Basic ways of translating narrowly specialized vocabulary in the sphere of computer technologies and the Internet

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Oles Honchar Dnipro National University

BASIC WAYS OF TRANSLATING NARROWLY SPECIALIZED VOCABULARY IN THE SPHERE OF COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES AND THE INTERNET

Novikova O.V.

Introduction

The end of the 20th century - the beginning of the XXI century is characterized by the acceleration of scientific and technical progress, the spread of information exchange and the appearance of a large number of new terms in various fields of knowledge. This so-called «terminological explosion» was caused primarily by high achievements in the socio-economic and scientific-technical spheres and the need to create names for scientific objects and technical inventions, methods and technologies that have appeared recently. Thanks to scientific and technical progress, a great influence is exerted both on the life of mankind and on the language itself, and all concepts related to any processes or phenomena are reflected exactly in the language. The relevance of the research is determined by the active and rapid development of science. Since scientific and technical progress and the development of philological science go hand in hand, this topic automatically becomes relevant for translation studies and requires careful attention.

Main body

The problem of the ratio of terms and professionalisms in the composition of special vocabulary has been discussed in linguistics for a long time, and there is still no clear solution to this issue.

Professionalisms are characterized by the following features:

1) professionalisms belong to the non-normative special vocabulary in contrast to the terms that are a normative part of the special vocabulary of the scientific language;

2) professionalisms are rarely presented in general and special dictionaries and exist mainly in the sphere of functioning, in contrast to terms that are fixed by dictionaries and function simultaneously in two spheres (fixation and functioning);

3) the dominant sphere of functioning of terms is written speech, and professionalism is used mainly in oral, conversational speech [1];

4) professionalisms have a slightly wider field of special activity; the terms may be known even to people not related to the defined professional field;

5) professionalisms arise in the conditions of professional communication as secondary forms of expression and function most often as professional colloquial doublets of official terms [1].

6) in the professionalisms of a certain field, system connections are expressed to a lesser extent than in terms [1];

7) professionalisms are characterized by a desire for expressiveness, imagery, expression, in contrast to terms that are devoid of connotation [1];

8) specialization of word-forming means is observed to be less, compared to terms, in professionalisms.

Is should be added that the professional vocabulary is quite numerous and heterogeneous. The volume and variety of professional vocabulary is determined by the specifics of the formation and functioning of the corresponding terminology system.

Thus, it can be said that the special vocabulary contains nominative units of at least three classes: terms, professionalisms and nomenclature designations, which have both similar and distinctive features.

Among all English terms in the field of computer technology, two-component phrases are the most productive. Most of the two-component terms of phrases are formed with the help of a noun, an adjective and a verb, and some threecomponent phrases are formed only from nouns, because it is the noun in its nominative function that is most often the core of computer terms-phrases.

English simple terms are a constituent part of the lexical system and as a special type of word have specific features. One of the main tasks of the translator is to convey the content of the original as fully as possible, and, as a rule, the actual commonality of the content of the original and the translation is very significant.

In modern translation studies, one can find two main approaches to define the notion of «equivalent». Thus, some definitions of translation actually replace equivalence with identity, arguing that the translation must fully preserve the meaning of the original. The first approach to solve the problem of translation equivalence consists in trying to find some invariant part in the content of the original, the preservation of which is necessary and sufficient to achieve translation equivalence. In other words, if a translation can perform the same function or describe the same reality, then it is equivalent. The second approach to determine translation equivalence can be called empirical. Its essence is not to try to decide what the translation and the original should have in common, but to compare a large number of actually performed translations with their originals and see what their equivalence is based on.

A professional translator will always achieve practical informational equivalence of the original translation, but theoretically, this equivalence is very different. It can be argued in advance that any translation will never be absolutely identical to the canonical text of the original. The equivalence of the translation of the original is always a relative concept. And the level of relativity can be different. translation professionalism term vocabulary

It should be especially emphasized that the equivalence of the original and the translation is, first of all, a common understanding of the information contained in the text, including that affects not only the mind, but also the feelings of the recipient, and which is not only explicitly but also implicitly expressed in the text. The equivalence of the translation also depends on the source of the original text and its reproduction in the target language.

The main thing in any translation is the transmission of content information of the text. All other types and characteristics (functional, stylistic (emotional), sociolocal, etc.) cannot be transmitted without reproduction of content information, because all other content of the components of the message is layered on content information, extracted from it, prompted by it, transformed into figurative associations, etc. Equivalence acts as the basis of communicative equivalence, the presence of which makes a text a translation.

