CI_07_84

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tion est surtout une activité sociale. Peutêtre
faudrait-il faire des études sur les
normes observées en pratique par des
traducteurs établis et orienter en
conséquence les programmes de formation.
Et puisque l'on naît traducteur autant
qu'on le devient, il faudrait placer le plaisir
de traduire haut sur la liste des conditions
d'entrée dans ces programmes.
Quant à Jean-René Ladmiral (France), il
qualifie de bricolage les échafaudages
théoriques existants qui ne sont pas
étayés par des expériences de vérification
et, constant dans sa métaphore, il
propose au praticien (qui voudra bien
acheter son récent livre) une « boîte à
outils » : un ensemble de théorèmes, pas
nécessairement cohérents, permettant
au traducteur de conceptualiser les difficultés
auxquelles il se heurte pour pouvoir
les résoudre plus facilement.
Plaidoyer pour la
terminologie
Selon Robert Dubuc (Canada), la traduction
dans l'entreprise multilingue
ne peut plus s'exercer efficacement
sans le soutien logistique de la
terminologie:
• du fait de la technicité et du volume
considérable de textes à traduire,
• à cause de la valeur plus que documentaire
de ces textes, qui ont la
même utilisation que les originaux,
• pour réduire la marge d'intraduisibilité,
• pour assurer un rendement quantitatif
et qualitatif satisfaisant.
En ce qui concerne la rédaction, le
soutien du terminologue est tout aussi
utile si la documentation originale est
en langue étrangère et si le rédacteur
connaît mal la terminologie des
spécialités.
Or, la communication efficace, basée
sur la simplicité et la clarté des
énoncés et sur la rigueur de la terminologie,
n'est-elle pas une donnée
essentielle d'une saine gestion?
J.-F. J.
Toutes les professions recherchent leur
point d'équilibre entre le jugement professionnel
purement individuel et la
constitution d'une théorie, ou plus proprement
d'une doctrine, susceptible d'encadrer
utilement le jugement du praticien.
À défaut d'illuminations soudaines, les
chercheurs semblent nous orienter vers
la constitution d'une doctrine utilitaire
fondée sur l'expérience et le consensus
des membres de la profession. Sauronsnous
ou voudrons-nous relever le défi de
participer à cette entreprise? Réponse
dans trois ans ( ? ) au prochain congrès
de la FIT. ~
"Translators and Their
Position in Society "
Prole.eional Statue
~
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T
he on-going concern of the Société
des traducteurs du Québec for
professional recognition is obviously
shared by most of the world's translators
and their organizations. Justifiably so, as
it appears from the 1984 FIT Survey of
the Present State of the Legal and Soèial
Status of the Translator, one of the
conference documents, whose conclusions
reads as follows:
"The result of the survey makes it
obvious that in countries in which legal
rules and regulations exist concerning
professional practice of tli, the overall
status and image of both the free-lance
and the staff translator/interpreter has
decidedly improved in comparison to
countries where such legal instruments
do not exist.
"The endeavours of the professional
associations to improve the situation of
t/i should therefore concentrate on having
rules and regulations enacted to this end.
"A comparison with the reports on the
legal and social status of the translator
presented at the 1977-8th FIT World
Congress in Montreal/Canada and at the
1981-9th FIT World Congress in Warsaw/
Poland shows that little or no essential
change in the status of tli has been
achieved worldwide. For this reason the
Committee recommends that the national
professional associations of translators
and interpreters intensify their efforts
considerably to obtain legislative action,
by concentrating primarily on the legal
regulation of admission to professional
practice and improvement of the translators'/interpreters'
social and material
status. "
Sound familiar? The recommendation,
drafted earlier at committee meetings,
was presented in almost identical terms
at the closing session of the conference.
The issue has c1early not been resolved
and is unlikely to be in the immediatc
future, even though progress is noted
in some quarters. Comparison of our own
Working Conditions Survey with the FIT
document and brochures put out by other
national associations suggests that in
many respects the Québec or Canadian
translator's position is rather enviable,
despite the lack of legal recognition.
Literary and Non-Literary
Translation
Of considerable interest to many delegates
was a session dealing with the
relationship between Iiterary and nonliterary
translation. Although the two
activities are often contrasted, it was
contended that they are in fact more
closely allied than is uSCJally recognized,
forming, as one speaker put it, the two
poles of a continuous spectrum. The
dualist view, that literary and technical
translation are entirely disparate activities,
would doom many translators who
practise both to a kind of schizophrenia.
Strategies may differ, and erfOrs committed
in legal or scientific/technical
translation have a greater import, but the
translation process of decoding and
encoding remains substantially the same.
It was pointed out for instance that there
can be different approaches to the translation
of poetry, depending on the destination
of the work. If designed for the
general reading public of poetry lovers,
the aim is to recreate the elusive soul of
the poetry and the poetic sense will be
stressed; if intended for historical or
scholarly purposes, the philological
aspect will be adopted in varying degrees.
Not a particularly practical distinction for
the work-a-day world but a fascinating
discussion nonetheless. Literary translators
attending the conference called for
more time at future gatherings for
discussion of their problems and for
greater encouragement and promotion of
training programs for literary translators.
The scientific and technical translators
announced the establishment of the FIT
Sci-Tech Translators Consultation Network
(SCITRANSNET).
One resolution was very much in keeping
with the conference theme, "Translators
and Their Position in Society": that FIT
look into the training of interpreters for
the handicapped and the training of
handicapped persons in interpreting.
Once again, a field that would merit study .
by our associations.
Mary Plaice
STQ representative on
the CTIC delegation
CIRCUIT - DÉCEMBRE 1984. 17