What you should know about Translating French

Some translators wish that the French language wasn’t such a monumental challenge! Learning how to translate French to English can be a mind-bending experience.

We’ve often been asked, “What was it like learning translation?” The truth: it was heaven and hell.
Translating is like having a second brain. The learning curve is steep, but if translators respect the more common translation principles, the finished document should read like an original, with sufficient fluidity and transparency. It mustn’t read like it was translated.
This article assumes that you, as a translator, have mastered (or almost mastered) your French grammar and punctuation. Students of translation are trained in principles of translation which are numerous. We’ll discuss the more common ones in this article.

Fact # 1: Translating into your mother tongue
Translation works with language pairs – the source language and the target language. In French to English translation, it is assumed that the translator’s mother tongue is English. It is also assumed that he has a functional and conceptual knowledge of French – the source language.
Some translators say they are fluently bilingual, but fluent bilingualism covers three levels: listening, speaking and writing. In translation, we are concerned with the writing aspect. So if a translator says he is fluently bilingual, he must be able to write flawlessly in both French and English. In majority of the cases, however, a translator is stronger in one language he writes - his mother tongue.

There are situations where translators attempt to translate in both languages. Some consider themselves fluently bilingual and may speak two languages effortlessly and naturally, but when asked to write in both languages, there are subtle differences in quality. If the translator demonstrates equal competence in writing both languages, that’s a special skill. Not many possess that skill.

Fact # 2: Anglicisms
This is one area of French to English translation where translators can commit glaring errors, especially in a country like Canada where both English and French share the same official status. There is a tendency to use a lot of English equivalents for French words because they seem correct as a result of frequent usage. If we were to insist on quality, however, we should bear in mind that just because it is frequently used, it does not automatically qualify it as correct or proper.

Here are a few anglicisms to illustrate this point. The third column provides the more appropriate French term or phrase:

Anglicism	English	French
Année fiscal	Fiscal year	Exercice financier; année financière
Bloc à appartements	Apartment block	Immeuble d’habitation; immeuble residentiel
Conférencier invité	Guest lecturer	Conférencier
Diète végéterienne	Vegetarian diet	Regime végéterienne
Endosser une opinion, un projet, une décision	Endorse an opinion, a plan, a decision	Souscrire à; approuver
C’est matière de gout	It’s a matter of taste	C’est une affaire de goût; une question de goût

Fact # 3: Dictionaries alone won’t cut it
A good translator does not rely exclusively on dictionaries, no matter how thick and exhaustive they are. You should have access to translation databases – preferably those that are provided by governments, universities and accredited organizations. You must also read voraciously in both languages and be acquainted with local culture. Dictionaries – even the reputable ones – fall short of accuracy, exactness, inclusion of new words particularly in recent technologies, usage and other criteria.

Fact # 4: Addition and subtraction of words
It is a generally accepted fact that French uses more words than English does. The translator, however, must be careful about being guided by this idea when translating because there are instances where both languages have to be added to or subtracted from, depending on the context. These translation theories are known as l’étoffement (adding words in the target language) and suppression (subtracting words from the source language).

When these theories are properly employed, the finished document avoids being a literal and awkward translation because the translator added or removed words without changing the meaning of the sentence in the source language. Clarity is achieved.
Take this example:

French: Si on faisait un sondage pour déterminer la préoccupation prioritaire des citoyens de Verdun, ce serait très probablement l'environnement qui viendrait en tête de liste.
A translator who is not familiar with the theories of l’étoffement” and “suppression” would probably translate this sentence thus: if a survey were done to determine the priority preoccupations of residents of Verdun, it would probably be the environment that would come at the top of the list.

It may sound correct grammatically, but it certainly can be improved.
Better translation: if a survey was carried out to find out what Verdun residents would consider their most important concerns, the environment would probably top their list.
Some will argue that it’s a question of style, but that’s another matter!

Fact # 5: Proper nouns
Two things that a translator must be aware of:
1. Proper nouns are, generally, not translated; BUT
2. If there are proper nouns with an official English equivalent, that equivalent must be used.

International organizations, for example, have their equivalents in other languages so the translator, if resourceful, should do the necessary research.

Examples:
Croix rouge – this is a proper noun, but it has an English equivalent: Red Cross.

Fondation du cancer du sein du Quebec – Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation

L’Académie française – there is no English equivalent so it should not be translated. It cannot be translated as the “French Academy”.

Communauté économique européenne (CEE) – the English equivalent is: European Economic Community (EEC) or simply European Community.

There are many other French to English translation principles - impossible to discuss all of them here. These five, however, account for many of the errors committed during the translation process.