Grammar Issues Related to Teaching French-English Translation

Boryana T. Ruzhekova Rogozherova, Bulgaria

Boryana Ruzhekova Rogozherova has been teaching for numerous years (predominantly English and for shorter periods French). Her main theoretical and practical interests are in the field of Contrastive Analysis (French and English preterit and perfect) and Applied Linguistics – CA findings implementation in Contrastive Teaching, Contrastive Testing and Translation Teaching. She expects to defend soon her PhD thesis. E-mail: boryana@vtu.bg

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Introduction
Essence and objectives of translation
Translation procedures
Subtypes of direct translation procedures
Subtypes of indirect translation procedures
Brief presentation of aspectual meanings of French and English preterit; preterit translation procedures
Literal translation – examples
Transposition – examples
Modulation – examples
Equivalence – examples
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Translation teaching is both, goal and means of education at the same time, due to its role of a tool revealing and consolidating functional equivalences, proving, in result of language contact, positive and negative transfer. Translation teaching issues are increasingly becoming more and more relevant as a result of gradual gaining in awareness of translation role in teaching methodology (Deller and Rinvulucri 2002, Danchev 1978). In Danchev’s view, I fully agree with, translation allows and promotes Contrastive Analysis (CA) as well as various applied linguistics fields of research, such as Error Analysis (EA, Corder 1973, 1981, Brown 1987, Ruzhekova Rogozherova 2009a,b), Interlanguage Studies, methodology of FLT, being important means in Contrastive Teaching (James 1980, Ruzhekova Rogozherova 2007b,c,e, 2008b, ideas in 2007e and 2008b as to contrastive testing can be implemented in contrastive teaching too, HLT 2008).

Last, but not least, translation teaching should be considered priority, especially in higher education, considering nowadays conditions of enhanced and intensified mobility and communications across nations, cultures and languages.

Current paper, treating purely linguistic translation matters and views as to their application in translation teaching, is written within the framework of my studies related to temporality-aspectuality correlations concerning predominantly French and English preterit, as well as English perfective preterit as functional equivalent to French category (Ruzhekova Rogozherova 2007a,b,c,d). My studies related to above-mentioned French-English equivalence possess twofold mutually intertwined dimensions – determination of numerous variations of aspectuality meanings of both languages preterits and establishing translation equivalence conclusions by means of extensive analysis of a large French-English translation texts corpus consisting of eight original fiction works, several technical magazines, a scientific technical book and their specialist translations in English. However, present study has not set just the objective of mentioning examples of corpus extracted equivalences and commenting them – it goes further, the author asking herself whether there could be other translation solutions in some cases and if different solutions would not be better, taking into account translation’s essence, role, apparatus and criteria of relevance. Ideas put forward in this paper should be shared with students and implemented in current translation work, so that they may become more consciously involved in careful analysis procedures preceding translation in the purpose of producing not just nice sounding, but also accurate and faithful to the original texts.

Essence and objectives of translation

Translation represents in the perspective of Chomsky’s theory (Chomsky 1971) a set of interlingual transformations aimed at conveying the meaning of a Source Language (SL) utterance / text into to a Target Language (TL) utterance / text or transferring meaning from SL code to TL one. In accordance with overall translatability theory (Chomsky 1971, Danchev 2001, Danchev and Alexieva 1974, Molhova 1986) common to all languages semantic (deep) structure, tertium comparationis (in author’s opinion, view of common semantic structure should be treated as useful approximation, as the closer cultural, psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic reality is, the closer deep meanings are considered to be), can be conveyed in different surface structures by means of appropriate transformation rules. Taking into account the existence of characteristic and sometimes unique by form and meaning to each language categories, quite often translation involves the use of different by form categories, phenomenon expressed by the frequently encountered asymmetry of linguistic sign (Danchev and Alexieva 1974; eg French perfect, according to its meaning, is translated either through English perfect, preterit or past perfect).

