The aim of this paper is to evaluate the usefulness of two methods of attempting to capture the semantic change which has led to the multifunctional nature of four pragmaticalising polysemous connectors in French and English - bon, enfin, well and I mean - : a) translation equivalence which may help to disambiguate evolving polysemies and b) Haspelmath's (2003) semantic map approach to cross-linguistic typology and the implicational hierarchies which mark the development of these polysemies. The article concludes that degrees of pragmaticalisation can be revealed in translation equivalence, but this is, of necessity, only partial, and that cross-linguistic semantic mapping can perhaps better capture the diachronic developmental stages and the degree of translation equivalence between the terms.

Starting from J. Guillemin-Flescher’s paper published in the 2003 RFLA issue devoted to translation, this contribution re-examines her classification of theoretical models contrasting it to current practice. The theoretical discourse on translation is considered in relation to the greater porosity between independent disciplinary subjects (literature, linguistics and “civilization”) as well as to the development of translation studies in France. A new categorization taking into account the complex history of their interaction as well as their relation to the very concepts of theory and practice and to more recent developments is thus suggested.

It is important to realise that human translation is difficult and diverse, and that automation is needed not only by end users, but also by translators and Interpreters. Also, automation itself comes in many forms. After briefly describing computer tools for translators, we will concentrate on the linguistic and computer approaches to the automation of translation proper. This survey will yield an array of criteria for categorizing existing CAT systems, with brief examples of the state of the art. Finally, we present perspectives of future research, development, and dissemination.

The purpose of this paper is to root out the philosophical, and not strictly linguistical, issues of translating philosophy. Translating has been constantly present in the history of philosophy, but according to two modes of operation corresponding to two historical periods. First, the ancient scheme in which translating does not involve the kernel of philosophical speculation (idea of a pure gnosis irrespective of its expression in language); second, the modern scheme in which translation borders philosophy and alters philosophy's own self-consciousness ("philological state"). Thence follows the requirement of thinking anew an interaction between philosophy and translation where translating takes an active part in the act of philosophy itself, which, as interrogative thinking, elaborates a style of its own; so that there is a continuous link between "internal" translation (connection of thought with expression) and "external" translation (crossing from one language to another ).

Drawing on learner verbal report, this paper describes ways in which verbal report data reflecting the use of mental and written translation strategies have provided insights into language learning and language use. The paper characterizes the use of mental translation strategies, considers the choice between mental and written translation, and then deals with translation strategies in the different modalities.

This essay treats the problems of translation in the European Parliament, and tries to combine two aspects: the daily work of the translators, and the possible links to more theoretical linguistic reflections. After presenting some basic facts, the essay goes on to a brief discussion of the following themes: - What should a competent translator know? - The official languages of the Union, now and after the enlargement; - IT developments, computer-aided translation, databases, etc.; - Language knowledge and language learning.

In French L1 syllabuses, the term connecteur is defined according to semantic criteria and covering invariable words, and even syntagms commuting with adverbial phrases. They are given in lists and thus cannot be really used to interpret L1 texts.L2 learners are not made aware of the functioning of these heterogeneous L2 units, which makes their task even more arduous. The L1 filter compounded by limited awareness of the functioning of L1 thus leads to one-to-one relations that hinder L2 skills especially when items learnt by rote are artificially inserted instead of being used to connect ideas. A unified and contrastive grammatical terminology would allow an efficient metalinguistic awareness.

Italian grammars written for French speakers do not pay much attention to però and touch very briefly upon its difference with respect to ma. The present study is based upon a detailed analysis of French translation equivalents of però in Veronesi's novel Caos calmo (2005) and draws upon Italian oral data from the LIP corpus (1993). Results of this study show how the grammars considered fail to offer clear indications concerning the freedom of position inside the sentence and the stronger value of però. Furthermore, the introduction of the diachronic dimension shows the gradual development of contrast relations out of temporal and causal lexical sources along paths already established for the processes of grammaticalization and highlights the present-day distribution in both languages.

In the framework of humanitarian mediation, multilingual communication has a strong cultural component. This article begins by situating the Other in a global fashion, and then goes on to view ways in which a balance of perception can be established between those involved by working out a precise, rigorous diagnosis to shed light on the conceptions, feelings and intentions of all concerned, illustrated by several examples. Amongst the tools used, mention should be made of distancing, decentring, intercultural competence and Natural Semantic Metalanguage.

