REDUCTION AND EXPANSION

These are rather imprecise translation procedures, which you practise intuitively in some cases, ad hoc in others. However, for each there is at least one shift which you may' like to bear in mind, particularly in poorly written texts:
SL adjective of substance plus general noun, TL noun: atteintes inflammatoires et infectieuses, `inflammations and infections'; science linguistique (etc.): `linguistics'.
For expansion, a not uncommon shift, often neglected, is SL adjective, English TL adverb plus past participle, or present participle plus object: cheveux egaux, `evenly cut hair'; belebend, `life-giving'.
PARAPHRASE
This is an amplification or explanation of the meaning of a segment of the text. It is used in an `anonymous' text when it is poorly written, or has important implica­tions and omissions.
OTHER PROCEDURES
Vinay and Darbeinet also give:
EquWalence, an unfortunately named term implying approximate equivalence, accounting for the same situation in different terms. Judging from Vinay and Darbelnet's examples, they are simply referring to notices, familiar alterna­tives, phrases and idioms - in other words, different ways of rendering the ctiches and standard aspects of language, e.g. `The story so far', Resume des chapitres prJcedents.
Adaptation: use of a recognised equivalent between two situations. This is a matter of cultural equivalence, such as,~Dear Sir' translated as Monsieur; `Yours ever' as Amities.
Both the above illuminate what sometimes happens in the process of trans­lating, but they are not usable procedures.
As I see it, there are about fourteen procedures within a certain range of probability which are useful to the translator.