It follows that accurate translation cannot be achieved unless not underestimating CA accomplishments, establishing and accounting for various linguistic categories functional equivalences. That is why linguistic foundations of general translation theory are undeniable (Danchev 1978; Mounin 1963: 13 referring the reader to Fedorov’s, Vinay and Darbelnet’s views stating that translation “… is linguistic operation, linguistic phenomenon…” and that “translation is exact discipline, possessing its own specific techniques and issues”, translation from French is mine). Quite logically, Bell’s translation scheme (Bell 1991: 59) also reveals translation process linguistic basis in presenting this activity as sequence of various levels linguistic analysis – synthesis (I added to my personal translation scheme carrying out of secondary analysis in the purpose of correctness checking, TL to SL back translation analysis) procedures.

Translation equivalence, evidently, is not based on just lexical-grammar correspondences, as each language system implements, in its own characteristic manner, its own view of surrounding reality, intersecting with psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic matters; as it was postulated by Martinet 1960, “Each language is characterized by specific arrangement of experience data. […] Language is a communication tool in compliance with which human experience is differently analyzed in each community.” (in: Mounin 1963: 58, translation from French is mine).

Translation procedures

Having briefly mentioned overall translation process features, I shall proceed with a summary of basic translation procedures (devices) in order to illustrate most frequently occurring ones, through some selected French-English examples. Thus, I will obviously have the opportunity to reflect on translation variations and make appropriate teaching remarks.

Vinay and Darbelnet 1977 (in: Popova-Veleva 1984) distinguish between seven translation procedures which can be roughly grouped into two, direct and indirect, types. In case direct translation turns out to be inappropriate for a number of reasons, such as gaps in meaning, ambiguities, distorted, alterated meaning or lack of meaning at all, irrelevance as to typical TL structures or ways of expression, structural impossibility to resort to equivalences and stylistic mismatch, indirect procedures should be implemented. However, are accurate indirect solutions, sometimes being more stylistically appropriate, always recommended, in case, for example, when direct translation is completely suitable and proper? Are we prone to overtranslate, showing too much predilection for indirect or “better sounding, more intelligent, demonstrating our mastery of TL usage”, procedures? Is the equivalent, nearest to original meaning and structure, at the same time, the best solution and if, yes, how can we achieve it? I shall suggest some answers to these queries a bit later on and at the end, in my concluding remarks.

Subtypes of direct translation procedures

Above-mentioned authors subdivide direct translation procedures into the following types: borrowing, exact replica (calque) and literal translation. Borrowings are used to confer local colour to TL text (eg Five o clock tea in French, ibid., italics here and below are mine); exact replicas are result of a group structure borrowing with word for word translation of components (Compliments de la Saison in French, ibid.); literal translation is characterized by completely accurate and even idiomatic decoding from SL to TL where structural features entirely coincide (What time is it? – Quelle heure est-il? in French, ibid.). I adhere to authors’ opinion that literal translation is unique and reveals similarities in ways of thinking and grammar structures; that is why I share the view that it should be performed not just lexically, but also grammatically, if translation material allows it – if it is appropriate from overall pragmatic point of view.

Subtypes of indirect translation procedures

Indirect translation procedures are subdivided into the following groups (Vinay and Darbelnet 1973): transposition, modulation, equivalence and adaptation. Transposition is a translation device replacing a part of speech by another one, pertaining to a different group, with no change of meaning (obligatory transposition: dès son lever (Fr.) – as soon as he gets up (En.); optional transposition: after he comes back (En.) – après son retour, après qu’il sera revenu (Fr.), ibid.); modulation should be used (again, obligatory or optional) in case literal translation or transposition achieve grammatically correct and understandable code switching, though not appropriate as far as the “spirit” of TL is concerned (the time when…(En.) - le moment où (Fr.); It is not difficult to show…(En.) - Il est facile de démontrer…(Fr.), ibid.); equivalence represents a procedure when meaning is accurately transferred from SL to TL code through different lexical, stylistic or structural means (comme un chien dans un jeu de quilles (Fr.) - like a bull in a china shop (En.), Deux patrons font chavirer la barque. (Fr.) – Too many cooks spoil the broth. (En.), ibid.); in adaptation translation touches at its extreme or furthest limit as this procedure is applied in case a situation, culturally or psychologically typical to SL native speakers, does not exist in TL native speakers’ reality; thus, meaningful situations equivalence should be sought (Bon appétit! (Fr.) (ibid.) – Enjoy your meal! (En.) (Internet forum)).

