A Study of Collocations in French and English Translation: A Translation Of “Education ET Insertion Sur Le Marche Du Travail a Abidjan: Une Analyse Du Genre”

Abstract

Every translation comes with its peculiar challenges as such no translation is without problems. Regardless of how gifted, skilled and experienced a translator may be he /she might still be faced with translation challenges. The purpose of this study is to examine some of the problems translators face in the course of their work. Specifically, the work examines the phenomenon of collocations and their place in translation. A text translated from French into English serves as corpus for examining the various types of collocations. The analysis is done from two perspectives, namely, a linguistic perspective using the work of Gledhill (2000) and Firth (1957) and other linguists. It is also done from a translation perspective using the works of Baker (1992, 1998) and Larson (1984) among others thereby presenting a hybrid theoretical framework. Using a main corpus and three control corpora, the study demonstrates the centrality of the phenomenon of collocation in translation and concludes that inadequate mastery of collocations constitutes a major flaw or a weakness for any translator. The study follows up with a recommendation that collocations must be taught early on the educational ladder to all language students and especially translators and communicators.