general decision could concern the issue of whether the translation would be literal, foreignized or source-text oriented; or whether it would be free, oblique, domesticated or target-text-oriented. On the other hand, the paper conclusively contends that all the other terms, that is to say, ‘translation technique, ‘translation procedure’ and ‘translation method’ should be used to refer to tools or operational measures deployed by the translator in the course of actual translation. In other words, they should be used as mechanisms for effecting general or globalizing translation strategies.


Introduction
Generally speaking, there are two main translation strategies, which have over the year been given various names.However, the common denominator in this variety of names is that on the one hand, there is the translation strategy that advocates literality and faithfulness to the original and on the other that which advocates free, natural, transparent and message for message rendering.Current terminology in Translation Studies use ' foreignization' and 'domestication' respectively for a translation strategy which is source-text oriented, word for word; structure for structure and literal, and for that which is target text-oriented, free, natural , transparent and message for message.In a strict sense; a translation strategy is a pre-translation decision that is taken by the translator before engaging in the actual translation, while a translation technique is a practical method by which a translation strategy is operationalized.Nonetheless the two terms are often used invariably to main method or procedure of carrying out a translation exercise.In fact, many translation researchers, scholars and students or trainees have the tendency to use the terms ' translation strategy', 'translation technique', 'translation method' and 'translation procedure' invariably, and sometimes with varying shades of meaning.This paper attempts to define, distinguish and clarify these terms in a bid to give the study of translation the scientific basis it deserves, given that scientific terminology is bound to be clear and unequivocal.Employing the qualitative research method and secondary or documentary sources, this paper provides elaborate explanations of the terms using sourced and invented examples.

Foreignization (literal translation, source-text-oriented translation)
This is a translation strategy in which there is 'close adherence to the source text structure and syntax (Munday, 2001: 147).In other words, it is source-text-oriented translation, which gives priority to adequacy, at the expense of appropriacy and acceptability.According to Venuti (cited by Munday, 2001:147) foreignization is a translation strategy in which there is 'close adherence to the source text structure and syntax'.In other words, it is source-text-oriented translation, which gives priority to adequacy.It is more or less literal translation.In foreignization, the reader is taken closer to the foreign language author, the foreign language itself as well as the foreign culture.In a foreignizing style of writing, no attempt is made whatsoever to simplify the language and the notions in the text in order to ease understanding for the non-native reader.Rather, the foreign reader is allowed to go the extra mile in a bid to understand what is written in a language that is not his or her own.It is more or less literal translation.The techniques often used to effect his strategy include literal translation, wordfor-word translation, borrowing and calque.

Domestication (Free, oblique, target-text-oriented translation)
According to Venuti, (1995, cited by Munday, 2001:.146),domestication is a translation strategy which 'entails translating in a transparent, fluent, invisible style' in order to minimize the foreignness of the target text'.It is target-  (Toury, 1995) terminology, it is appropriate and acceptable translation.
Translation techniques used to operationalize this strategy include expansion, explicitation, transposition, modulation, reformulation, omission, cultural equivalence, dynamic equivalence, synonymy, local adaptation and global adaptation

Translation Technique
A translation technique is an operational mechanism put in place by the translator in the course of actual translation.In other words, it is a micro method for operationalizing a general or globalizing translation strategy.TLT (Target Language Text): Meka was the great favourite in the paradise stakes, one of those rare mortals who would have no more than a mere appearance to put in at purgatory

