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16ВЕСТНИК НАУКИ И ТВОРЧЕСТВА
CULTURAL ELEMENTS IN TECHNICAL TEXTS AND THE PROBLEMS OF THEIR TRANSLATION
Mirsagatova Pokiza Avazbekovna, National University of Uzbekistan, Tashkent
E-mail: zmo@bk.ru
Annotation. The article is devoted to the importance of terminology - which is essential for correct translation - is not fully guaranteed by the consultation of dictionaries and databases, because new terms are constantly being created that partly even carry inherent conceptual differences. technology makes intercultural and international communication easier, the technical translator must understand intercultural communication as it relates to ethics. Traditional models for ethical decision-making can be applied to difficult situations in technical translation, but the professional must avoid stereotyping and ethnocentrism in technical communication and translation.
Keywords: correct translation, technical texts, technical terminology, cognitive text, cultural elements.
Technical translation or research in language for specific purposes (LSP) has long been considered as a field of the exact sciences, and the idea of a cultural embedding of technical and scientific texts was dismissed from the theoretical analysis. As a 'higher-level' discipline, building upon the insights of contrastive linguistics and sharing with it the notion of 'tertium comparationis', TS [Translation Studies] seeks optimally inclusive rules of ST/TT coordination.
It is questionable, though, whether the notion of a tertium comparationis - valid for standardized technical terminology - can be transferred to the task of translating in general. Translating technical texts in the professional environment or in scientific communication is more than handling terminology. Texts, as the means of oral and written communication among persons, are carriers of messages. And any message within a technical or scientific discourse field includes both subject-relevant information and some implicit references to the cultural background of the person
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speaking.
Just as important as proper translation of linguistic qualities of languages is the subject of culture and how specific cultural features are transferred and communicated in the field of technical translation. In fact, a mutual understanding of cultural components is just as important as linguistic knowledge in technical translation. This highlights the complicated nature of working with technical translation. Various cultures can exhibit drastic differences in how communication occurs, even when both cultures are working with the same target language. One Canadian technical translator and consultant working with Russian colleagues detailed difficulties while working with both North American English and global English. Encountering discrepancies in rhetorical writing strategies, differentiation in tones, document formatting issues, and conflicting conceptual goals for engineering reports, the author emphasizes cultural practices, outside of the direct realm of linguistic forms that can impede proper communication in technical translation.
Culture as the background of every human communication is a dynamic phenomenon based on historical tradition including the individuals' personal development. Cultural issues in translation are connected with the problem of understanding the texts to be translated, because in many cases the translator is not necessarily a member of the same culture.
When we accept that texts function within cultures, there must also be some cultural features discernable in those texts. Cognitive text processing based on reading is a partly intuitive interaction between the bottom-up input of the text structure and the top-down intervention of the content of one's memory. That means that understanding can be put down to linguistic structures on the text level that first triggered the respective cognitive reaction. Culture will be present in texts, even in technical ones. And culturally based conventions of text construction may even constitute a major translation problem for scientific communication.
Detecting cultural elements in texts therefore is decisive for translation. A key question is what are cultural elements and how are they visible in texts? Cultural elements cannot be reduced to strange objects that would be unknown elsewhere. Cultural elements are a background of knowledge which is generally relevant for adequate communication within a society.
Culture, being what people have to learn as distinct from their-biological heritage, must consist of the end product of learning: knowledge, in a most general, if relative, sense of the term. By this definition, we should note that culture is not a material phenomenon; it does not consist of things, people, behavior, or emotions. It is rather an organization of these things. It is the forms of things that people have in mind, their models for perceiving, relating, and otherwise interpreting them [1].
Culture determines how people speak and write and perceive each other.
ВЕСТНИК НАУКИ И ТВОРЧЕСТВА
Consequently, cultural elements, therefore, must be present implicitly in texts, but as a background feature they are implicit. This becomes crucial in translation, when a translator from a different culture may not be able to adequately interpret the implicit cultural traces, or even misinterprets them. In translations we often find more or less adequate "modulations" or "adaptations" resulting in "cultural shifts". And a translation where foreign elements are not adapted will appear as an "oven translation" which allows the translation receptor a view of the original through a foreign language while clearly operating in a different discourse world [2, 3].
