Prof.

de limba engleza Iordache Mihaela

Scoala cu cls. I-VIII Scundu
The importance of technical translations and teaching them to students
In recent years there has been an increasing amount of technical texts to be
translated into Romanian from nglish and from nglish into Romanian due to the
gro!ing number of economical relations bet!een our country and the members of the "
and not only.
Translation can be integrated in the larger field of semiotics !hich is the science
that deals !ith the sign system# sign process and sign functions. These principals !ere
stated for the first time by the $rench linguist Saussure# !ho regards language as a system
of signs !hich in their turn con%ey ideas. The process of con%eying the sign system of a
language into another language is called translation.
Susan &assnett formulates one of the most technical definitions of translation. The
translation in%ol%es the rendering of a source language text into the target language
ma'ing sure that the surface meaning of the t!o !ill be preser%ed as closely as possible#
but not so closely that the target language structures !ill not be seriously distorted.
The main problem of translations !hether there is a full e(ui%alence or not. There
is not a perfect synonymy bet!een terms used in different languages. )e can distinguish
three types of translation texts* scientific-technological# institutional-cultural and literary
texts. The difficulties encountered by +sci-tech, translators lie in the source language
neologisms# the lac' of certain appropriate technical terms in the target language and the
%ariety of semi-synonymous technical terms. This is the case of $rench language !here
the linguists ha%e in%ented a series of ne! terms for the nglish e(ui%alents. They feared
that there !ere too many nglish neologisms introduced and their language !ould
become suffocated by them. These ne! !ords introduced !ere mainly technical terms
from the field of computer science.
The problematic nature of translation only becomes apparent !hen the transfer of
meaning ob%iously fails and communication is pre%ented. Probably e%eryone !ho has
stayed in another country and language region has experienced failed communication in
the form of misunderstandings in situations of daily life. The &abylonian language chaos
creates barriers to communication. The success of technical communication in an
international context depends on translation. Increasing internationalization and in
particular theof unification in urope raise the (uestion of the status of the transfer of
meaning and the act of translating !ith a ne! urgency. Translation-orientated !or' in the
field of terminology represents a desideratum of research in adult education. "p to no! it
has mainly been conducted by supranational organizations- ".S/0 in particular has
made endea%ours in the field of international language standardization 1cf. Titmus et
al. 2 3435. 6gainst the bac'drop of the uropean process of integration# !or' in the field
of multilingual terminology in adult education is becoming more urgent all the time. This
is %erified by the terminologies !hich ha%e been published recently 1cf. /$70P
23385. 9o!e%er# they are restricted in the main to %ocational training# because this is
!here business and politics generate a mounting call for a standardization of terminology
in urope. %ery examination of adult education in another language and culture area is
to a particular extent confronted !ith the problems of translation and terminology. The
importance of teaching technical features such as !eighs and measurements con%ersions
is a basic element in these types of translations. )rong or misleading translations can
cause real problems !hen handling different machines.
0ne of the easiest !ay to teach and help students translate different technical texts
is by sho!ing them graphs or images !here they can identify the main parts of an engine
for example. People usually respond better to %isual stimuli because they really see the
components and not only imagine them.
Students ere gi%en the tas' to describe the gi%en images# first !ithout the
technical support and after!ards using also the text. This tas' has been both successful
!ith students and teachers too. The students thin' that these sorts of acti%ities facilitate
learning of specific terminology and boost creati%ity.
This is one example of the method of translating a scientific text !ith the help of
an image and of a text. The students are as'ed to describe the picture belo! !ithout
loo'ing at the technical details gi%en into the text attached to it. This is an image of the :-
stro'e internal combustion engine. If the teacher notices that the students ha%e a hard
time in describing rhe image he should try to use their pre%ious 'no!ledge and try to
determine students to use a technical terms dictionary in !hich there are appropriate
definitions. 6fter ans!ering the teacher;s (uestions and trying to describe as !ell as they
can the image the students are as'ed to read the text to be translated carefully paying
attention to the technical !ords used in the text. 6n important part in translating technical
texts is the use of an appropriate dictionary.
9ere is an example of teaching translations of scientific text*
This is an animated computer drawing of one cylinder of the Wright brothers' 1903 aircraft
engine. This engine powered the first, heaier than air, self!propelled, maneuerable, piloted
aircraft" the Wright 1903 #lyer. The engine consisted of four cylinders li$e the one shown aboe,
with each piston connected to a common cran$shaft. The cran$shaft was connected to two
counter!rotating propellers which produced the thrust necessary to oercome the drag of the
aircraft. The brothers' design is ery simple by today's standards, so it is a good engine for
students to study to learn the fundamentals of engine operation. This type of internal combustion
engine is called a four-stroke engine because there are four moements, or stro$es, of the
piston before the entire engine firing se%uence is repeated. The four stro$es are described below
with some still figures. &n the animation and in all the figures, we hae colored the fuel'air inta$e
system red, the electrical system green, and the e(haust system blue. We also represent the
fuel'air mi(ture and the e(haust gases by small colored balls to show how these gases moe
through the engine. )ince we will be referring to the moement of arious engine parts, here is a
figure showing the names of the parts*+
$rom the methodological perspecti%e of this perspecti%e of translating texts there
are three stages one may follo!*
-detailed obser%ation of the image in relation to the text-
-selection of rele%ant aspects to be described and establishing a logical order of
presentation-
-describing the image.
The description should consider the follo!ing aspects*
a5 minimizing orality mar'ers* +!e ha%e,# + !e can see,
b5 choosing simple grammatical structures
c5 considering the rele%ance of incorporating forms and references to colour
1depending on the addressee5
d5 tac'ling !ith care forms based on %isual elements* it can be obser%ed# as
sho!n# as seen
e5 concision and precision in choosing the lexical elements to be used
f5 using specific terminology related to the ob<ect or concept represented
g5 going from the more general aspects to the specific ones.
.
&ibliography*
7ucrastel# Philippe and Robert )aller 123435# +Pictorial illustrations in
instructional texts,
&assnett# Susan# +Translation Studies,# re%ised edition# Routledge# 23==
&antas# 6ndrei- /roitoru lena# +7idactica traducerii,# ed. Teora# &ucuresti# 233=
!!!. grc.nasa.go