The previous article stresses that, because of linguistic divergences, it would not be possible to replicate the sound-pattern of the source text in the target text in French Translation; the French translator should instead focus on reproducing the sound-device, that is, alliteration, assonance, or sound-symbolism, and the effect that the device is meant to create in the target text. This section focuses on one exception to the generalization stated above. If onomatopoeia is the sound device in question, then the French translator is compelled to exactly reproduce in the target text the sound-pattern that occurs in the source text. Onomatopoeia, unlike alliteration, assonance and rhyme, is not based on repetition but on replication. Onomatopoeia occurs when the way a word is pronounced imitates what the word describes. Onomatopoeia also occurs when a pronunciation imitates a sound. Examples include buzz’, crackle’, bang’, growl’, fizz’, etc.

Onomatopoeia helps the written language to preserve its aural quality, and is used to impart life and animation to the sentences. Yet, it might be difficult to render onomatopoeia in French translation because no equivalent can be found in the target language. In this case, the target text will suffer a significant loss of meaning and impact. Especially difficult to translate are onomatopoeic words that firstly, have more than one counterpart in the target language, for example, the English squeak’ has several French language equivalents like cric-crac’, couic’, craquement’, etc; secondly, they have more than one meaning; or thirdly, they function as more than one part of speech, for example, the English splash’ can function as interjection, noun and verb. The French translator can partially resolve these difficulties by referring to the context; otherwise the target text might suffer from varying degrees of connotative and grammatical loss.

The rules for judging whether rhyme needs to be translated from the source text into the target text are the same as the rules for judging the importance of alliteration and assonance. The methods for rendering rhyme in French translation are also the same as the methods for translating alliteration and assonance. In most cases it will be impossible to reproduce the rhyme sounds of the source text in the target text. Reproductions, if indulged in, might sound forceful, and might even compromise the literal and the connotative meanings of the source text.

Most cases of reproducing rhyme in French translation are determined by the context in which they occur. In this sense, there is not a fixed set of rules that govern the translation of rhymes. Translators often replace rhyme with alliteration, assonance and half rhymes in order to recreate the source text effect in the target text. In the case of comic and sarcastic source texts where the sound-patterns convey mockery, translators prefer to stock the target text with rhymes that although they sound different and are differently placed compared to the ones in the source text, are appropriate because they create the effect of the source text.

Compared to phonic sequences, graphic sequences usually do not have a prominent role to play in creating effects in written texts. The exceptions, of course, are advertisements and websites that depend on graphics to create a visual effect on the observer. Problems of recreating graphic effects in French Translation arise when the target textoccupies more space than the source text, or when the lengths of the words in the source and target texts do not match.