Borrowing
Borrowing is a translation technique in which 'the SL word is transferred directly to the TL' (Munday 2001:56).It can otherwise be simply defined as the taking of words from one language into another.This usage is of course done in a naturalized form, that is, in such a way as to conform to the rules of grammar or punctuation of the target language.Suh (2005:122) defines borrowing as the transfer of source text lexemes or lexeme combination into the target language, normally without formal or semantic modification.Borrowing can mainly be used as a way to preserve the local colour of the word, or be used out of fear of losing some of the semantic and cultural aspects of the word if it is translated.It is worth mentioning that it is difficult to see a language that is completely independent of others In fact, all languages borrow from others.In the case of bible translation, a word like Pharisee has been borrowed from the original Hebrew through Aramaic, Greek, Latin, English, and French and down to African and Cameroonian languages. .Dictionaries have only succeeded to describe and explain their meanings but they have never been translated as such.It is often used to cover cultural aspects, expressed in the source text, which are absent in the target language.It is sometimes employed to add local colour.A word that is borrowed is technically described as a loanword or borrowing.It can also be called a loan translation.Sometimes borrowed words or terms are modified phonologically and orthographically.
In Bible English-Lamnso translation, borrowing is abundantly used in the Lamnso rendering of the names of people and places, which are borrowed and modified phonologically and orthographically in the target language.In this regard, English names such as Joseph, Philip, Emmanuel, Moses, Thaddeus, Alphaeus, Thomas and James respectively become Joosev, Filiv, Emmanuwer, Mooser, Taadiyor, Afiyur, Tomar and Jeem in Lamnso.Similarly, names of places in English such as Bethlehem, Nazareth, Egypt and Capernaum respectively become Betilehem, Naasarer, Ejiv and Kapenahuum.Other cases of borrowing include Satan and Farasii.The following is an example of borrowing as translation technique It is an excerpt from the English translation ( by Peter Green,) of Mongo Beti's (1964) Mission terminée.
TLT: My imagination was running away with me.The ploughed student was transformed into a brigand chief, a pirate, a true Conquistador.(p.16).
In the example above the word' conquistador' is borrowed from French, which is the source language, and used in English, the target language.
It worth noting here that borrowing is not peculiar to translation but is rather a common phenomenon in all languages.All languages borrow from other languages.Generally speaking, languages of wider diffusion borrow less from those of lesser diffusion and vice versa, that is language s of lesser diffusion have a tendency to borrow more from those of wider diffusion.In other words, strong, well-established and widely spoken and written languages borrow less from weak, less-established and sparsely spoken and written languages.However, in the case of world languages like English and French, borrowing depends so much on the origin of innovations and discoveries.
According to Krysstal (20166), the English language has borrowed an impressive number of words from French.Similarly, the French language equally borrows from English or rather uses a good number of English words.The following are some of the English words often used in the French language either as a way to go with the mode of the time, which appears to be dictated by the English culture and more specifically by American fashion, which happens to be couched in the English language: This is also known as the direct translation technique.A calque or a loan translation is a phrase borrowed from another language and translated literally (word for word) to describe a concept in the exact words of the source, but codified in the target language as its norms prescribe.
The meaning of some calques can be rather obscure for most people, especially when it relates to specific vocations or domains such as science and law.For example, Solution de compromise is a Spanish legal term taken from the English compromise solution and although Spanish attorneys understand it, the meaning is not readily understood by the layman.
An unsuccessful calque can be extremely unnatural, and can cause unwanted humour, often interpreted as a lack of expertise off the translator in the target language.A good excuse for using calque in translation would be that the word or expression was conceived in the source language to refer to and describe a particular notion or concept and that saying it otherwise would betray the originally intended meaning.When a target language has lacks terms,, translators borrow those terms from the source language ,thereby enriching the target language.
Thanks to exchange of calques and loanwords between languages, and to their importation from other languages, there are few concepts that are untranslatable among modern languages.In other words, due to the impossibility to translate certain concepts, calques and loanwords are quick solutions to such blockages.
The following is a typical example of a calque where an Ijaw proverb is translated literally into English and then into French: 'If you roast a bird of the air before a fowl, the fowl's head aches' (English rendering from Ijaw, an East Nigerian language) «Si tu fais rôtir un oiseau de l'air devant une volaille, la volaille a la migraine» (French rendering from the English translation)

