Abstract

Using a series of six internal magazines/newspapers produced by Canadian National, from 1993 to 1994, to communicate company news, information and policies to employees, as well as the translations of those vehicles, this investigation examines the concepts of the translating institution and translation strategy. It develops a systematic approach for inferring translation strategy from a corpus of translations, with an emphasis on observing and documenting, rather than on evaluating translation quality. It argues that the translator is a perfectly visible component in the translation process, having a definite impact on the translation produced, that translation strategy can be inferred from corpus analysis, and that translations reveal a great deal about the environment in which they are produced. It also argues that, for the group of translators studied, the primary translation strategies were to produce translations which were fully grammatical and idiomatic and to produce translations which were superior to the original. Although this study was undertaken as an effort to uncover ways in which to improve the relationship between translators working in large corporate translation departments and the various corporate departments using their services, changes which have occurred in the translation industry over the past five years have given this study a rather more historical import.