BY RIDDHI ARORA

The selected English text is taken from the novel “ THE ALCHEMIST” by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho. That was first published in 1988 originally written in Portuguese. It became a widelytranslated international bestseller.

SOURCE TEXT

The boy's name was Santiago. Dusk was falling as the boy arrived with his herd at an abandoned church. The roof had fallen in long ago, and an enormous sycamore had grown on the spot where the sacristy had once stood.

He decided to spend the night there. He saw to it that all the sheep entered through the ruined gate, and then laid some planks across it to prevent the flock from wandering away during the night. There were no wolves in the region, but once an animal had strayed during the night, and the boy had to spend the entire next day searching for it.

He swept the floor with his jacket and lay down, using the book he had just finished reading as a pillow. He told himself that he would have to start reading thicker books: they lasted longer, and made more comfortable pillows.

It was still dark when he awoke, and, looking up, he could see the stars Through the half-destroyed roof.

LITERAL TRANSLATION ( from English to French )

Le nom du garçon était Santiago. Le crépuscule tombait quand le garçon est arrivé avec son troupeau dans une église abandonnée. Le toit était tombé depuis longtemps et un énorme sycomore avait grandi à l'endroit où la sacristie avait une fois se leva.

Il a décidé d'y passer la nuit. Il a veillé à ce que tous les moutons soient entrés à travers la porte en ruine, puis posé des planches à travers pour empêcher la troupeau d'errance pendant la nuit. Il n'y avait pas de loups dans le région, mais une fois qu'un animal s'était égaré pendant la nuit, et le garçon avaita dû passer toute la journée suivante à le chercher.

Il a balayé le sol avec sa veste et s'est allongé, en utilisant le livre qu'il venait de fini de lire comme oreiller. Il s'est dit qu'il faudrait commencer lire des livres plus épais: ils duraient plus longtemps et étaient plus confortables oreillers.

Il faisait encore nuit quand il s'est réveillé et, levant les yeux, il pouvait voir les étoiles À travers le toit à moitié détruit.

STRATEGY I USED FOR TRANSLATION

I have used the Literal Translation strategy or metaphrase. This means a word - for – word translation from one language to another. It is done by translating each word separately, rather than giving a sense of the original. I used this strategy for my training purpose.

WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF LITERAL TRANSLATION?

PROS

1. EFFICIENCY AND SPEED - According to my Literal translation are more efficient and these translations are quite fast.
2. QUALITY - These translations provide quality in terms of grammar and understandability.
3. Literal Translation is also good for training purposes in the translation field.

CONS

1. Lack of originality - Sometimes it can fail to convey the literal meaning of the text or may convey the wrong meaning.
2. Hard - It becomes hard and headache to translate every single word.
3. Take time to interpret – It takes time to understand, research, and interpret the whole text.