ABSTRACT
With a few exceptions, there seems to be general consensus that intralingual translation is a translational activity that belongs under the Translation Studies umbrella. For theoretical as well as practical reasons it is important to find out more about the similarities and differences of intra- and interlingual translation. This is what this chapter aims to do. It analyses the intralingual translation of a medicinal product summary in English expert language into English lay language in the form of the patient information leaflet. The focus of the analysis is similarities and differences in the translational microstrategies applied, compared to those traditionally used within interlingual translation, and the results confirm and shed more empirical light on the author’s 2009 claim that the same range of microstrategies are used in the two types of translation and that it is rather a question of a difference in degree than in kind. Finally, Jakobson’s tripartite definition of translation is discussed, and it is argued that a division in three separate categories may serve an explanatory purpose but may not be an accurate reflection of reality.
