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Article published In:
Language, Context and Text
Vol. 3:1 (2021) ► pp.93–129

Translating the English academic article for a French readership in 1686

| Université de Bretagne Occidentale

Previous studies of translations from the Philosophical Transactions to the Journal des Sçavans in 1665 and 1675 showed that the translators adopted a strategy of selective translation. The present study looks at five examples published in 1686. Selective translation is again in evidence. Analyses of thematic structure and process types, however, show only slight differences, but with biases towards constant progression and material processes in the French versions. It is suggested that this can be explained by the translator adapting his texts to his readership. Whereas the Philosophical Transactions was restricted to questions of science and technology, the Journal des Sçavans dealt with all the academic disciplines of the time, and thus had a wider readership than its English counterpart.

Keywords: academic writing, adaptation, Journal des Sçavans , Philosophical Transactions , process type, readership, seventeenth century, thematic structure, translation, Jean-Paul de la Roque
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.General remarks and selective translation
    • 2.1Horny Girl
    • 2.2Blood Circulation
    • 2.3Perpetual Motion
    • 2.4Bees
    • 2.5Self-moving Liquor
  • 3.Thematic structure
    • 3.1Horny Girl
    • 3.2Blood Circulation
    • 3.3Perpetual Motion
    • 3.4Bees
    • 3.5Self-moving Liquor
  • 4.Process types
    • 4.1Horny Girl
    • 4.2Blood Circulation
    • 4.3Perpetual Motion
    • 4.4Bees
    • 4.5Self-moving Liquor
  • 5.Summary and discussion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 24 February 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/langct.19008.ban
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Banks, David
2023. Lost in Translation in 1666. A Translation Dispute Between the Philosophical Transactions and the Journal des Sçavans. <i>WORD</i> 69:1 ► pp. 11 ff. DOI logo

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