Tools for French and English Translations
May 7th, 2009
Perhaps a translator needs excellent tools for both English and French translations, but some are not for untrained and inexperienced translators. There are translation books for English-French and French-English translators, which can be adapted in combining languages.
‘Le Grand Robert’ is a single CD-ROM containing six huge books that serve as sources for English and French translations. Its second version consists of 325,000 quotations and 100,000 words. It has an appealing and accessible interface, and is easily installed in a computer. Each item includes etymology, pronunciation, register, historical uses, and regionalisms.
HarperCollins’ ‘Robert French Unabridged Dictionary’ is the most systematic bilingual dictionary, with over 2,000 pages. Items include expressions, regionalisms, and slang. A useful section is included that tackles the language in use, with extra expressions and vocabularies that are categorised into groups, such as advice, suggestions, correspondence, and more.
‘Cambridge International Dictionary of English’ can be used by translators as the best book for the English language. It indicates distinctions between, American, Australian, British, and Canadian English.
‘Thésaurus Larousse’ is satisfactorily indexed and consists of approximately 900 subtopics. This serves as an adequate reference book contained with various French words for writers and translators.
‘Roget’s International Thesaurus’ includes over 1,000 subtopics and is arranged thematically. Synonyms and antonyms are also in thematic lists, such as types of plants, human skeletal system, etc.
‘Le Bon Usage’ is known as the bible of French grammar and the most systematic French grammar book ever written. This was republished several times and is considered very essential to translators. Native speakers always refer to this book when explaining aspects of French grammar.
These tools are all exceptional, which will help English and French translators in creating an understandable transformation of meanings and expressions.