Brief presentation of aspectual meanings of French and English preterit; preterit translation procedures

In result of careful investigation of preterit meanings in above-mentioned corpus of French-English translated texts (details and examples in Ruzhekova Rogozherova mentioned above) I have determined the following major subtypes (types, such as durativity, inchoativity, repetitiveness, punctuality, terminativeness, having been found out before) of aspectual (or rather aktionsart meanings; as the focus of current paper is translation and not aspect, here I shall stick to more general term of aspectual meanings) of preterit meanings in both languages (within the framework of English perfective preterit). It should be mentioned that established values are in compliance with theory of linguistic levels (Benvéniste 1962, Danchev 2001) as well as with views of “compositional”, cumulative essence of aspect (Verkyil 1972, Kabakčiev 1992, 1993, Brinton 1988, Boteva 2000).

1. Lexical durativity (a. by means of time duration expressions; b. by means of duration lexemes; c. by means of indirectly referring to duration lexemes; d. by means of adverb or adverbial expression use);
2. Grammatical durativity (a. by means of present participle use; b. by means of plurality of process object or a pronoun);
3. Lexical-grammatical durativity (a. by means of joint use of verb of movement and preposition stating initial and final or just final point of movement; b. by means of temporal meaning preposition);
4. Lexical inchoativity (a. by means of inherently inchoative verbs; b. by means of aspectualizers (or aspectualizing verbs);
5. Lexical-grammatical inchoativity (a. by means of joint use of lexical durativity verb and lack of temporal restriction; b. by means of joint use of verb of movement or showing beginning of movement and a preposition stating initial point or goal of movement or lack of temporal restriction; c. by means of complements);
6. Grammatical repetitiveness (a. by means of explicitly stated repetition (usual); b. by means of plurality of doer or receiver of activity; c. by means of a word – sentence (Mantchev, Tchaouchev. Vassiléva 1986);
7. Lexical repetitiveness (a. by means of plurality of objects, receiving one and the same action; b. by means of inherently repetitive verbs);
8. Lexical-grammatical repetitiveness (a. by means of joint use of process plurality markers as well as by plurality of activity doers and receivers);
9. Lexical punctuality (a. by means of punctual lexical verb meaning; b. by means of phrasal verbs use; c. by means of adverb or adverbial expression use);
10. Grammatical punctuality (a. by means of punctuality / imperfectivity contrast, eg through past continuous or going to-future in the past);
11. Lexical-grammatical punctuality (a. by means of lack of inchoativity or durativity grammatical markers);
12. Lexical terminativeness (a. by means of inherent lexical verb meaning; b. by means of performative verbs; c. by means of aspectualizers revealing conclusion of process; d. by means of adverb or adverbial expression use);
13. Grammatical terminativeness (a. by means of reinforcing this meaning factitive verbs use; b. by means of passive voice use (En.));
14. Lexical-grammatical terminativeness (a. by means of pouvoir, devoir, vouloir, aller + infinitive use (predominantly in French); b. by means of some verbal-nominal constructions; être + adjective or adverb constructions (Fr.))

Having presented almost coinciding in both languages perfective preterit meanings, I shall proceed with illustrating above-mentioned translation procedures through my corpus extracted examples, as types of direct and indirect translation can be detected and observed at all linguistic levels, being tightly interconnected (fact evidently supported by aspectuality characteristics).

