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Juvenis scientia 2016 № 2 | ФИЛОЛОГИЯ И ЖУРНАЛИСТИКА
LINGUISTIC AND PRAGMATIC ASPECTS OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL TRANSLATION
A. V. Oorzhak*, O. A. Krapivkina
Irkutsk National Research Technical University 83, Lermontov St., 664074, Irkutsk, Russia * email: [email protected]
The paper touches upon the issue of scientific and technical translation, its linguistic and pragmatic aspects. The topicality of the work is determined by more and more increasing importance of scientific and technical translation in the context of contemporary science and industry development. The object of the research is the translation of scientific and technical articles. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that not all the issues of scientific and technical translation have been sufficiently investigated. The aim of the work is to identify the peculiarities of scientific and technical translation based on the Energy&Powerjournal paper translation analysis. The authors conclude that the quality of scientific and technical translation is due to not only knowledge of source and target languages but knowledge of special terms, stylistic features of target texts and deep understanding of the subject of translation.
Keywords: translation, scientific and technical texts, pragmatics.
ЛИНГВОПРАГМАТИЧЕСКИЕ АСПЕКТЫ НАУЧНО-ТЕХНИЧЕСКОГО ПЕРЕВОДА А. В. Ооржак*, О. А. Крапивкина
Иркутский национальный исследовательский технический университет Россия, 664074, г. Иркутск, ул. Лермонтова, 83 * email: [email protected]
В статье рассматриваются лингвопрагматические проблемы перевода научно-технических текстов с английского языка на русский. Актуальность исследования обусловлена все возрастающей важностью научно-технического перевода в условиях современного развития науки и промышленности. Объектом исследования выступили переводы научно-технических статей. Авторы ставят перед собой цель идентифицировать особенности научно-технического перевода путем анализа перевод статей, опубликованных в журналах, посвященных вопросам функционирования энергетического комплекса. Авторы приходят к выводу, что качественный перевод научно-технических текстов достигается не только благодаря знанию языков оригинала и перевода, но и глубоким знаниям специальной терминологии и стиля изложения информации в языке перевода, а также пониманию предмета перевода.
Ключевые слова: перевод, научно-технический текст, прагматика.
The object of the present paper is scientific and technical texts. Their linguistic and pragmatic characteristics play a crucial role in their translation causing a number of challenges for translators. In the present article, we shall try to show how to deal with some of those difficulties.
Scientific and technical texts are the texts which contain characteristics of both scientific and technical functional styles, among which one can mention informative value, logic, consistency, accuracy, objectivity, and clarity. As for lexical and grammatical features, the following ones should be mentioned: terminology usage and special grammar (attribute groups, nominative and elliptical constructions) [4].
Among the stylistic features of scientific and technical texts one can mention the following ones: impersonal narration, objectivity, logic, use of clichés [1].
The aim of scientific and technical texts is to present certain information or data. The presentation of information is focused on logical perception, rather than emotional one.
Scientific and technical translation challenges are caused by differences in language structures, terminological gaps, stylistic peculiarities of source texts and target texts, differences in topic and comment relations in the source language and the target language, etc. Translation shifts help to overcome these difficulties at three different levels - lexical, grammatical, and stylistic ones.
The analysis of the material allowed us to come to the following conclusion: scientific and technical translation requires maximum accuracy in rendering the content of the source language, compliance with the stylistic norms of the target language, accuracy and consistency of terminology. The translation should be adequate to the
source language that is it should convey the meaning of the source text, including the implicit one.
Let us now present the analysis of some translated utterances from the above-mentioned journal.
Example 1
Source text: Section II discusses the technical aspects ofultrahigh-voltage DC transmission (UHVDC), i.e., above 500 kV, in particular: converter configurations, insulation coordination in all its aspects (control of normal, abnormal, switching and lightning voltages, margins between stress and withstand), insulation design for internal and external insulation, and proper voltage grading.
Target text: В Разделе II рассматриваются технические вопросы передачи УВН постоянным током, то есть током свыше 500 кВ. Особое внимание уделяется конфигурациям конверторов, различным аспектам координации изоляции (контролю нормального, высокого напряжения и коммутационного и грозового перенапряжения, а также коэффициенту запаса между механическим и выдерживаемым напряжением), проектированию внутренней и внешней изоляции, необходимому уменьшению неравенств градиента потенциалов внутри или на поверхности изолятора или изоляции.
In most cases, the term "voltage" can be rendered as "напряжение." However according to the expert in electrical engineering, the first two phrases - "normal" and "abnormal voltage" are to be translated as "нормальное и высокое напряжение" and "switching" and "lightning voltage" as "коммутационное и грозовое перенапряжение". So, the translator should possess certain knowledge to
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understand this peculiarity.
It is worth paying attention to the phrase "voltage grading". The lexical unit "grading" has several Russian equivalents: упорядочивание, распределение, нивелирование, выравнивание, сортировка по классам. Therefore, it can be translated as «выравнивание напряжения». Nevertheless, in one of the electrical and technical dictionaries we found one more equivalent «распределение потенциалов» and an explanation of the term voltage grading as «уменьшение неравенств градиента потенциалов внутри или на поверхности изолятора или изоляции». As the previous sentence dealt with the insulation, we decided to use the later equivalent. Therefore we resorted to explicatory translation.
