According to the Oxford dictionary, technical language is that which requires special knowledge in order to be understood. Consequently, technical translation implies a text written in a specific manner and containing specific terms. This text genre is usually related to a particular craft and its techniques.
Varying from a simple VCR prospect to quantum physics, technical texts require that the translator have a strong experience in a certain field or at least in translating texts related to that field. Technical texts may come in the form of brochures, handbooks, operating instructions, catalogues, installation manuals as well as specialized reviews.
A technical translation, more than any other, needs to be perfect. The imperfect translation/interpretation of a single word can easily confuse the readers and may lead to the disastrous use of certain machines or the erroneous understanding of the modus operandi of various technological systems.
Glossaries containing elements of technical terminology certainly are of great help, but there is obviously more to a good translation than looking up for the appropriate words. Although, in this particular case, accuracy is paramount.
A good translator masters a set of vocabulary and grammar notions that enable communication in specialized fields and, at the same time, keeps up with the latest informational and linguistic developments.
In perfect accordance with the social economic background language tends to become more and more “specialized”, so it gets more and more difficult for a translator to cover several fields. There is the technical-scientific one, then the medical, financial, legal, informational and so on and so forth.
Once the field or fields chosen, a lucky translator may be confronted with another difficulty: coming across terms whose correspondents have not been defined yet in all languages, the so-called un-naturalized foreign words. But this is only natural when one has to work with the most dynamic part of the language, the part which is constantly enriched. Other elements that should be considered when translating a technical text? Well, not many: exactness, appropriateness, concreteness – piece of cake.
Ioana Mihailas is a linguist for Lingo24 Translation Agency London, a leading provider of high quality technical translations.
Source: www.isnare.com