Scrutiny of offered examples correspondences supports conclusion stemming from considering particular features of contrasted categories that borrowings, exact replicas and adaptations are not likely to occur in preterit-preterit translations (these procedures, though I have not detected such in my preterit studies, may not concern this temporal category itself, preterits in both languages being quite close in their meaning, but verb phrases structures or other sentence components, involved in formation of overall pragmatic aspectual meaning). Consequently, here below are produced contrasted French-English utterances of literal translation, transposition, modulation and equivalence along with comments on degree of achieved functional equivalence, following in brackets after each example. Of course, the higher equivalence degree is, the more successful translation is; examining examples we should bear in mind that exact translation here refers not only to temporal, but also to aspectual correspondence. Degree of equivalence is studied just in terms of aspectuality formation factors, the verb, being in bold and aspectuality markers, presented in italics. Offered example utterances were reduced to absolute minimum (this procedure turned out to be painful) so that underlying ideas may become clearer.

Literal translation – examples

As it can be seen, this section examples form two groups – the ones revealing absolute not just temporal, but aspectual congruence (see above as to types of preterit aspectuality) and the ones displaying lower and, consequently, unacceptable, in my view, translation equivalence; the latter can be improved in the purpose of achieving maximum aspectual congruence and this way, maximum accuracy of translation (comments following each example).

1. Ce succès l’enhardit; et dès lors il n’y eut plus dans l’arrondissement un chien écrasé, une grange incendiée, une femme battue, dont aussitôt il ne fît part au public ... – Success emboldened him, and from then on there was not a dog run over, not a barn fired, not a wife beaten in all the district, but he immediately retailed it to the public ... (Madame Bovary, Flaubert ) (complete temporal and aspectual equivalence, type - lexical-grammatical inchoativity, b. in both sentences)
2. Mais l’arbuste cessa vite de croître, et commença de préparer une fleur. – But the plant soon stopped growing and started to develop a flower. (Le petit prince, Saint-Exupéry) (complete temporal and aspectual equivalence, type - lexical inchoativity, b. in both sentences)
3. Mon oncle, dis-je avec effort, voulez-vous m’acheter cette poupée? / Et j’attendis. – “Uncle,” I said, with a great effort, “will you buy that doll for me?” / And I waited. (Le crime de Sylvestre Bonnard, France) (complete temporal and aspectual equivalence, type - lexical-grammatical inchoativity, a. in both sentences)
4. il se dirigeait vers la place, quand il aperçut par terre un petit bout de ficelle. - … was making his way towards the square when he perceived on the ground a little piece of string. (La ficelle, Maupassant) (complete temporal and aspectual equivalence, type - grammatical punctuality, b. in both sentences)
5. Donc … on résolut de partir un mardi matin, avant le jour, pour éviter tout rassemblement. – A large four-horse coach having, therefore, been engaged … they decided to start on a certain Tuesday morning before daybreak, to avoid attracting a crowd. (Boule de Suif, Maupassant) (complete temporal and aspectual equivalence, type - lexical terminativeness, a. in both sentences)
6. Un grand rire s’éleva d’abord dans le public de la salle d’armes, puis le désir de danser s’éveillant chez les femmes, elles cessèrent de s’ocuper de ce qui se passait sur l’estrade et se mirent à parler tout haut. – There was a great roar of laughter from the audience downstairs and then, as the ladies began to want to dance, they stopped paying attention to what was happening on the platform and started talking out loud. (Bel-Ami, Maupassant) (complete temporal and aspectual equivalence, type - lexical terminativeness, c. in both sentences)
7. Quand il voulut recommencer à se barbifier, il se coupa trois fois le nez jusqu’à l’oreille. - When he began shaving again he cut himself three times. (Clair de lune, Maupassant) (complete temporal and partial aspectual equivalence - grammatical repetitiveness, a. in both sentences + lexical-grammatical durativity, a. in French example; suggestion – he cut his nose three times up to his ear)
8. Le conteur se tut. - The story-teller finished. (Le bonheur, Maupassant) (complete temporal and weak degree of aspectual equivalence - lexical-grammatical punctuality, a. in French example and lexical terminativeness, a. in English example; suggestion – he went silent)

