Calque

In linguistics, a calque is actually a word or phrase borrowed from another language by

literal, word-for-word translation. The term calque is borrowed from French and it derives
from the verb calquer which means to copy, to trace. More specifically, we use the verb to
calque when speaking about borrowing a word or phrase from another language while
translating its components so as to create a new lexeme in the target language.

It is difficult sometimes to prove that a particular word is a calque. This often requires a lot of
documentation compared to an untranslated term because, in some cases, a similar phrase
might have arisen in both languages independently. This is less likely to happen when the
grammar of the proposed calque is quite different from that of the borrowing language or
when the calque contains less obvious imagery. Calquing is distinct from phono-semantic
matching. While calquing includes semantic translation, it does not consist of phonetic
matching (i.e. retaining the approximate sound of the borrowed word through matching it
with a similar-sounding pre-existing word or morpheme in the target language).

The meaning of other calques can be rather obscure for most people, especially when they
relate to specific vocations or subjects such as science and law. Solución de compromiso is a
Spanish legal term taken from the English compromise solution and although Spanish
attorneys understand it, the meaning is not readily understood by the layman. An
unsuccessful calque can be extremely unnatural, and can cause unwanted humour, often
interpreted as indicating the lack of expertise of the translator in the target language.

When a translator uses a calque, he or she is creating or using a neologism in the target language by
adopting the structure of the source language.

Example: The English word handball is translated into Spanish as balonmano. Or the English term
skyscraper is gratte-ciel in French or rascacielos in Spanish.

There are 2 types of calque:

Lexical calque
• Is a translation technique which respects the syntatic structure of the target language,
whilst introducing a new mode of expressions.

• Syntactic or structural calque: is the product of erroneous connection between the

elements of a sentence or phrase. The result is the creation of a third language; in this
instance, Spanglish.