The title
p. 17-18
Texte intégral
You must remember to translate the title. Titles are often difficult so it can be easier to leave it until after you have translated the text. Do not waste time in a test worrying about the title.
Titles do not obey the same grammatical rules as ordinary writing. They are written according to conventions which make the title shorter and more punchy, to attract the reader’s attention.
There are three problems when translating titles.
1) The article
In the press, the word ‘the’, or ‘a/an’ are almost always left out of titles. This applies to all cases where you might want to use ‘the’, or ‘a/an’, not just at the beginning of the title.
For example, from The International New York Times of 9th March 2014:
Passport Theft Adds to Mystery of Missing Malaysian Jet (not the Mystery…)
2) Capital letters
The American press usually capitalizes every important word. Nowadays, the British press does not use capital letters throughout titles, only for the first word, proper names and acronyms. You can choose which way to do it - just be consistent.
For example, from The Guardian of 9th March 2014:
Four plane passengers’ identity under scrutiny
3) Verb tenses
Titles almost always use the present simple tense when you would expect the present continuous for something that is happening now. They use a past participle for something in the past, or the infinitive for something which is going to happen in the future. This is a convention in journalism which makes it possible to keep the title short.
You can compare this with French titles which are often longer, for example from Le Monde of 9 March 2014: ‘L’avion disparu au Vietnam pourrait avoir fait demi-tour’ It is almost impossible to translate this into an English-style title. A possible translation is: ‘Plane lost over Vietnam could have made U-turn’, but this is not English newspaper style.
Here are three news titles showing the different tenses:
| PRESENT (using present simple) | Google launches new search system | You might expect ‘is launching’ or ‘has launched’ |
| PAST (using past participle) |
Hospital watchdog criticised for its ‘bullying’ culture | You might expect ‘has been criticised’ |
| FUTURE (using infinitive) | Ministers and unions to kiss and make up next week | You might expect ‘are going to kiss… ’ or ‘will kiss… ’ |
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