La adaptación como técnica de traducción. Taxonomía y estudio de sus funciones aplicada a la traducción lexicográfica

Abstract

The translation of dictionaries is not a well-developed field of research. Indeed, what could be termed lexicographical translation presents itself as a new path of multidisciplinary research. Metalexicography, Translation Studies and those other areas dealing with the relationship between language and culture are disciplines which may approach the study of dictionary translation, either individually or jointly. Adaptation is one of the most used techniques in the translation of dictionaries. However, the textual conventions of the lexicographical genre lead to the adaptation carried out in this type of translation, which diminishes the translator's autonomy. This paper presents a new approach that focuses on analyzing a specific aspect of adaptation: its functions. In fact, we have identified and defined 5 types of functions related to adaptation in translation. Through the different examples obtained from the translation into Spanish of the Dictionnaire culturel de la mythologie gréco-romaine (1992/2007), we will show not only the taxonomic validity of our proposal, but also some unjustified decisions –i.e., adaptations– that, therefore, do not favour the target text.