The concept of translation equivalence means the transfer of the content of the original in the translation, which is considered as a set of information contained in the text, including emotional, stylistic, figurative, aesthetic functions of language units. Thus, equivalence is a broader notion than «accuracy of translation», which is usually understood only as preservation of the «subject-logical content» of the original. In other words, the norm of equivalence means the requirement of maximum orientation towards the original.

The question of the specificity of terms and the problem of their translation has always occupied a special place in comparative linguistics. If the task of translation is to ensure the equivalence of the original and translated texts, then when translating special texts a lot of attention should be paid to the terms: they determine the informational content of the special text, being a kind of keys encoding special information. Therefore, the question of the possibility of achieving equivalence when there is a difference in code units arises most acutely in relation to terms.

A characteristic feature of the scientific and technical style is its informative aspect, logic (strict sequence, clear connection between the main idea and details), accuracy, objectivity, and comprehensibility. Individual texts belonging to this style may possess these characteristics to a greater or lesser extent, but all such texts have special vocabulary and terms.

A required condition for a full-fledged translation of a simple scientific and technical term is its full understanding by the translator. Mechanical memorization of terms, without penetrating into their essence, without knowledge of the phenomena, processes and mechanisms that are discussed in the original text, can lead to mistakes in translation.

Some simple terms of the original language and the translation language, traditionally considered as equivalent, are «relative equivalents», they have certain semantic differences that are realized in different areas of use of the terms. Differences may be insignificant when translating a text (which allows such units in bilingual dictionaries to be considered as equivalents), but in a certain context may hinder the accuracy of the translation [2].

Before translating, the term must be recognized in the text, distinguished from elements of general vocabulary. Difficulties may arise mainly due to homonymy (between a term and a simple word), as a result of assigning a terminological status to a regular or phraseological unit - sometimes a «past term» - as well as due to the «transparent» internal form of the term. Simple English terms do not cause such difficulties in translation compared to complex terms and term-combinations. A much smaller number of cross-language transformations is used to translate simple terms.

The main method of translating simple English terms into Ukrainian is translation using a lexical equivalent, that is, the transfer of a constant lexical correspondence that exactly matches the meaning of the word. Terms that have equivalents in the native language play an important role in translation. They serve as reference points in the text, revealing the meaning of other words depends on them, they provide an opportunity to clarify the nature of the text. Replacing the terms with words close in meaning is improper.

One of the simplest methods of translating a term is transcoding, it means letter-by-letter or phoneme-by-phoneme transfer of the source lexical unit using the alphabet of the target language. When translating by the transliteration method, one should not forget about the «false friends of the translator», whose transliteration method of translation leads to distortions of the content. Transcoding of English simple scientific and technical terms is especially common in cases where the term in the translation language consists of international term elements of Latin or ancient Greek origin. However, before applying this method of translation, the translator must make sure that there is no translation equivalent of the term being translated in the translation language, otherwise, due to transcoding, synonymous terms may appear in the translation language, and this violates the clarity and coherence of a certain terminology system.

Any scientific text is characterized by a certain repetition of terms. Therefore, in order to correctly convey the meaning of the unfamiliar word, it is very important to take into account and compare all cases of its use in a specific text and only after that try to clarify the meaning of the term by familiarizing with the special literature on this issue. Already existing translated literature can be of great help to the translator, especially if there is an opportunity to compare the original text and the translation.

Today, technical translation is a demonstration of high linguistic skill. Due to its narrow specificity, this type of translation, as a rule, is connected with the application of special knowledge in the field of various technologies, which can only be understood by specialists with significant practical experience in this field.

At the current stage of the society development, the exchange of information in professional spheres of various directions plays an increasingly important role. This is especially important for the field of cybernetics, computer and information technologies, which have experienced rapid development in the last few years.

Analyzing the latest research and publications of the problematic field of scientific-linguistic research in the modern educational space, it is appropriate to mention the works of V. Koptilov, T. Kyyak, N. Kashchyshyn, A. Dyakova, V. Karaban [1] and others.

Common features of terminology and professional vocabulary are specialization of meaning and formation of specific lexical-semantic systems on this basis, limitation of the number of users of this vocabulary and areas of use. Professionalisms are informal but generally accepted colloquial terms among specialists. However, researchers distinguish professionalism from terms. Adjacent to each other, the terms have a more ordered and normalized character, while professionalisms are semi-official lexical units used by a narrow circle of specialists, and mainly in colloquial speech. Despite these significant differences, there is a continuous interchange between these two areas of vocabulary, and professionalism can also exist as a synonym for the term.

While researching the computer terminological system, I. Kuchman notes that computer terminology in its functioning and vocabulary is subject to the rules of the Ukrainian language. In particular, affixal, affixless, and lexical-semantic are the most common word formation methods in computer lexicon [3].

