Which process involves changing the grammatical structure from the source language to fit the target language?

Which process involves changing the grammatical structure from the source language to fit the target language?

• A. Transposition
• B. Borrowing
• C. Calque
• D. Editing

Answer: (A)

Transposition is about reshaping how an idea is expressed to fit the target language’s grammar, not just swapping words. In translation you often change the grammatical pattern to sound natural in the new language while keeping the same meaning. For example, an English phrase like “make a decision” is often rendered as “take a decision” in other languages (think of Spanish “tomar una decisión”): the structure shifts from a verb plus noun to a different verbal construction with a related noun, and the exact verb choice changes to match how the target language expresses the idea. This kind of grammatical reorganization—changing word classes or the order of elements to suit the target language—is what transposition deals with. Borrowing would keep the source word, calque would translate word-for-word, and editing is about revising text, not about adapting grammar across languages.

Transposition is about reshaping how an idea is expressed to fit the target language’s grammar, not just swapping words. In translation you often change the grammatical pattern to sound natural in the new language while keeping the same meaning. For example, an English phrase like “make a decision” is often rendered as “take a decision” in other languages (think of Spanish “tomar una decisión”): the structure shifts from a verb plus noun to a different verbal construction with a related noun, and the exact verb choice changes to match how the target language expresses the idea. This kind of grammatical reorganization—changing word classes or the order of elements to suit the target language—is what transposition deals with. Borrowing would keep the source word, calque would translate word-for-word, and editing is about revising text, not about adapting grammar across languages.