Changements dans le texte traduit : entre fidélité et trahison du texte source
Changes in the translated text: between the fidelity and betrayal of the original text

Summary/Abstract: In his/her effort to render the author's message from one language to another,the translator makes all sorts of changes that facilitate the transfer of meaning in order toget an effect on the foreign reader comparable to that of the original text. We categorizethe differences between the source text and the target text, produced by translationalchanges, into two types: quantitative and qualitative. While the former are easier toobserve (additions or removals of elements) and imposed by the language system of thetarget language, the latter are more complex, imposed in particular by different culturalpractices or by the need for clarity and textual cohesion. Thus, the translator uses a seriesof indirect translation processes, including transposition, which involves changes of agrammatical nature (recategorization), modulation, where the changes are especiallysemantic (different points of view), equivalence and adaptation, involving culturaltransformations. We study the use of these processes in two Romanian-French translationsand the way of maintaining a balance between fidelity to the original text and itsmodification. In conclusion: if the changes are necessary, translations too close to theoriginal are sometimes rocky and full of false meanings, but at the same time, too manychanges can affect the quality of the translation when they generate distortions of meaningand neutralize the cultural specificity of the original text.

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