doorvertalingen

Doorvertalingen, in translation studies often referred to as calques, are translations that reproduce elements from a source language in the target language at the level of words, phrases, or syntax, rather than adapting to natural Dutch usage. This can result in translations that are understandable but sound literal, awkward, or stilted to native speakers.

Doorvertalingen can occur in several forms. Lexical calques translate individual items, such as translating a term directly. Phraseological calques render fixed expressions literally, and syntactic calques preserve the source language’s word order and sentence structure. These processes may produce recognizable phrases in the target language but can conflict with established idioms or norms.

Historical and contemporary relevance: Doorvertalingen have a long history in Dutch contact with other languages, notably French and English. They appeared prominently in early modern translations and continued into the 19th and 20th centuries. Today they still arise in journalism, advertising, and technical terminology, where direct translations can aid rapid understanding or branding, though they are often avoided in high-quality translation in favor of idiomatic rendering.

Examples (English to Dutch): flea market becomes vlooienmarkt; culture shock becomes cultuurschok; skyscraper becomes wolkenkrabber. A common cautionary example is to make a decision, which in proper Dutch is usually een beslissing nemen rather than een beslissing maken, illustrating how doorvertalingen can diverge from natural usage.

Impact and assessment: Calques can enrich a language through cross-linguistic influence, but overreliance on doorvertalingen may reduce fluency. Translators balance fidelity to the source with idiomatic readability.