ABSTRACT
This chapter is devoted to a practical problem which, although it requires little discussion, has considerable implications for the translator. The problem is actually more immediately obvious in translating from English into French, because in that case the translator is seen to be forced into grammatical transposition, usually in the form of adding reinforcing elements to the French TT. On the other hand, the problem is more subtle and more insidious in translating from French into English, mainly because the translator may overlook the need for transposition, since the French structures can be replicated in English. To replicate them may, in fact, not result in ungrammatical, or even unidiomatic, constructions in the TT, but merely in a structure that is less compact than that of a 'normal' English text. If this lack of terseness and 'normalcy' persists over a longish stretch of 7T, the cumulative effect will be that of an impression of oddness, even foreignness.