Besides this, there was a lexical addition - a phrase "above 500 kV" was rendered into Russian as "током свыше 500 кВ".
It is worth mentioning a grammatical transformation: the English subject "section II" was transformed into a modifier of place "В Разделе II" following the Russian language norms.
Example 2
Source Text: Fig. 1 shows the number of required circuits for different alternatives: AC 800 kV, AC 1000 kV, HVDC 600 kV, and HVDC 800 kV.
Target Text: На рис. 1 показано число необходимых линий для различных вариантов: переменный ток 800 кВ, переменный ток 1000 кВ, постоянный ток высокого напряжения 600 кВ и постоянный ток высокого напряжения 800 кВ.
First, we used the grammatical transformation - sentence parts substitution: the English grammatical subject Fig.1 was transformed into the modifier of place На рис.1.
The abbreviations in the ST was deciphered as in Russian there are no common abbreviations for such terms as переменный ток и постоянный ток высокого напряжения.
Example 3
Source text: The core or the "workhorse" of line-commutated HVDC converters (LCCs) are high-power thyristors.
Target text: Ядром или рабочим механизмом линейно коммутируемых преобразователей высокого напряжения постоянного тока (LCC) являются тиристоры большой мощности.
The direct definition of the word "workhorse" is "a horse used chiefly for labor as distinguished from driving, riding, or racing". Besides this, there is also a figurative meaning: 1) a dependable person who does a lot of work; 2) a dependable machine or vehicle that is used to do a lot of work. The word-by-word translation is "рабочая лошадь". There are other equivalents such as «средство, выполняющее наибольшую часть работы», «наиболее надёжное в эксплуатации». To avoid the use of metaphors which are inadmissible in Russian scientific texts, a neutral phrase "рабочий механизм" was used.
The abbreviation LCCs is widely used by Russian engineers so we left it untranslated omitting the plurality index.
When rendering the nominative phrase high-power thyristors, we changed the word order and rendered it as тиристоры большой мощности.
Example 4
Source text: This ratio is nice at lower voltages when trying to minimize engineering and testing costs by only calculating one stress and only testing for one type of front.
Target text: Данное соотношение верно для низкого напряжения при попытке минимизировать расходы на проектирование и испытания с помощью измерения только одного механического
напряжения и путем тестирования только одного типа фронта.
The main dictionary equivalents of the word "nice" are the following: «pleasant, enjoyable or attractive; kind, friendly», but none of them meets the requirements of the scientific style. So we substituted "nice" by a more suitable in this context lexical unit "верно". The word "trying" was rendered as "попытка", so we changed the part of speech (a gerund by a noun).
Example 5
Source text: The availability of electric power has become the crucial prerequisite for the functioning of a modern society and power grids are virtually its lifelines.
Target text: Доступность электроэнергии стала важным условием функционирования современного общества, а ЭЭС являются жизненно важными коммуникациями.
The lexical item "lifeline" is defined as: «a rope used for saving the life of someone»; «something which provides help or support that is needed for success or survival». Using modulation we rendered it as «жизненно важные коммуникации».
Based on the research, we have come to the following conclusions on the ways of improving scientific and technical translation quality:
1) First, a translator should have both very thorough knowledge of English and scientific and technical writing. Every technical and scientific industry has its own communication standards and audience expectations. The translator should learn them.
2) Second, to translate scientific and technical texts, translators have to know how they are constructed in the target language, familiarize themselves with the correct terminology as well as linguistic and cultural nuances.
One of the most important requirements is an understanding of the technical background of the subject area. It is a must for achieving quality in translation. If the translator does not understand a specific technical concept or does not know how to correctly translate it, he/ she should consult an expert.
If it is not possible to exactly translate a scientific and technical text due to the lack of availability of terms, the translator has to use his/her common sense while translating.
Except for terminological and pragmatic issues, it is worth mentioning the linguistic interference which also affects the quality of scientific and technical translation. To eliminate the negative effect of linguistic interference on translation quality, translators have to develop translation skills to avoid it [2, 3].
In conclusion, it's worth pointing out that the problem of scientific and technical translation is really crucial because there is a great demand for this kind of translation. The difficulties a scientific and technical translator meets show the need for a more deep analysis of translation issues which should not be restricted only to dealing with terminological difficulties.
ЛИТЕРАТУРА
1. Климзо Б.Н. Ремесло технического переводчика. М.: Р. Валент, 2006. 508 с.
2. Крапивкина О.А. Грамматическая интерференция в научно-техническом переводе (на материале переводов аннотаций к статьям с русского языка на английский) // Вектор науки То-льяттинского государственного университета. 2015. № 3 (33-2). С. 213-216.
3. Крапивкина О.А. Языковая интерференция как источник ошибок в научно-техническом переводе // Вестник Костромского государственного университета имени Н. Некрасова. 2015. № 6 (21). С. 115-119.
4. Byrne J. Technical Translation Usability Strategies for Translating Technical Documentation. Dordrecht: Springer, 2006. 280 p.
Поступила в редакцию 12.03.2016
