All Tasks has become the market leader in Latin American multilingual services market, dedicating itself to technical translation since it was founded, in 1976.
This focus is justified by the vast amounts of technical data that is shared by organizations, in today’s era of communication and globalization. Despite its unquestionable importance to the market, there have been few studies, in the academic area of Translation, dedicated to furthering understanding of the mechanisms in this area.
In fact, there are many myths surrounding this practice, as Jody Byrne (2006) discusses in his book Technical Translation: Usability Strategies for Translating Technical Documentation.
Learn some of the common myths surrounding technical translation:
Technical translation is just a question of knowing the technical vocabulary
It is essential for the translator to have a good knowledge of the technical vocabulary in the area in which he or she is translating. However, this has led some to claim that with a good dictionary, anybody can translate a text. But studies show that technical vocabulary represents only 5% to 10% of the knowledge needed in technical translation. In fact, a determining factor for the quality of the translation is the ability to write well. In other words, it is necessary to “know how to write” clearly and accurately, as well as having a knowledge of the linguistic conventions and text typology of the target language.
The translator also has to deal with unstable and inconsistent terminology. This is because in most cases technical documentation takes years to be written, and is retyped and compiled in different countries, by various authors, through the different stages of development of a sector. The translator, in turn, needs to identify and be able to deal with this variation, which dictionaries are not always able to keep up with. Technical translation therefore provides important input to the establishment and standardization of the terminology of a sector.
In technical translation, style does not matter
Written form, clarity, choice of vocabulary, and sentence structure are crucial for the quality of both literary and technical translation. This fact is evident in the results of translation tests: Most tests fail not because of errors in specific terms, but due to problems of style, i.e. because they are badly written.
The translator needs to have a good writing style, together with a general technical knowledge of the area. Often, the translator also needs to deal with badly-written source texts, a very common problem. In these cases, the more qualified professional doesn’t simply reproduce the problems of the original, but actually improves the style, to convey the intended meaning. As a result, a translated text is often better written than its original.
Technical translation requires no creativity
Translating is not just a process of transfer by reproduction, but rather, a linguistic adaptation to the culture of the target text. This process requires of the technical translator a good dose of creativity, to know how to selected the best strategy for the translation, resolve cases of non-equivalence (when a term exists in one language but not in the other), and know how to deal with cultural aspects.
The translator needs to be a specialist in order to translate technical texts
No translator is capable of mastering all technical areas. However, it is possible to have good knowledge in a group of technical areas that have terminology in common, such as: Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technology. This knowledge, together with strong research skills and good written style, can guarantee an excellent translation, not only in the technical area in which the translator specializes, but also in related areas.
To summarize, these myths show that the complexity of technical translation is often over-simplified. In practice, these erroneous beliefs explain why some companies prefer to hire an engineer to translate a technical manual than a professional translator, little realizing that a successful translation involves more than just transferring terms between two languages.
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