TÉCNICAS DE TRADUCCIÓN

• Borrowing (préstamo) – Transference of a SL word to a

TL. This could be due to stylistic or rethotical reasons or
because the TL does not have the word.
• Pure borrowing: The word is kept as is, e.g. proper names
(Greenpeace, Don Juan, Sony, Clarín, Nissan, San Juan,
etc), names of people (Romina, Charles, Carlos –
exception the Pope and royals), already accepted loans
(mermelada light, el software, joystick, etc.).
• Naturalized borrowing: The SL word is adapted first to the
normal pronunciation, then to the normal morphology of
the TL. E.g.
• football / fútbol – whisky / güísqui – plot /plotear
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• Calque (calco) – Transference of a SL word or expression

into the TL using a literal translation of its component
elements. The literal translation of common collocations,
names of organizations, the components of compunds
and some phrases. E.g.

• Football – balómpié (Español de España)

• Skyscraper – rascacielos
• Peso mosca – flyweight
• Superpowers – superpoderes
• Science fiction – ciencia ficción
• European Community – Comunidad Europea
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• Literal translation (traducción literal): Rendition of a

phrase or expression word for word.

• Word-for-word translation: Transfering SL grammaar and

word order as well as primary meanings of all SL words.
• E.g. He works in the office. El trabaja en la oficina.

• One-to-one translation: Each SL word has a

corresponding TL word, but their primary (isolated)
meanings may differ.
• E.g. hacer un examen – take an exam
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• Established equivalence (equivalente acuñado): Use of a term or

expresion recognized (by dictionaries or language in use) as an
equivalent in the TL. This means that we use a TL phrase that
although differs in form to the SL phrase, it is used in the same
situations. E.g.
• You’re welcome – de nada
• Once upon a time – Había una vez
• Son como dos gotas de agua – They are as like as two peas.

• It also works for institutional names**:

• WHO – World Health Organization – OMS – Organización Mundial
de la Salud
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• Reduction: Supression of a ST information item in the TT. This

happens when it is not necessary or correct to translate all the
words. E.g.
• Compute science – Informática / computación
• The committee has failed to act – La comisión no actuó.

• Amplification: To use more words in the TT in order to re-express

and idea or reenforce a sense because its correspondence in the
TL cannot be expressed concisely. Also, the addition of information
or details that were not in the SL; explicative paraphrasing. E.g.
• Vivificante – Life-giving
• In attendance – presente al momento del nacimiento o del deceso
• Empanada – (kind of) meat pie
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• Particulatization: Use of a more precise or concrete term

(in most cases, a hyponym). E.g.

• Escaleras – stairs /ladder.

• I love you - Te quiero/te amo

• Generalization: Use of a more general term or neutral

term (in most cases, a hyperonym).

• Murky – oscuro/turbio/tenebroso
• Gloomy – oscuro/sombrío/triste
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• Transposition (recategorización): A change in the

grammatical category from the SL to the TL (singlular to
plural; changing a word class or part of the speech, e.g,
turning nouns into verbs or adjectives, or viceversa).

• Working with you is a pleasure – Trabajar contigo… / El

trabajo contigo… / Cuando trabajo contigo…
• Tras su salida – After he’d gone out.
• No tardará en venir – He will soon be back
• With government support – apoyado por el gobierno
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• Modulation (modulación): Variation through change of viewpoint,

of perspective, and very often of category of thought. This means
a change in the focus that introduces a clarification with respect
of the original formulation. Some cases are:

• From passive to active (or viceversa)

• From direct to indirect speech (or viceversa)
• Possitive for double negative, double negative for positive
• Double negative:It is not uncommon to find… / Es común
encontrar
• Actually, I wasn’t displeased with the gift / En realidad, (sí) me
gustó el regalo
• I have little money – No tengo dinero
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• Adaptation: To replace a situation in the SL by an

analogous situation in the TL. Also, to replace a socio-
cultural reality from the SL with a reality specific to the
Target Culture in order to accomodate th expectations of
the Target Audience.

• - In the bible, the use of seal instead of lamb for the artic
audiences.
• - Reemplazar la figura del fútbol como deporte popular
en Argentina por baseball en Corea.
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• Variation: Used mostly when adapting content for specific

audiences novels, theatre, children’s content,
videogames, etc. To change linguistic or paralinguistic
elements like the textual tone, style, social dialect, geo-
geographycal dialect, etc.

• E.g. Cuando encontramos que un personaje habla inglés

de Estados Unidos y otro tiene acento británico, al
traducir se puede indicar el cambio usando diferentes
variantes del español, por ejemplo que un personaje
hable español neutro y el otro hable con acento
argentino.