Technical translation requires the formulation of communicatively adequate technical texts in another language. This includes clarity, precision and linguistic economy, as the key function of LSP is the specification, condensation and anonymity of the propositions. Cultural elements in texts might be deemed superfluous here, but they are always there, if only implicitly.
Cultural traces in texts certainly have a specific linguistic form. Hence it is useful to present an overview of various linguistic manifestations of culture in texts
This ranges from the word level and syntactic structures to the style on the text level, and its pragmatic social function.
In technical translation the terminology must be checked conscientiously. Of course no cultural differences are prevalent in internationally standardized terminology, e.g. words listed in relevant databases with the mark CE or DIN or ISO. However, this type of terminology is very much in the minority. Terminology is intelligible within a scientific or technical domain, as 'Terms in a text presuppose memorized contexts and practical situations both for their usage and for their comprehension".
Understanding of terminology - which is essential for correct translation - is not fully guaranteed by the consultation of dictionaries and databases, because new terms are constantly being created that partly even carry inherent conceptual differences.
Sometimes, new technical terms are created by means of metaphorical terminology referring to similarities in the function, form, or position of an object. But even if the concrete form of an object might lead to a similar cognitive concept in various cultures, this is not necessarily always the case. Problems in translation can arise when the metaphors are not identical between languages and translators are not aware of this possibility, for example:
- male plug - штыревая часть (штекера или разъёма);
- female mould - a) матрица b) негативная форма для вакуумною формования cable sleeve - кабельная муфта.
The above examples present cultural differences in terminological concepts between the languages (for example gender or metaphoric elements in English terms). In addition to this variation there is the basic difference of terminological
ВЕСТНИК НАУКИ И ТВОРЧЕСТВА
conceptualization in the sciences and in the humanities that will reflect in the texts. In :he natural sciences terminology is based on exact definitions and includes methodical deduction. Every term has its place within a hierarchical system, but it is rot always totally free of cultural differences in the concepts, as shown. In the humanities, on the other hand, there is academic convention and interpretation of concepts to be agreed among scholars.
Another problem which may appear within the translation of terminology is correct word formation of the translated term. For example, in English terminology '.here is a term 'Tree structure". The translator can make a calque of the original, but '.here are at least two variants: "древовидная структура" and "древесная структура". Logically we may concern that the second variant is correct according to the general semantic structure of this word combination. But actually, the first variant is really correct according to the specificity of the text (this term is generally used in radio-electronics and computer technologies).
Whether 'translation', for instance, is defined as an inter-lingual transfer or c cultural manipulation or the representation of a message understood or a cognitive decision process, etc. depends on the respective academic 'school'. Recognition of the relevant terminology and its distinction from general language forms is importer.:, in order to prevent naive understanding of a specialist text.
Finally, as technology makes intercultural and international communication easier, the technical translator must understand intercultural communication as it relates to ethics. Traditional models for ethical decision-making can be applied to difficult situations in technical translation, but the professional must avoid stereotyping and ethnocentrism in technical communication and translation. Translation as a whole is a balance of art and science influenced by both theory and practice. Having knowledge of both the linguistic features as well as the aesthetic features of translation applies directly to the field of technical translation.
References:
1. Wilss W. Knowledge and Skills in Translator Behaviour. - Amsterdam / Philadelphia 1996.
2. Artemeva N. The Writing Consultant as Cultural Interpreter: Bridging Cultural Perspectives on the Genre // Technical Communication Quarterly 7.3. - NY, 1998.
3. Campbell S.J. Towards a model of translation competence. Meta translators' journal. 36 (2-3), 329 [Электронный ресурс]. - Режим доступа: http// www.erudit.org/revue/ meta/
4. Byrne J. Technical Translation. - The Netherlands: Springer, 2006.
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