scholarly journals Audience and Purpose as a Guide to Improve Acceptability and Readability of Technical Translation

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 98-108
Author(s):  
Pinfan Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Technical Communication ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Technical Translation ◽  
Equivalence Theory ◽  
Traditional Chinese Medical

Equivalence theory in translation, which is source-text focused, has always been an influential guideline for translators. However, recently, scholars argue that equivalence in translation is not totally possible, and in the author’s opinion, it is not even necessary in many cases in technical communication. In this article, the author tries to approach technical translation guidelines from a different angle, which is purpose an audience-focused. The paper discusses how to improve and evaluate the acceptability or readability of technical translation in terms of the expectations of the audience and the need for the translation purpose. Taking a Traditional Chinese Medical website as an example, the author points out that only by targeting the audience’s needs at the semantic, syntactic, textual, and content levels can a technical translator produce effective technical translations accepted and appreciated by readers.

scholarly journals Computer-aided technical translation workflows - man-machine in the construction and transfer of corporate knowledge

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elia Yuster
Keyword(s):  
Technical Communication ◽  
Dynamic Feature ◽  
Technical Documentation ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Global Marketplace ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Technical Translation ◽  
Computer Aided ◽  
Technical Writer ◽  
Education Degree

The translation of technical documents is no longer a process to be tackled once the source text has been produced elsewhere in the corporation or institution. Instead, translation and intercultural issues are taken into account prior to the production of the technical source-text which, most frequently, gains a dynamic feature. From this standpoint, one might think that the translator loses the leading role against the technical writer, who would become the key intercultural communicator for the global marketplace. However, as it has happened to other stakeholders in the multilingual documentation chain, the translator is no longer empty-handed and is gradually developing some technologically-driven competencies that allow them to expand their battle area and contribute to knowledge transfer in our society. This paper provides an overview of the latest workflow patterns leading to multilingual technical documentation production and management, their ideal circumstances and problems, as well as deriving consequences for higher education degree programmes in translation and technical communication.

scholarly journals Termini in der technischen Übersetzung: Rettungsanker, Tyrannen – oder auch nur Wörter?

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrike Oster
Keyword(s):  
Translation Studies ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Specific Study ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Cultural Specificity ◽  
Technical Translation ◽  
Language Pair

The understanding of ‘term’ in traditional terminology theory reduces the lexical problems of technical translation to a mere substitution of the source-text term by a target-text term. In translation studies however , a number of issues have been highlighted which are not covered by traditional terminology theory, e.g. cultural specificity or the importance of textual and pragmatic considerations. This paper first analyses how the new communication and cognition-oriented approaches to terminology account for these aspects of technical translation. Then it briefly presents results of a language-pair and domain-specific study which allows us to exemplify some of the issues that have been discussed and to reach some specific conclusions for the translator of this linguistic combination.

scholarly journals A Thing-bound Approach to the Practice and Teaching of Technical Translation

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Folkart
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Strategies ◽  
Extreme Case ◽  
The Other ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Technical Translation ◽  
Hybrid Forms

Abstract The raison d'être of the technical text is in the access it affords to its referents. It follows that technical translation involves reverbalizing these referents rather than mapping semiotic structures from source-to target-language, as is the case with the other, more "hybrid" forms of discourse, in which functions of language other than the purely referential play a role. The source-language formulation is thus relatively unimportant. In the extreme case, which is not necessarily that of a poorly written source text, it can even be bypassed altogether, the translator drawing his information from the non-linguistic segments of the source text (equations, diagrams and the like) and verbalizing it directly in the target language.For Ivan Hirst, from whom I learned most of what I know about technical translation. The technical translator's stock in trade is an in-depth understanding of the referent. The following article proposes a number of teaching strategies designed to sensitize non-specialist students to the importance of the referent, to help them acquire the minimal background they will need to deal with texts in a given field and to enable them to reduce technical texts to their underlying referents.

scholarly journals KREATIVES POTENZIAL DES ÜBERSETZERS IN DER WISSENSCHAFTLICHEN UND TECHNISCHEN SPHÄRE

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (26) ◽  
pp. 47-54
Author(s):  
Svitlana Gruschko
Keyword(s):  
Technical Communication ◽  
Creative Potential ◽  
Translation Process ◽  
Technical Literature ◽  
Technical Translation ◽  
Technical Writer

The article is devoted to the analysis of the science and technical literature translator’s potential in the context of combined disciplines “Technical Translation” and “Technical Communication”, based on D. Birn’s and K. Shubrt’s studies. Nowadays it has become obvious that science and technical translation’s obstacles are coursed not only by different structures and language rules involved in the process and perfection of requirements to the accuracy of translation that is to reflect the information in details but also by the specificity of the translation process itself that is of great importance. The most important role in this process is played by the creative potential of the translator, written translation being of primary importance. Clarity, accuracy and grammar, being principle stylistic goals of the written translation, coincide with the principle stylistic goals of technical translation. “Technical translator” acts as a “technical” writer.

scholarly journals Documentary Subtitle Chinese-English Translation from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence: A Study on the Documentary China’s Fight against Covid-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 36-48
Author(s):  
Yeheng Yang ◽  
Yi Li
Keyword(s):  
English Translation ◽  
Practical Implication ◽  
Sentence Length ◽  
Functional Equivalence ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Equivalence Theory ◽  
Present Particle ◽  
Shed Light

