The semantic features lost in translation : an analysis of a French text about wine and its Swedish translation

The aim of this study is to examine how translators can deal with the fact that some words in the source language have several semantic traits that cannot be transfered in one single word in the target language. The study is based on our own translation of an extract from a French non-fiction book on wine, where the three words accord, génerosité and onctuosité have been chosen to illustrate the difficulty dealing with several semantic traits in translation. Inspired by theories in semantic analysis and concept-based terminology work, a three-step method has been created. Firstly, the concept of the French word is analyzed and the semantic traits are identified. Secondly, a semantic matrix is used to compare the semantic traits in the source language with different translation options. Finally, the equivalence of every word and its translation is discussed from a semantic, pragmatic, stylistic and structural point of view. The results show that even if all semantic traits cannot be translated in one word, the choice of the translator can be easier if the traits are identified and demonstrated in a matrix. By analyzing ambigous words and having a concept-orientated approach, the translator can get aware of the semantic traits that might need to be added explicitly in the target text or sacrificed and lost in translation for pragmatical reasons.