Quelques réflexions sur la fidélité en traduction vue á travers la comparaison d'énoncés français et chinois

Based on a comparative analysis of French and Chinese utterances, this study suggests that given the fundamental differences between the linguistic systems, translation of languages as systems of signs is theoretically impossible. Translation is a process which operates under the constraints of both the source and target language to convey meaning as realized in speech acts. A comparative analysis of syntactic and semantic differences links the fidelity of translation to its exploitation of the dynamic meanings as achieved in the original discourse. Although this meaning must be the starting point, inter-language differences in pragmatic features, e.g. rites, symbols and gestures, demonstrate the need for the translator to consider the extralinguistic factors which the reader uses to determine meaning.