N. Monartsyk pays attention to the analysis of translation methods that are used to interpret English-language computer terms with the means of the Ukrainian language and to determine the peculiarities of the translation of the corresponding specialized language.

I. Sokolova refers the terminological system of the field of information technologies to the youngest systems and investigates the formation of neologisms in the specified field, as well as the analysis of ways of their adequate translation into other languages.

Computer vocabulary is used not only by computer scientists, but also by people who have absolutely nothing to do with the professional information field, as this phenomenon is rather quickly incorporated into the life of modern society. The process of acquiring a new vocabulary, most of which are locally adapted English words, led to borrowing, and then to the terms of a new subculture. Words that are understood by the majority, such as юзер, вінда are more popular than their literary equivalents користувач, операційна система Windows.

Global informatization forms a cyber society, causing the development of the appropriate professional language. Such a process inevitably creates the need for a comprehensive understanding of new terms and their adequate translation. Today, the relevance of translating English computer terms is indicated by the need to translate technical documentation, literature, and other software products.

The difficulty of translating computer topics lies in the fact that many computer terms belong to the non-equivalent vocabulary, but this does not mean that they cannot be translated. Computer vocabulary is characterized by the use of pun and means of language expression. Gradually, computer terms acquire translation correspondences, and this learning process is quite dynamic. During the study of the translation of computer terminology, several ways of translation are used.

1. Transcription and transliteration.

These means of translation are rarely used in their pure form. Transcription is more often used with preservation of transliteration elements. For example, the following English terms are translated by the method of transliteration / transcription: operator - оператор, monitor - монітор, portal - портал, server - сервер, laser - лазер, decoder - декодер, processor - процесор, buffer - буфер, hacker - хакер, browser - браузер, router - роутер, moderator - модератор.

Examples of pure transcription include terms cache - кеш, slash - слеш, BASIC - Бейсік. Examples of transliteration are more numerous: port - порт, adapter - адаптер, assembler - асемблер, cursor - курсор, supervisor - супервізор.

For an adequate translation of terms expressed in one word, it is necessary to take into account that the doubling of consonants between vowels is not transmitted, as, for example, in the case of the term processor - процесор.

The letter r at the end of a term is rendered as an [r] sound, regardless of whether it is pronounced in the source word, for example: monitor - монітор, scanner - сканер.

The advantage of transliteration/transcription as a translation method is their reliability. Translating an unfamiliar, not sufficiently studied notion in this way, the translator, in fact, conveys only its sound form. And the meaningful aspect of this notion becomes clear through the context, and it is possible to avoid the explanation and interpretation of its special characteristics in the language of translation. This translation model is currently the most common when translating computer terms. In this case, the English term acquires Ukrainian morphology, a paradigm of declensions and conjugations, while preserving the original root in Cyrillic alphabet.

Transliteration and transcription are extremely productive means of translation and enrich the layers of not only standard vocabulary, but also jargon, for example, upgrade - апгрейд, user - юзер, shareware - шаровари (ресурс, доступний для сумісного використання).

If transliteration/transcription is mainly used when translating individual words-terms, the translation of terminological phrases is carried out more by means of loan-translation and explication.

Method of adapted transcoding.

Adapted transcoding is a type of language mediation, in which not only transcoding (transferring) information from one language to another (which also occurs during translation) takes place, but also its transformation (adaptation) in order to present it in a different form, determined by non-organization of this information in the original, and a special task of interlingual communication.

The specificity of adapted transcoding is determined by the orientation of language mediation to a specific group of translation receptors or to a given form of transformation of information contained in the original text.

The following terms are translated using the method of adapted transcoding: profile - профіль, matrix - матриця, domain - домен, card - карта, directory - директорія, command - команда; viewer - в 'ювер.

This method of translation is characterized by such features as the use of softening in the Ukrainian language at the end of the word (module - модуль), the genitive ending in the language during the translation of terminological phrases (device modification - модифікація пристрою), one consonant instead of doubling consonants between vowels (buffer - буфер).

Transcoding of terms occurs often in cases where the term in the target language consists of international term elements of Latin or ancient Greek origin. We can also find such a subtype of transcoding as mixed transcoding: on-line - он-лайн; interface - інтерфейс; organizer - органайзер; device - девайс; chat - чат; chipset - чіпсет; adaptor - адаптор; chorus - хорус.

Loan-translation

Full semantic loan words are used during the translation of computer-related texts: process - handling procedure - процедура управління процесом; disk storage - дискова пам 'ять; current drive - поточний дисковод; image recognition - розпізнання зображення and incomplete semantic loan words (where some of the term elements are translated not by a Ukrainian element, but by the method of transliteration: cyderworld - кіберсвіт. Loan words are most prone to assimilation, and sometimes they are separated into a separate group of translation loans.

