Translation of French Copula into Turkish by Oblique Strategies

Abstract

Research in translation studies focuses on the study of mandatory components such as input, process, output and the central actor. In this study, in order to obtain some data on the translation process, the choice of the translator is being revised by comparing input and output. Referred to as “process” or “translation strategy” in the field of translation studies, these choices are grouped into two: direct and indirect translation processes. The article provides a brief description of translation studies, followed by a brief description of the indirect translation strategies. Then, the type of verb known as “ilgi eylemi” or “koşaç” in Turkish and “copule” or “verbe attributif” in French is described syntactically and both languages are compared. In the research section, 131 examples of translations collected from three texts are examined to determine the reasons for choosing the indirect translation strategy. By examining the 38 examples in which the copula is translated into a verb other than the “imek” and “olmak” verbs, we try to get the answer for the research question. The research revealed that translation strategy is imposed more by the regenerated context of the target discourse than by the individual preferences of the translator. In other words, the translator tries to create a fluid and equivalent text according to the criteria of the target language when recreating the text after the reception and interpretation process. The results of the study show that the concept of translation strategy should be taught during translator training.