Revista
de la
Universidad
del Zulia
Fundada en 1947
por el Dr. Jesús Enrique Lossada
DEPÓSITO LEGAL ZU2020000153
ISSN 0041-8811
E-ISSN 2665-0428
Ciencias del
Agro
Ingeniería
y Tecnología
Año 12 N° 32
Enero - Abril 2021
Tercera Época
Maracaibo-Venezuela
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The issue of the information technology and technical
terminology translatability from English into Russian: the
typology and the nominative density levels
Natalia Bobrova *
Anton Lebedev **
Larisa Tsybina ***
Iuliia Pinkovetskaia ****
ABSTRACT
The 21st century is characterized by its rapid scientific and technological advancement.
Digital and technical inventions have resulted in computer globalization which caused the
necessity of adequate translation of different kinds of English-language technical documentation,
manuals, software products, etc. The article deals with the recent tendencies in translation and
interpretation studies showing increasing interest to the ways English scientific and technical
texts are rendered into Russian. The article considers the peculiarities of translating the scientific
and technical vocabulary in the information technologies sphere and provides a typology of the
English terms. Non-equivalent vocabulary is considered to be the most serious communication
challenge. The authors identify the basic typical features of the computer discourse vocabulary,
analyze the correlation between its nominal density and translatability level. The findings indicate
that the ratio between the nominal density and translatability level of linguistic concepts is
inversely proportional. The academic originality of the study involves the classification of technical
and computer terms, as well as comparing nominal density and translatability levels. The article
focuses on the most applicable English-language computer terms translation techniques, such as
calquing, substantiation, generalization, semantic development, descriptive translation, antonymic
translation, replacement and transformation of parts of a sentence. Pointing out that both
linguistic and extralinguistic factors affect the translation solution choice, the authors believe that
the correct approach to the translation process guarantees a successful intercultural
communication.
KEYWORDS: information and computer technologies; scientific and technical vocabulary; non-
equivalent vocabulary; terms; peculiarities of translation; nominal density; level of translatability;
linguistic and extralinguistic factors.
*Department of the English Language for Professional Communication, Foreign Languages Faculty, N. P.
Ogarev's Mordovia State University, Saransk, 430005, Russia. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9719-
2170.
**Department of the English Language for Professional Communication, Foreign Languages Faculty, N. P.
Ogarev's Mordovia State University, Saransk, 430005, Russia. ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1927-
5595
*** Department of the English Language for Professional Communication, Foreign Languages Faculty, N. P.
Ogarev's Mordovia State University, Saransk, 430005, Russia. ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6730-
5077.
****Department of the Economic Analysis and State Management, Institute of Economics and Business,
Ulyanovsk State University, Ulyanovsk, 432000, Russia. ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8224-9031. E-
mail: pinkovetskaia@gmail.com
Recibido: 09/09/2020 Aceptado: 05/11/2020
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La cuestión de la traducción de la terminología técnica y la
tecnología de la información del inglés al ruso: la tipología y los
niveles de densidad nominativa
RESUMEN
El siglo XXI se caracteriza por su rápido avance científico y tecnológico. Las invenciones
digitales y técnicas han dado lugar a la globalización de las computadoras, lo que provocó la
necesidad de una traducción adecuada de diferentes tipos de documentación técnica,
manuales, productos de software, etc. en inglés. El artículo trata de las tendencias recientes
en los estudios de traducción e interpretación que muestran un interés creciente por la
forma en que los textos científicos y técnicos en inglés se traducen al ruso. El artículo
considera las peculiaridades de traducir el vocabulario científico y técnico en el ámbito de
las tecnologías de la información y proporciona una tipología de los términos en inglés. El
vocabulario no equivalente se considera el desafío de comunicación más serio. Los autores
identifican las características básicas típicas del vocabulario del discurso informático,
analizan la correlación entre su densidad nominal y su nivel de traducibilidad. Los
resultados indican que la relación entre la densidad nominal y el nivel de traducibilidad de
los conceptos lingüísticos es inversamente proporcional. La originalidad académica del
estudio implica la clasificación de términos técnicos e informáticos, así como la
comparación de densidad nominal y niveles de traducibilidad. El artículo se centra en las
técnicas de traducción de términos informáticos en inglés más aplicables, como cálculo,
fundamentación, generalización, desarrollo semántico, traducción descriptiva, traducción
antonímica, reemplazo y transformación de partes de una oración. Al señalar que factores
tanto lingüísticos como extralingüísticos afectan la elección de la solución de traducción,
los autores creen que el enfoque correcto del proceso de traducción garantiza una
comunicación intercultural exitosa.
