Terminology
The labelling of new concepts as precisely and as
unambiguously as possible.
‘terminology is the study and field of activity concerned
with the collection, description, processing and
presentation of terms, i.e. lexical items belonging to
specialised areas of usage of one or more languages.’
Language for Special Purposes
• LSP is prmarily a vehicle for the transfer of
scientific and technological or other vatrieties
of sectorial information.
• LSP texts consist of appositely labelled terms
bound together by appropriate lexis from the
general vocabulary words stock.
• Lexical items representing a term can exist in the
general language, but they are regarded as
distinct from general lexical items.
• The same lexical item may appear in different
fields , but with a distinct terminological function.
• e.g. enlargement:
• General language= ampliamento
• Medical language= ingrossamento
• Photography = ingrandimento
General lexis v Terminology
• Contextual and co-textual clues are often
required to understand a textual message in
general language.
• Clues should be virtually superfluous in LSP
texts.
• While dictionaries provide synonyms for
lexical items, glossaries and technical
glossaries dispense with this aid to
comprehension.
Useful online dictionaries
Yourdictionary.com
(http://www. yourdictionary.com) offers thousands of
dictionaries,encyclopaedias, and numerous other
linguistic resources in many languages.
2 important portals for translators:
Translator’s home companion
(http://www.lai.com/companion.html)
Foreignword.com
(http://www.foreignword.com/)
Online dictionaries cont.
OneLook
(http://www.onelook.com)
This allows users to search definitions and
translations simultaneously in over a thousand
on-line dictionaries and glossaries.
Useful Italian reference sites
• La Sitoteca-Biblioteca delle opere di consultazione e degli strumenti per la
ricerca terminologica e lessicale in Internet
• (http//:www.edigeo.it/Sitoteca/sitoteca.php)
• Dienneti-Risorse e materiali
• (http://www.dienneti.it/risorse/dizionari.htm)
• Alterego-Dizionari On Line
• (http://www.alteregoitalia.com/italiano/dizionari_on_line.htm)
• L’archivio delle risorse di Biblit, portale dedicato alla traduzione letteraria
• (http://www.biblit.it)
Useful sites for researching on-line
glossaries
• Mutlilingual
• (http://www.multilingual.ch)
• Term-minator
• (http://www.term-minator.it)
Terms: basic forms
• Translators tend to use, technical dictionaries, specialised
dictionaries and multilingual subject field glossaries for terms
•
•
•
•
•
New terms in translation can take different forms:
A translation that enters the terminology stock;
The foreign term is preferred (loan)
A calque of the foreign term is preferred;
Translators need to know when the above solutions comprise the
accepted term and when they are not acceptable.
• On other occasions, the terminology is in a state of flux, with some
term users preferring one form of a term to another.
What aspects of term formation are illustrated by
following translations of ‘GERD’?
• http://esofagite-dareflusso.iannetti.it/REFLUSSOESOFAGEO/MAL
ATTIADAREFLUSSO/MALATTIADAREFLUSSOGA
STROESOFAGEO/
• http://acidreflux.dunway.com/html/italian_tra
nslation.html
Identifying Term formation
• Common patterns used to form English terms are:
• Affixation: (the addition of a prefix, suffix)
• e.g. supermarket, hyperstore, megastore.
e.g. hardware, software, shareware, freeware
• Compounding (noun strings):
• e.g. battery charger, press blow process, glass mix
feeder,
• Adjective/participle/ noun compounds:
• nerve endings; self-centring vice, single cell battery.
• Abbreviation:
• e.g. CAD, LED, VDU, VCR,
Lexical Density
• lexical Density is the ratio of lexical words
(meaning-bearing words) to function words in
a text.
• As the information load is heavier in technical/
Sectorial texts they are held to demonstrate a
high level of lexical density.
• They are ‘term-dense’, that is, there is a high
ratio of technical or sectorial terms to ordinary
lexical words and functional language.
Equivalent effect in ‘term dense’ texts
• The translator should strive to create the
same effect on the TL audience as the original
writer created on the SL readership.
• Measuring lexical density can provide a
parameter in assessing whether the translator
has achieved the right register and balance of
technical expression.
• Taylor p. 39
Dictionary Use
Specialised dictionaries, encylopaedias,
glossaries and source material in book and
online form are essential for translating
terminology and term-dense text.
Translators also rely heavily on conventional
monolingual and bilingual dictionaries for
decoding lexical density of general language .
Frequent areas of ambiguity in general
lexical words
• Aspects of general language that have to be handled with particular
care in translation are:
• Morphology: including information on irregular forms,
prepositional constructions, spelling and pronunciation;
• Hynonymy: identical words referring to different referents.
e.g. porto, sentence (Taylor p.41)
Polysemy: words having multiple but related meanings;
e. g. politica, economia
homography: words with the same spelling but different
pronunciation and meaning and often belonging to different word
class)
e.g. review, record.
Sample sentences and markers.