Transposition – examples

In this section examples fall again into two groups – of type 1, characterized by imminent, obligatory transposition (see above), due to lack of complete aspectual congruence between both utterances and type 2, characterized by optional and not very successful transposition, leading to unneeded aspectual meanings discrepancies (suggestions following this translation type). Fortunate transposition, though, does not distort original meaning, being compulsory and imposed by TL characteristics.

1. Le laissant à ses réflexions, j’ouvris un livre que je lus avec intérêt, car c’était un catalogue de manuscrirs. – Leaving him to his reflections, I opened a book, which I began to read with interest; for it was a catalogue of manuscripts. (Le crime de Sylvestre Bonnard, France) (type 1 complete temporal and partial aspectual equivalence - lexical-grammatical inchoativity, a. in French example and lexical inchoativity, b. in English example)
2. En arrivant sur la place, il prit soudain conscience du froid et frissonna sous son léger veston. – Past the square, he was suddenly aware of the cold, and shivered under his light jacket. (La mort heureuse, Camus) (type 1 complete temporal and aspectual equivalence - lexical punctuality, c. in both examples as transposition here is in prendre conscience – be, become aware of)
3. Duroy finit par comprendre et il s’affaissa à coté du docteur. – … and finally Duroy understood what he was being told and slumped down beside the doctor. (Bel-Ami, Maupassant) (type 1 complete temporal and partial aspectual equivalence - lexical terminativeness, c. in French example and lexical terminativeness, d. in English example)
4. Après cinq minutes d’attente, on le fit entrer dans le cabinet ou il avait passé une si bonne matinée. – Ater waiting for five minutes, he was shown into the study where he had spent such a pleasant morning before. (Bel-Ami, Maupassant) (type 1 complete temporal and partial aspectual equivalence - grammatical terminativeness, b. in French example and grammatical terminativeness, c. in English example)
5. Une d’elles klaxonna longuement, et à travers le vallon, le son creux et lugubre élargit encore les espaces humides du monde… - One of them blew its horn, and across the valley the hollow lugubrious blast made the wet space of the world even larger… (La mort heureuse, Camus) (type 2 complete temporal and weak degree of aspectual equivalence - lexical durativity, d. in klaxonna longuement (Fr.) and lexical-grammatical inchoativity, a. in blew its horn (En.), this discrepancy leading to distortion of following aspectual meaning, too - lexical-grammatical durativity, a. in élargit and lexical-grammatical inchoativity, b. in made the wet space of the world even larger (En.); suggestion - blew its horn at length)
6. Peu à peu la réflexion me revint. – My powers of reflection slowly returned. (Le crime de Sylvestre Bonnard, France) (type 2 complete temporal and partial aspectual equivalence - lexical durativity, d. in both examples; however, in French utterance peu à peu expresses gradual durativity, lacking hue in English equivalent; suggestion – gradually returned (returned little by little.))
7. Emma se fit servir à dîner dans sa chambre, au coin du feu, sur un plateau; elle fut longue à manger; tout lui sembla bon. – Emma had her dinner on a tray in her bedroom, by the fire. She took a long time over it. She was very satisfied with everything. (Madame Bovary) (type 1 complete temporal and almost complete aspectual equivalence in fut longue (Fr.) and took a long time (En.) – lexical durativity, b. in both examples; however, type 2 complete temporal and partial aspectual equivalence was established in tout lui sembla bon (Fr.) and was very satisfied with everything (En.) - grammatical durativity, b. in both examples; lack of complete equivalence, though, here derives from lexical meanings differences between sembla bon (meaning in an ordinary situation her reaction most probably would have been different) and was satisfied with (does not possess the same meaning as in French); suggestion – everything seemed (appeared) to her delicious)
8. Le petit prince eut un sourire: / - Tu n’es pas bien puissant … tu n’as même pas de pattes … tu ne peux même pas voyager. – The little prince smiled. “You do not look very powerful … you don’t even have paws … you cannot even travel.” (Le petit prince, Saint-Exupéry) (type 2 complete temporal and weak degree of aspectual equivalence - lexical-grammatical terminativeness, b. in French example and lexical-grammatical inchoativity, a. in English example; suggestion – he gave a smile)