Translation loan is more often used to translate terminological phrases. According to our observations, transcription and translation loan are often used simultaneously in the process of translating computer terms. Here are some examples: control panel - панель управління, matrix printer - матричний принтер, file system - файлова система.

With the help of loans, the names of technological standards, names of software products, and new resources of computer equipment are translated: (movable table - рухомий стіл, self-cooling - самоохолодження, line service - лінійна служба, floating zero - плаваючий нуль, target search - пошук цілі, self-loading - самозавантаження), корпорацій (Nvidia, AMD, Novell, Microsoft, Intel та ін.).

Descriptive translation

The word is replaced in the target language by a word combination that adequately conveys the meaning of the word. When applying descriptive translation, it is important to make sure that there is no translation counterpart in the target language, so as not to create terminological doublets in the target language. It is clear that translation dictionaries have not recorded it yet, but it can be recorded, in particular, in already translated literature.

In order to apply this method of translation correctly, it is necessary to know the subject area of the translated text well in order to reveal the meaning of the notion indicated by the term.

We can consider the following examples: burning - запис компактдискa; cross fade - плавний перехід від одного звукового фрагмента або відеокліпа до іншого; deluxe - розширена версія програмного пакета, яка включає додаткові програми чи можливості; freeware - безкоштовне програмне забезпечення; software - програмне забезпечення; log - текстовий файл звіту, в який записують усі дії, які виконує програма, і їх результати; shareware - умовно безкоштовне програмне забезпечення, з яким можна працювати протягом певного часу; wizard - інтерактивний інструмент для покрокового виконання різних операцій; protocol - мет од передачі даних, outscriber - вихідний пристрійвідтворення даних.

Terminological phrases are often used in the form of abbreviations / acronyms, most of which are commonly used in the field of information technology. Abbreviation as a means of word formation remains one of the most productive in the modern English language, which is explained by the tendency to increase the pace of life and to economize linguistic means.

If the translator comes across a term in the translation of which he is not sure, then, first of all, he should check whether it does not belong to the group of words that cannot be translated. If this is not the case, then it is necessary to find out whether there is already a stable version of the translation of this term in the community.

To do this, translator can use the Internet. If a translation of the term already exists, then it should be used, regardless of the model it is built on.

As a rule, attempts to «normalize» the translation of any term and force the computer community to change what has happened for this or that object's name are useless. As it is known, the linguistic theory of translation is a bilateral, descriptive-prescriptive discipline, in which the descriptive aspect is a dominant one [2]. Accordingly, the denotative model of translation described above does not have the task of changing the rules of translation of computer terms that have been formed, but only to describe them.

Only in that case, when a traditional equivalent has not appeared yet, the translator has the right to choose the method of translation independently. Preference should be given to the semantic equivalent, which ensures an adequate transfer of the visual and logical meaning of the term [2]. Compared to transcription, this method of translation allows any native speaker of the Ukrainian language to understand the translated term.

Conclusion

Currently, terms play an important role in the professional communication of people, becoming at the same time a source of obtaining information, a means for mastering a specialty and evidence of the acceleration of scientific and technical progress. In the very changing reality of the XXI century each individual is perceived through the prism of his professional affiliation. In addition to the fact that terminology serves as a source of information about one or another sphere of human activity, it is also the most sensitive lexical layer to external influences. At the same time, the influence of non-linguistic reality on language processes is clearly reflected in the formation of the terminology of this or that field. Therefore, the study of the features of terms functioning that relate to a certain sphere of human activity allows us to answer questions related to the development of entire states and even types of civilizations.

Computer vocabulary can be used not only by computer scientists, but also by people who have absolutely nothing to do with the professional information field, as this phenomenon is rather quickly incorporated into the life of modern society.

The process of acquiring a new vocabulary led to a rise of borrowing, and then to the terms of a new subculture.

Thus, when studying the computer terminological system, it should be noted that computer terminology in its functioning and word formation is subject to the rules of the Ukrainian language.

To interpret English-language computer terms and generate Ukrainian equivalents on this basis, the following translation methods are used: transliteration, transcription, adapted transcoding, translation loans, descriptive translation. Computer terminology is perhaps the most dynamic of terminological systems, and it is unlikely that it will ever be possible to put a full stop and be considered researched, because innovations in computer technology are developing quite rapidly and do not give a moment of rest to linguists, in particular translators from the English language, who are called to interpret these terms, translate them, to dive sometimes not only into linguistic issues (which translation method to use), but also into the technical details of the described notion.

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