• The latest generation of dictionaries have shown
increasing concern to use markers that help
translators understand whether a lexical item is
being used technically, familiarly, ironically etc.
• An example from Taylor
• Cook the books
• By looking under the head word cook, the
translator would find that it means falsificare i
registri, but would also find that it is familiar ( and
would hence look for similarly familiar solution.)
Dictionary use – Taylor
to cook A vti V(+D+D); V+D+for+IN cuocere, cuocersi, cucinare• to cook a
meal cucinare un pasto; to cook sb’s goose (slang) sistemare qn per le
feste, mettere i bastoni fra le ruote a qn, rompere le uova nel paniere a
qn; she cooks for the whole family cucina per tutta la famiglia; how long
does this fish take to cook in quanto tempo si cuoce questo pesce?
B vt V+D (= to doctor) falsificare, truccare• to cook the books falsificare o
truccare i libri contabili, (fig) cambiare le carte in tavola; to cook the
evidence falsare o inquinare le prove; the results have been cooked! i
risultati sono stati truccati!
C vi V(+IN) in forma progressiva (= to brew, slang, fig) bollire in pentola•
to be cooking with gas (a) avere grande successo; agire o pensare
correttamente; (b) suonare musica con grande ispirazione; what’s
cooking? cosa bolle in pentola?, cosa succede?
Dictionary markers continued
to cook st up pv
1 (coll) architettare/inventare qs• he cooked up
an incredible story inventò una storia
incredibile.
2 cucinare qs rapidamente.
Dictionary use: markers
Sospètto1 a 1 (che desta diffidenza) suspicious, dubious, fishy; (di origine
sospetta) suspect, questionable, dubious, doubtful• circostanze sospette
suspicious circumstances; funghi sospetti dubious mushrooms; un
funzionario sospetto di corruzione an official suspected of corruption;
merci di provenienza sospetta goods of dubious origin; un rumore
sospetto a suspicious noise; una storia sospetta a fishy story; essere tra le
persone sospette to *be under suspicion; questa tosse è sospetta this
cough is suspicious; non ho visto niente di sospetto I haven’t seen
anything suspicious
2 (= losco) shady, shifty, equivocal, questionable, dubious, murky•
comportamento sospetto equivocal behaviour; un luogo sospetto e
malfamato a shady, disreputable place
Dictionary use - markers
• Sospètto2 nm 1 (= diffidenza/dubbio) suspicion,
distrust, mistrust, misgiving• destare i sospetti di qn
to arouse sb’s suspicions; essere al di sopra di ogni
sospetto to *be above/beyond suspicion;
considerare qs con sospetto to regard/to view st
with suspicion; guardare qn con sospetto to look
askance at sb; c’è il sospetto che l’incendio sia
doloso there is a suspicion of arson; il suo gesto
mise in sospetto la polizia his action aroused the
suspicions of the police
Dictionary markers
• 2 (= sentore) suspicion, misgiving, hunch,
idea, intuition• avevo il sospetto che cercasse
di ingannarmi I had a hunch he was trying to
trick me; ho il sospetto che non stia bene I
fear he is not well.
• Sospètto 3 nm (= quantità minima) suspicion,
touch, hint• tè con un sospetto di latte tea
with just a touch of milk.
Dictionary use: markers
General English language dictionary
• damage |ˈdamij|noun1 physical harm caused
to something in such a way as to impair its
value, usefulness, or normal function.•
unwelcome and detrimental effects : the
damage to his reputation was considerable.2
( damages) a sum of money claimed or
awarded in compensation for a loss or an
injury : she was awarded $284,000 in
damages.
Dictionary use: markers in general English dictionary
• verb [ trans. ]inflict physical harm on (something) so as to
impair its value, usefulness, or normal function : the car was
badly damaged in the accident | [as adj. ] ( damaged)
damaged ligaments | [as adj. ] ( damaging) extreme heat
can be very damaging to color film.• have a detrimental
effect on : the scandal could seriously damage his career.
• PHRASES what's the damage? informal humorous used to
ask the cost of something. DERIVATIVES damagingly
|ˈdømədʒɪŋli| adverb ORIGIN Middle English : from Old
French, from dam, damne ‘loss or damage,’ from Latin
damnum ‘loss or hurt’ ; compare with damn .
Dictionary markers: advanced
learner dictionary
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•
•
•
•
damage verb [T] to harm or spoil something: Many buildings were badly
damaged during the war .It was a political scandal which damaged a lot of
reputations.
damage noun [U] harm or injury: Strong winds had caused serious damage to the
roof. Recent discoveries about corruption have done serious damage to the
company's reputation. The doctors were worried that he might have suffered brain
damage.
damaged adjective harmed or spoilt: They're selling off damaged goods at
reduced prices. Both the cars involved in the accident looked badly damaged.
damaging adjective causing harm: Many chemicals have a damaging effect on the
environment. These are very damaging allegations.
www.dictionary.cambridge.org