Translation and the Bilingual Dictionary

Abstract

Bilingual lexicography is obviously directly concerned with interlingual translation. As Ali Al-Kasimi (1977: 59) has pointed out, whatever one's specific definition of translation may be, some aspect of it is covered in a bilingual dictionary. Thus, Dostert's (1955: 124) definition of translation as "the transference of meaning from one set of patterned symbols (...) into another set of patterned symbols" is illustrated by the translated examples in the general bilingual dictionary (GBD). Oettinger's (1960: 104) definition of translation as "the process of transforming signs or representation into other signs or representation" is exemplified in GBDs by the transliteration of proper nouns of the source language (SL) for which there is no possible translation in the target language (TL), especially when the two languages use different writing systems. And finally, Oettinger's (1960: 110) definition of interlingual translation as "the replacement of elements of one language (...) by equivalent elements of another language" constitutes the basis of the GBD, whose raison d'etre is to provide equivalent TL lexical items which can replace given SL elements. In other words, the general bilingual dictionary is, in principle at least, the translator's best friend and primary working tool since it provides him with translation equivalents. In reality, however, GBDs have long been a source of frustration for translators. Although most have not been as condemning of them as Valery Larbaud (1946: 86-87) - who, comparing them to unilingual dictionaries, states categorically: 'Tres d' eux les dictionnaires bilingues ne sont que des esclaves, ou mieux des affranchis faisant fonction d'huissiers et d'interpretes" - almost all have some reservations about them. Peter Newmark (1988: 174-175), for instance, reproaches them for containing too many "dictionary words", i.e., words that are rarely used outside dictionaries, and advises using them "with caution" (1981: 163). And many practicing translators claim to avoid the use of GBDs as much as possible. The general weaknesses of the GBD from the point of view of a translator working into his second language have been clearly outlined by Ingrid Meyer (1987: 27ff): they include weaknesses affecting the user's selection of a TL equivalent and weaknesses affecting the user's combination of the selected TL item with other elements of the TL context. Weaknesses affecting selection are of several different types. First, there is the problem of absence of the SL item: this is frequently the case for fixed expressions such as cold war, and for free combinations such as manque de gentillesse in the SL which can be translated by a single lexical item in the TL (unkindness). Second, there is the problem of absence of the TL equivalent: the GBD may fail to provide an equivalent for each of the senses of the SL item (for example, the sense of bargain for aubaine) or to furnish a stylistically appropriate equivalent (unfortunately, rather than alas for helas). Finally, there is the problem of inadequate semantic and stylistic discrimination between the various TL equivalents proposed: how can the translator choose the appropriate TL equivalent if he does not know what differences exist, both meaning; and stylewise, between the suggested TL equivalents? Weaknesses affecting the combination of the selected TL item with other elements of TL context include inadequate morphological specification (the indication, for example, that planification in French is countable, whereas its English equivalent planning is not), inadequate syntactic specification (the indication, for instance, that the French remede and English remedy are followed by very different prepositions), and inadequate collocational specification (the indication, for example, that in French one pose du papier peint while in English one hangs or puts up wallpaper). While Meyer's study of the bilingual dictionary has been conducted from the point of view of translator trainees learning to translate into their second language, the present study will examine the GBD from the point of view of a professional translator working into his dominant language, which is the usual direction in which a professional translator works. In this paper, I will analyze the translation process and the intervention of the GBD in this process. In order to make the analysis real, I will use a genuine French text (an extract from an article by Jean-Claude Lasserre, entitled "Montreal, plaque tournante des transports en Amerique du Nord" - 1976) and its translation by the Translation Service, Quebec Department of Communications (1976) to reconstruct the process. The purpose of this analysis is to reveal the shortcomings of GBDs from the translator's view-point - in particular those of the French-English GBDs most used by Canadian translators (the Harrap's New Standard and the Robert & Collins) - and to suggest ways in which they can be improved to better meet the needs of Canadian translators.