Vinay and Darbelnet's Seven Translation Procedures
Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet, comparing French and English in the late 1950s, named seven procedures every translator uses, often without naming them. The procedures split into two families: direct (borrowing, calque, literal) and oblique (transposition, modulation, equivalence, adaptation).
The seven
- Borrowing: the source word is transferred unchanged (rendezvous, kindergarten).
- Calque: a source phrase is translated element by element (skyscraper, gratte-ciel).
- Literal translation: word for word where syntax allows.
- Transposition: part of speech changes; meaning preserved.
- Modulation: viewpoint shifts (it is not difficult / c'est facile).
- Equivalence: a culturally equivalent expression replaces the source idiom.
- Adaptation: a target-culture situation replaces a source-culture one with no direct parallel.
Why this still matters
Naming the procedure makes the choice auditable. A glossary entry that says transposition (verb to noun) tells a downstream chunk what to do; a glossary entry that says good translation does not. Vinay and Darbelnet gave the profession its first vocabulary for what was previously called taste.
Further reading: Catford shifts, dynamic vs formal equivalence.