This study is an analysis of the translation of a French text regarding the use of pesticides in agriculture. The French text has been translated into Swedish by the author of this paper. There have been some problems in producing an idiomatic translation in some cases. Some of the noun phrases, infinitival phrases and participle phrases were especially complicated to translate. The main purpose of this study is to analyse how these problems were solved in a communicative translation. The analytic framework is mainly based on the works of Eriksson (1997), Ingo (2007), Fredriksson (2011) and Säll (2004).       The French language has a tendency of using infinite phrases, participle phrases and long noun phrases. When translating into Swedish one needs to bear in mind that the finite verb, in the present and past tense, is far more used than the infinite and participle forms. Actions are for example often expressed with finite verbs in the Swedish language. When completing a main clause, you often use a subordinate clause in Swedish. In a French text it is more common to see an infinite phrase as a complement of a main clause.   Noun phrases with many words are often avoided in the Swedish language. As a result, Swedish texts can be shorter compared to French texts. The French language is also said to be more abstract than the Swedish language, because there is not so much semantic value in many of the French words compared to Swedish words. The result is that there can be more words in a French text than in the translated Swedish text. In some cases, you can omit words that are not necessary for the context.

<p>This dissertation investigates translation strategies and translation principles in technical translation. Five translation students and 5 professional translators from German-speaking Switzerland and 4 translation students and 6 professional translators from Sweden were asked to think aloud while translating a user guide from French into German and from French into Swedish, respectively. The focus of the analysis was on the strategies that could be observed by comparing the translation products with the source text; and on the principles underlying these strategies as revealed by the think-aloud protocols of the translation processes. In order to evaluate the extent to which the translation products complied with the fictitious translation brief given to the participants, 2 reviewers per language pair proofread the translation products. The analysis also included contrastive analyses of certain linguistic features of technical texts in French-German and French-Swedish. The results show that experience of translation does play a role in the choice of translation strategy. It is, however, an even more important factor with respect to knowing and applying translation principles in the translation process. Also, students more often display uncertainty regarding translation principles, and conflict between the principles verbalised and those actually followed. Language-pair specific differences were mostly found in connection with translation strategies. Comments about future directions include the need for clearer definitions and more systematic manipulations of the variables involved in translation, and the potential interest in investigating the principles governing how translations are revised through the use of think-aloud protocols.</p>

This dissertation investigates translation strategies and translation principles in technical translation. Five translation students and 5 professional translators from German-speaking Switzerland and 4 translation students and 6 professional translators from Sweden were asked to think aloud while translating a user guide from French into German and from French into Swedish, respectively. The focus of the analysis was on the strategies that could be observed by comparing the translation products with the source text; and on the principles underlying these strategies as revealed by the think-aloud protocols of the translation processes. In order to evaluate the extent to which the translation products complied with the fictitious translation brief given to the participants, 2 reviewers per language pair proofread the translation products. The analysis also included contrastive analyses of certain linguistic features of technical texts in French-German and French-Swedish. The results show that experience of translation does play a role in the choice of translation strategy. It is, however, an even more important factor with respect to knowing and applying translation principles in the translation process. Also, students more often display uncertainty regarding translation principles, and conflict between the principles verbalised and those actually followed. Language-pair specific differences were mostly found in connection with translation strategies. Comments about future directions include the need for clearer definitions and more systematic manipulations of the variables involved in translation, and the potential interest in investigating the principles governing how translations are revised through the use of think-aloud protocols.

Studien undersöker i hur stor utsträckning de skandinaviska översättarna använder samma metoder när de översätter. För att kunna studera detta undersöks den danska, norska och svenska översättningen av den franska romanen L’élégance du hérisson med hjälp av Vinay och Darbelnets (1958/1977) metodologi. I studien kommer också översättarna till tals om de situationella faktorer som kringgärdat översättningsprojektet. Det största fokuset ligger på de indirekta översättningsmetoderna, eftersom det är dessa som visar på de största skillnaderna. Resultaten visar att översättarna väljer samma metoder i 42 % av den totala översatta textmassan. Resultaten visar också att den danska översättningen har störst användning av indirekta översättningsmetoder och därmed också är den måltext som avviker mest från källtexten, medan den norska måltexten är rik på så kallad traduction littérale och ligger närmast källtexten. / The study investigates to what extent the Scandinavian translators use the same methods when translating. The Danish, Norwegian and Swedish translations of the French novel L’élégance du hérisson are analyzed using Vinay and Darbelnet’s (1958/1977) methodology. In the present study the translators are also questioned about so called situational factors that might have influenced the translation process and its outcome. There is a major focus on the methods that are characterized by indirect translation, since these in a clear way indicate differences. Results show that the translators use the same methods in 42 % of the cases in the analyzed material. Results also show that the indirect translation methods are widely used in the Danish target text and it hence also distances itself the farthest from the source text, whereas the Norwegian target text is rich in litteral translation and closest to the source text.