Modulation – examples

In this section again, translation utterances are split up into two groups – pertaining to type 1 and type 2 modulations, being characterized with successful and inaccurate, from aspectual point of view, modulation of message. Suggestions are offered following examples comments.

1. Elle sembla chercher, pendant quelques secondes, un autre mot plus fort qui ne venait point … - For a second or two she seemed to be vainly fumbling for some stronger word… (Bel-Ami, Maupassant) (type 1 complete temporal and partial aspectual equivalence - lexical durativity, b. in both examples and successful modulation in progressive use to be fumbling, better revealing activity characteristics, according to English grammar and usage)
2. Le petit prince ramona soigneusement ses volcans en activité. – He carefully swept his active volcanoes. (Le petit prince, Saint-Exupéry) (type 1 complete temporal and aspectual equivalence - lexical durativity, d. in both examples and successful modulation in carefully swept – swapping verb / adverb positions, according to English grammar and usage)
3. Alors elle s’était tue, avalant sa rage dans un stoïcisme muet, qu’elle garda jusqu’à sa mort. – Finally, she shut her mouth and swallowed her fury in a stoic silence which she preserved till the day of her death. (Madame Bovary) (type 1 complete temporal and almost complete aspectual equivalence - lexical-grammatical durativity, b. in both examples and successful modulation in adding the day in <i>the day of her death, according to English usage and its typical expressions, this way emphasizing on activity limits.)
4. Il se mit à le suivre en cherchant dans ses souvenirs, et répétant à mi-voix: (...) - He turned and followed him, trying to remember who it was, muttering to himself: (…) (Bel-Ami, Maupassant) (type 1 complete temporal and partial aspectual equivalence - lexical inchoativity, b. in French example and lexical-grammatical inchoativity, a. in English example; successful modulation in accordance with English usage)
5. Elle crut le voir en face, à sa fenêtre (…) il lui sembla qu’elle tournait encore dans la valse, sous le feu des lustres, au bras du vicomte, et que Léon n’était pas loin, qu’il allait venir … – She had a vision of him at his window across the way. (…) it seemed to her that she was still circling in the waltz, in the glare of the chandeliers, on the Viscount’s arm, and Léon was not far away, he was just coming. … (Madame Bovary, Flaubert ) (type 1 complete temporal and almost complete aspectual equivalence - grammatical repetitiveness, c. in both examples; successful modulation in that omission according to literary work style)
6. Un petit bruit derrière lui. La cigarette aux lèvres, il se retourna. – A faint noise behind him made him turn around, the cigarette between his lips. (La mort heureuse, Camus) (type 2 complete temporal and weak degree of aspectual equivalence - lexical punctuality, a. in French example and grammatical terminativeness, b. in English example; in consequence, inaccurate modulation; suggestion – <i>he heard a faint noise … and turned around)
7. Le petit jour parut. – Day began to break. (Madame Bovary, Flaubert ) (type 2 complete temporal and weak degree of aspectual equivalence - lexical punctuality, a. in French example and lexical inchoativity, b. in English example; in consequence, inaccurate modulation; suggestion – daylight appeared (daybreak / dawn came) )
8. Un homme vêtu de noir entra tout à coup dans la cuisine. – She started as a man in black suddenly strode in. (Madame Bovary, Flaubert) (type 2 complete temporal and partial aspectual equivalence - lexical punctuality, c. in both examples, aspectual discrepancy stemming from strode in meaning entra à grands pas; in consequence, inaccurate modulation; suggestion – entered (came in))

Equivalence – examples

My translation corpus equivalence examples turned out not to be numerous ones; both offered utterances illustrate, similarly to above-presented division, two types of equivalence – successful and partly, if not, completely erroneous. Suggestions follow comments.

