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to be considered translations? Is a precis, a paraphrase, or a
caricature regarded as being a translation proper? Can they be
measured against the yardstick of proper translating?
A precis, or gist translation, is a source-bound text. In a
precis, the original text is extremely minimized to convey maximum
information in the fewest possible words. The precis writer, or
rather the gist translator, boils down the contents of the source text
to the minimum without the least observance of structural or semantic
equivalence. He simply cuts a long story short. A lengthy political
speech, a business report, or a literary article is rehabilitated or
re-orientated in precis form to be less time- or effort consuming. In
a precis, there is no message to be communicated; there is only an
amount of information to be imparted. The art of precis writing does
not conform to the traditional norms of translation exercise.
Unlike the precis, a caricature has a message to communicate.
Projected in linear form, a caricature is an ingenious device which
often carries political, social or economic overtones. Not quite so
often, the message is reinforced by the inclusion of a single word,
phrase, or sentence. The caricaturist should be fully aware of the
cultural background of his readership. In addition, the message
implicit in the caricature must be appropriately contextualized.
Caricaturing is the transfer of the ideational substance of the linear
message rather than its linguistic form. A caricaturist does not have
a source message to draw upon, nor is the message he wishes to trigger
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