Corpus-Based Translation Research on Legal, Technical and Corporate Texts

In an attempt to establish a possible ‘norm’ for the distribution of translation modalities in English → Portuguese translational relationship, a varied sample of three different text typologies (legal, technical, and corporate) with six representative texts of each typology was compared, producing a total of 9,000 lexical items. By applying Vinay & Darbelnet’s and Aubert’s models, it was possible to obtain a basic pattern of the distribution of the most used translation modalities as well as to verify certain variables, such as the correlation between a higher or lower fluctuation in the frequency of the modalities and different types of texts. From three different levels of data analysis, we observed a translation hierarchy in relation to the three most frequent categories: literal translation, transposition and modulation and also that legal texts on the one hand, and technical and corporate texts on the other, seemed to organise themselves into two major groups. We also obtained some elements which would enable us to sketch a correlation between the modalities of literal translation and technical and corporate texts , as well as a correlation between the modalities of modulation and transposition with modulation and legal texts .