Transposition
This is a translation technique where there is a change in part of speech in the target language.A verb, for instance, may become a noun, and a noun may become a pronoun.Here are some examples of transposition drawn from Le vieux nègre et la médaille and its English version The Old Man and the Medal' (Oyono, 1956(Oyono, , 1969) ) (the parts of speech indicating transposition appear in italics): SLT: Ils prièrent d'une voix monotone et chantante.
TLT: They said their prayers in a monotonous singsong.
TLT: The hut was already alive.Everyone who went to work in the European quarter came there to Mammy Titi's to fortify themselves for the day.
SLT: Ils se mesurèrent du regard et le jeune home, un petit sourire en coin, s'en fuit en époussétant le fond de son pagne.
TLT: They looked at each other up and down.Then the young man smiling a little at the corner of his mouth went out, smacking the dust from the seal of his cloth as he went.
TLT: His men had been trying desperately to lay their hands on whoever was selling the stuff in secret.
TLT: He had had the special grace to be the owner of a piece of land, which one fine morning, had proved pleasing to the eyes of the Lord.
TLT: How could he go against the will of the Lord who giveth.
SLT: Il suivit, enthousiaste l'édification du quartier du Seigneur sur la terre de ses encêtres TLT: Full of enthusiasm, he followed the raising of the house of the Lord on the land of his forefathers.
TLT: On the eve before the church was inaugurated by the Bishop, he was asked to choose his place in the church.
TLT: Ignatius Obebe came in.He was strongly built and frightening with his buffalo neck and shifty eyes at the top of his face.

Modulaition
Modulation is a translation technique in which there is a change in semantics and point of view.
Modulation is both communicative and pragmatic translation.It could also be likened to paraphrase.Paraphrase, proposed and recommended by Dryden (1680) in the preface to his translation of Ovid's Epistles, is: Translation with latitude, where the author is kept in view by the translator so as never to be lost, but his words are not so strictly followed as his sense' (Munday 2001:25) Below are some examples of modulation from Le vieux nègre et la médaille and its English version The Old Man and the Meda' (Oyono, 1956(Oyono, , 1969) )

Explicitation
Explicitation can be considered a process of introducing something in the target language which is present only implicitly in the source language, but which can be derived from the context. .Seguinot (1988:106) includes issues like focus, emphasis and lexical choice in her view of explicitation when she says explicitation takes place not only when something is in the translation which was not expressed in the original, but also in cases where something which was implied or understood through presupposition in the source text is overtly expressed in the translation through focus, emphasis or lexical choice.
According to Vinay and Darbelnet (1995: 55), explicitation aims at expressing a contextual or situational element, which is unexpressed in the source language, thus introducing gains in the message.The tendency to make information clearer and easier to understand is inherent in every communication context.Here an example of explicitation: SLT: Il a eu des rapports intimes avec sa charmante Épouse.
TLT: He had sexual intercourse with his charming wife

Expansion
This is a translation technique whereby the translator uses more words in the target text to convey the message in the source text.This is usually consequent on the systemic and cultural differences between languages.Generally speaking, the wider the distance or difference between two languages, the more the need for expansion in translating into or from each of them.Very often, expansion results from the desire to explain something that is not clearly expressed in the source language or to clear some ambiguity. .TLT: We accept your greetings' (4 words) SLT: Ils se mesurèrent de regard et le jeune homme, un petit sourire en coin, s'en fuit en époussetant le fond de son pagne (24 words).
TLT: They looked at each other up and down.Then the young man smiling a little at the corner of his mouth went out, smacking the dust from the seal of his cloth as he went.(35 words).2.3.2.8 Synonymy This is a translation technique whereby the translator selects the closest synonym of the source language term to translate the term into the target language.This is often used when the translator cannot readily find an appropriate term in the target language to render a particular term found in the source language.