1. A ce moment, Patrice Mersault sortit de son bureau. Sur le pas de la porte, l’été lui coupa la respiration. – Just at this moment, Patrice Mersault emerged from his office, and on the doorstep, the summer heat took his breath away. (La mort heureuse, Camus) (type 1 complete temporal and almost complete aspectual equivalence - lexical punctuality, a. in French example and lexical punctuality, b. in English example; successful and needed equivalence, depending on specific language usage in specific situations)
2. Je m’agenouillai pour déchiffrer l’inscription gravée sur cette pierre, et c’est à mi-voix, dans l’ombre de la vieille abside, que je lus ces mots qui me firent battre le coeur: … - I knelt down to look at the inscription engraved upon that stone: and then, half aloud, I read in the shadow of the old apsis these words, which made my heart leap: … (Le crime de Sylvestre Bonnard, France) (type 2 complete temporal and partial aspectual equivalence - grammatical terminativeness, b. in both examples, discrepancy stemming from lack of equivalence between lexical meanings of battre and leap; consequently, unnecessary and unsuccessful equivalence leading to partial distortion of meaning and overtranslation; suggestion – which made my heart beat)

Conclusion

Carried out analysis of above-presented exemplifying translation utterances in the light of general translation theory linguistic foundations, such as principles of deep and surface structure, asymmetry of linguistic sign, functional translation equivalence, language levels and translation procedures, leads to the following conclusions: good translation is accurate translation not just within the limits of appropriate lexemes use, but it also requires attention as to functional equivalence achieving of grammar, French and English preterit temporality and aspectuality, being considered in current article.

It always should be borne in mind that translator’s role is not to overtranslate or adorn the text, neither to play an author’s part; translation should be as close to the original, lexically and grammatically, as possible. As possible, because it is kind of idealized to some extent position, given the fact that there can be found numerous examples of interpretation difficulties to native speakers themselves, mainly in the field of preterit aspect determination (perfective or imperfective one). The following short passage can be produced to show mentioned dual interpretation possibility, which quite often cannot be solved even by means of context investigation (aspectual meanings, imperfective (Imp.) and perfective (Perf.), as well as hues, repetition (Rep.) and inchoativity (Inch.) are given in brackets; however, in this case, overall aspectual determination depends on first verb interpretation, in other words, value (1) in watched imposes value (1) understanding in other verbs meanings, the same applying to value (2)):

“He watched (Imp. (1), Perf. + Inch. (2)) her with his big brown eyes and tended to raise (Imp. (1), Perf. + Rep. (2)) his eyebrows slowly when she got near (Imp. (1), Perf. + Rep. (2)) the end of each bit she said (Imp. (1), Perf. + Rep. (2)).” (Interesting Things, Amis)

Current paper analyzed examples, revealing presence or lack of aspectual equivalences, even in cases when equivalences can be achieved, have some relevant translation teaching implications:

1. analysis ↔ synthesis procedures (see above in Essence and objectives of translation) encompassing all levels of language should be performed, jointly with lecturer in the beginning, prior to translation;
2. not just tenses, but also aspectuality meanings and their practical translation implementation should be taught together with appropriate CA;
3. aspectuality matters should be dealt with in detail, always considering pragmatic situation and role of all speech parts in aspectuality meanings formation process, due to already mentioned cumulative characteristics of aspectuality in French and English;
4. typical ways of expression in source and target language should be investigated and taught to help students use proper transposition, modulation, equivalence and adaptation, where needed.

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Please check the Teaching Advanced Students course at Pilgrims website.