This paper adopts Nida's Functional Equivalence theory and studies the Chinese-English subtitle translation of the documentary China’s Fight against Covid-19, which was filmed and broadcast throughout China amid the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in the year 2020, and it received positive responses in the country. The research objective is to find out the translation strategies, methods and skills involved in achieving the “most natural” and the “most closest” English expressions to the Chinese source text. In the study, investigations on the equivalence of Lexical level, Syntactical level, Contextual level and Textual level in the subtitle are conducted respectively, and the aforementioned translation aspects are discussed under the guidance of Nida’s functional equivalence. The key findings are that the translated texts adopt literal and liberal translation to deal with the Culture-loaded words and four-character idioms on a lexical level. While sentence restructuring, conversion of voice, and conjunction and present particle are used on the syntactic level to make source language and translated subtitle more coherent and authentic. On the contextual and textual level, the target text distinguishes the formal and informal languages through the sentence length and the complexity of the structure. This study offers a practical implication for translating Chinese pandemic discourses into English, and it can also shed light on the study of Chinese narratives during the COVID outbreak and the publicity of the Chinese countermeasures.  

scholarly journals Translation of Corporate Promotional Materials in View of Skopos Theory

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr. Jing Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Translation Studies ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Foreign Markets ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Formal Equivalence ◽  
Skopos Theory ◽  
Promotional Materials ◽  
Equivalence Theory

<p>Chinese businesses have realized the importance of publicity in foreign markets. However, the translation of Chinese corporate promotional materials is not of high quality so far. Problems in the translation may be caused by multi-facet factors, but the influence of formal equivalence theory on translators can be a big cause. Skopos theory shift translators’ attention from loyalty to the source text to the purpose of the target text, shedding a new light to translation studies. This paper discusses the application of Skopos theory in the translation of Chinese corporate promotional materials and explores the strategies and methods of translating corporate promotional materials from Chinese to English.</p>

De Moeilijkheidsgraad Van Technische Vertalingen

1993 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 21-24
Author(s):  
Frans van Zaaien
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Product Liability ◽  
Technical Knowledge ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Technical Translation ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Way

Have you ever had problems reading the directions for using a newly bought piece of equipment? If so, than apparently it was a translation that gave the translator difficulties. The degree of difficulty of a translation is determined by various factors, and depends not only on the knowledge the translator has of the subject matter and its specific jargon. It can also depend on the way in which the source text was delivered, e.g. without explaining figures, and equally on the technical knowledge the eventual reader possesses. The term "degree of difficulty" is therefore relative and can have a different value, dependent on the task. A further problem with technical translations for consumers is the product liability that is going to be more and more an essential part of directions for use. This article addresses the question of what can be considered a good technical translation.

scholarly journals AN ANNOTATED TRANSLATION FROM INDONESIAN TO CHINESE: “TOKOH TIONGHOA & IDENTITAS INDONESIA: DARI TJOE BOU SAN SAMPAI YAP THIAM HEIN (2010)” WRITTEN BY LEO SURYADINATA

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 190
Author(s):  
Xuanyi Lu
Keyword(s):  
Source Text ◽  
Chinese Translation ◽  
Dynamic Equivalence ◽  
Proper Nouns ◽  
Translation Study ◽  
Translation Techniques ◽  
Equivalence Theory ◽  
Chinese Idioms ◽  
Annotated Translation ◽  
Proper Translation

<p class="TeksAbstrak">This research is an annotated translation study. The author conducted an Indonesian-Chinese translation of two chapters of the biography named Tokoh Tionghoa &amp; Identitas Indonesia: Dari Tjoe Bou San Sampai Yap Thiam Hien and gave annotations to important and necessary parts. The specific purposes of this research can be described as follows: (1) find the appropriate method to translate this source text; (2) find out proper translation techniques and provide reasons for choosing equivalence. In translating this biography, the author uses communicative translation (Newmark, 1988) and considers the dynamic equivalence theory of Nida and Taber (1982) as the main principle. Annotations are divided into six groups, namely: culturally charged words, phrases that are translated into Chinese idioms, proper nouns, metaphors, footprints, and sentences. To translate a text successfully, translators need not only a good mastery of languages but also board knowledge.</p>

scholarly journals La traducción científico-técnica: aportaciones desde los estudios de traducción

LETRAS ◽  
2013 ◽  
pp. 37-60
Author(s):  
Javier Franco Aixelá
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Not Given ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Technical Translation ◽  
Siglo Xx ◽  
New System

Tradicionalmente, la traducción científico-técnica ha contado poco en la reflexión tanto lingüística como traductológica por partir de un lenguaje escasamente creativo. Hasta las últimas décadas del siglo XX los investigadores no comienzan a prestarle verdadera atención. En este trabajo se analizan las aportaciones de los estudios de traducción modernos a esta modalidad de transferencia interlingüística. La traductología se desarrolla a partir de una perspectiva textual y se vuelca sobre la optimización del texto meta, como un instrumento de comunicación semiautónomo que debe encajar en un nuevo sistema de expectativas y convenciones. Se presta atención a dos aspectos de la traducción: la interferencia y la posibilidad de mejora del texto original. Traditionally, scientific and technical translation has been given less importance in linguistic and translatological research because it uses a variety of language which is barely creative. Until the last decades of the 20th century, researchers had not given it real attention. The main contributions made by modern translation studies are analyzed in this paper. Translation studies takes a textual stance and focuses on optimizing the target text, which is understood as a semi-autonomous communication tool that must fit into a new system of expectations and conventions. Two other translation issues are also addressed here: interference and the possibility of improving the source text.

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