This study is based on a corpus of texts and translations in French and English and aims to show there are recurrent patterns in the choice of translators. Three examples have been examined: existential sentences, passive structures and attributive constructions. The criteria that condition the features observed in the corpus are underlined and an analysis of the constraints is proposed. In conclusion, the specific points that have been dealt with are related to a more fundamental difference between the two languages.

The main goal of this study is to show through the comparative study of the adjuncts décidément and decididamente (and some others) in French and Spanish respectively that a) morphological similarity between two languages is far from being a reliable criterion for translation, as exemplified in: Décidément, quel désastre ! / ¡Desde luego! *¡Decididamente!, ¡Qué desastre! ('It's definitely a disaster!'); b) using elementatry linguistic properties leads to better results. In addition to French décidément, which is the core of the debate, some others cases will also be considered like définitivement, naturellement, incontestablement, indubitablement vs desde luego, decididamente, naturalmente and sin duda. To avoid making arbitrary choices, a good translation of connectives and discursive markers must establish and apply very strict operating rules, as regards syntax and semantics of course, but also contextual and cotextual characteristics.

Localised and dated administrative documents and other such textual resources in three Anglo-Norman electronic corpora provide a new perspective on variation in pre-modern French. They may offer insights into important aspects of spatial and register variation across time. These new resources allow for a better-informed picture of semantic-pragmatic changes in the history of French than is available in traditional approaches favouring the development of francien and standard French. It is shown here that the the connectives pourtant et à cause que appear in Anglo-Norman with their present-day meanings well before the dates proposed in historical reference dictionaries. Frequent data occurrences available from Anglo-Norman texts of the XIVth century will facilitate the investigation of the beginnings of semantic changes in post-medieval French lexis.

This article gives an overview of information technology as applied to the work of translation. It takes an historical approach, assessing the impact of changes over the last ten years. The theoretical basis of empirical systems is described briefly and informally, and the evolution of applications typical of translation work such as translation memory systems, machine translation systems, terminology management and extraction tools is discussed. Considerable emphasis is put on the development of information technology and on recent developments in the management and exploitation of information sources. The author concludes that the rapid evolution of the last ten years is only the beginning of a major shift which will have radical consequences for translators as for many other professions.

CIUTI, an association of universities training interpreters and translators, aims at taking into account the changing needs of the market as far as language communication is concerned for which the fundamental theoretical and academic knowledge is a must. In order to know about market needs, the actors of the market must be in touch with the academics. Thus, the objective of this first Forum was to ask the following questions: What are the market needs today? What will be the profile of translators and interpreters in the future ? What training should the trainers have ?

Verbs of saying are traditionally analysed as semantically dependent on the extralinguistic environment in which direct speech occurs. It is however argued here that there is a two-way relation of mutual dependency between the reporting phrase and the reported utterance, the introductory verb being seen as a contextual “translation” marker dependent on the reported clause. The degree of mutual semantic dependency between reporting verb and reported clause varies according to text type and to language-specific strategies, leading to the question of what is meant, in contrastive terms, by “faithful” translation of such verbs.

Plurilingual face-to-face collaboration becomes increasingly important in the academic world, due to the rapid development of international networks. One means for managing plurilingual encounters is informal oral translation, carried out by participants when the need arises. A conversation analysis of translation sequences in scientific meetings shows that researchers translate not only to establish intercomprehension, but also in order to emphasize elements of discourse and to state argumentative positions. Rather than being a mere transposition from one language into another, translation thus shapes the contents being developed. Moreover, it allows a description of some form of exploitation of linguistics resources in a particular social activity.

The harmonisation of the laws of Member States in various areas of private law constitutes an important element of the European Union integration process. The principal legislative mechanism used to achieve this harmonisation is the directive. Effective harmonisation of national laws can only be achieved if the Community legislation is applied in the same way in the different national legal systems. Many of the challenges in ensuring a harmonised application of community legislation are connected to issues of legal language. Amongst other examples, this paper will use the European directive on product liability (la responsabilité du fait des produits défectueux) as an illustration of the various language issues raised and the solutions available to ensure an effective level of harmonisation. This will be done through a study of the English and French versions of the directive, and by considering the experience of the implementation of the provisions of the directive in French and English law.

The Base lexicale du français (BLF) website functions as a portal to numerous lexicographic resources for French. The structure of the interface is based on the potential needs of the users. However, the various options available may also confuse the user. Therefore, we have developed a new functionality which allows users to submit texts they either want to read or translate. After the texts have been analysed, they are presented to the user with an additional layer of relevant lexicographic information. This information appears in the form of a pop-up window for every word. In addition to these reading and translation assistants, the BLF also offers a writing assistant which differs considerably from traditional grammar checkers.