Omission
This is a translation technique whereby the translator omits a problematic culture-specific item completely.Suh (2005;130) affirms that such a decision could simply be an act of desperation on the part of the translator who is unable to interpret the original.As a matter of fact, this translation technique should be avoided as much as possible because it often leads to leaving out meaning or part of it.On this score, it is needless to give examples of what is il-advised.

Conclusion
This study has moderately attempted to x-ray the various definitions and applications that have throughout the years been given the crucial terms 'translation strategy' and translation technique' .Given the central position these two terms occupy in translation research, pedagogy and practice; the study has all along tried to propose clear and definite definitions' and applications to the two terms so as to further consolidate the position of Translation Studies as a science of Applied Linguistics that employs clear and definite methods as well as unequivocal terminology.In a nutshell, the study proposes that the term 'translation strategy' should be used strictly to refer to a global or general decision a translator takes before engaging in the translation of any text.Such a general decision could concern the issue of whether the translation would be literal, foreignized or source-text -oriented; or whether it would be free, oblique, domesticated or target-text-oriented. On the other hand, the paper conclusively contends that all the other terms, that is to say 'translation technique, 'translation procedure' and 'translation method' should be used to refer to tools or operational measures used by the translator in the course of actual translation.In other words, they should be used as mechanisms for operationalizing general or globalizing translation strategies.
2.3.1 Translation techniques used for the operationalization of the Translation Strategy of Foreignization 2.3.1.1Lterral Translation This is a word for word or structure by structure rendition from the source to the target text.Below is an example of literal translation.Examples of formal correspondence given later in this write-up are typical examples of the literal translation technique.SLT (Source Language Text): Meka était un grand favori dans la course au Paradis, l'un des plus rares mortels qui ne feraient qu'une apparition au Purgatoire.
(the parts of speech indicating modulation appear in italics):.SLT: Le vieux nègre' TLT: The old man.SLT: Meka était en avance sur le bonjour du Seigneur.TLT: Meka was already awake when the first ray of sunlight… SLT: Il en voulait à sa femme qui continuait à ronfler TLT: He felt irritated that his wife was still snoring Il paracheva son élégance en glissant la jugulaire sous le menton TLT: He then gave the finishing touch to his attire by slipping the strap underneath his chin.SLT: Tu es très bien, dit sa femme, on dirait un Pasteur americain 'TLT: You look very nice,' said his wife.'Like an American missionary' SLT: Apporte-moi à manger, dit-il TLT: Bring me food,' he said SLT: Creve des nègres TLT : Blacks' crave SLT: Chez Mami Titi qui habitait le quartier indigène, c'était déjà la ville TLT: Madam Titi lived in the African location and once you reached her place you were already in town SLT: 'Comme des élastiques, elles revenaient' 'TLT: They sprang back' SLT: C'est la même chose.TLT: -What's the difference?SLT: Toi, au moins, tu dis ce que tu penses, dit Meka 'TLT: At last you are frank about it', said Meka SLT:C'est imprudent, ce que je vais faire là, dit Meka en protestant du chef.TLT: 'It's very foolish what I am going there for', said Meka, shaking his head in protest.SLT : A Doum on savait où conduisaient les convocations officielles.TLT: At Doum, it was known what an official summons meant.
Below are some examples of expansion: SLT:-Il paracheva son élegance (4 words) TLT: He then gave the finishing touch to his attire (9 words) SLT : Chez Mami Titi qui habitait le quartier indigène, c'était déjà la ville (12 words) TLT: Madam Titi lived in the African location and once you reached her place you were already in town (18 words) SLT:-Meka avait pris les raccourcis, ces chemins sinueux, aux alentours des petites villes coloniales (14 words) TLT: Meka had been taking short cuts down the winding paths, just visible in the grass, that always run through the stunted bush around colonial towns.(26 words) SLT: Nous acceptors (2 words).

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text-oriented translation with focus on the respect of target text norms.In Descriptive Translation Studies