PALABRAS CLAVE: tecnologías de la información y la informática; vocabulario científico y
técnico; vocabulario no equivalente; condiciones; peculiaridades de la traducción; densidad
nominal; nivel de traducibilidad; factores lingüísticos y extralingüísticos.
Introduction
The modern conditions imply the rapid growth of information and computer
technologies that serve as a communicative and informative sphere and encompass all the
areas of professional and everyday life in general. The world of IT and multimedia creates
the so-called “reality-within-reality” with its own moral, informal and even legal norms.
The innovative technological advances create a “techno-sphere” which is transcendent,
accessible and exists trans-nationally. A digital device is no longer a discrete unit existing
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within its own technological and data limits, but a workstation connected with the other
users via network. The development of the digital currency and online advertising makes
the “techno-sphere” an economic factor to be dealt with; it also possesses the certain
cultural and even political influence: “ban” and “unfriend” policies become a widely
discussed issue.
The specific significance of the IT and multimedia development has recently become
additionally relevant due to the pandemic restrictions and further “digitization” of the
educational space. While helping to provide relatively healthy, epidemically safe and
productive academic environment, the Internet-based education has become a point of
debate – whether it is valid only as a supplementary tool or can completely substitute the
traditional in-classroom format. Nonetheless, Russian educational institutions and experts
need profound awareness of the innovative technical and multimedia advances. This
requires the appropriate and valid translation techniques, as well as the development of the
national software and hardware products. They are mostly accompanied by the English-
language documentation and manuals, as well as all communication between specialists in
this field is also carried out mainly in English. Thus, substantial translation work is to be
done; the issue of English computer vocabulary adequate translation is becoming
increasingly widespread both for programmers and computer technology developers, as
well as for non-professional PC users. Some people believe that such words pollute the
language, while others suggest that they are an indicator of the high level of science and
technology development. The terms that were previously used in the professional speech of
IT experts have become widespread both in the professional field and everyday life of
modern society. Despite the vast number of works in the field of general terminology,
translation theory and lexicography, accurate and concise translation of IT terms is gaining
its relevance.
The English language is widely recognized as the so-called “lingua franca” in multiple
spheres, including law, academic activities, engineering and information technology (IT). It
is justified not only by the linguistic criteria per se, but can also be explained by
extralinguistic factors: English-speaking countries are the creative source of the latest
technological advances and the basis of the world's largest innovation clusters - in
particular, the California Silicon Valley comprising the headquarters of such high-tech
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companies as Adobe, AMD, Apple, Electronic Arts, Facebook, Google, Hewlett-Packard,
Intel, Nvidia, Symantec, Yahoo, Xerox. The high level of globalization and cooperation in
the field of technology results in the urgency of overcoming language barriers, as well as
filling linguistic gaps in the absence of certain lexical units in the “recipient” (e.g., Russian)
language. By acquiring the competence of terminology and nomenclature, as well as the
appropriate language proficiency, IT professionals are able to seamlessly share their
expertise, experiences and innovations.
Accordingly, this requires not only the specific professional abilities, but also the
linguistic skills and competences that the experts in a given IT sphere need to master. As
stated by M. I. Murneva, N. A. Shestakova, E. V. Samoilova (2018): "... the specificity of the
English language lies in the fact that the most important role in its mastering is played by
training and the use of material in the act of communication, which takes time". The
relevance of the research is evidenced in the development of the subject area that rapidly
permeates our everyday life; therefore, there is a constant growing need of translation and
communication in the IT sphere. The development of technologies requires not only
technical skills, but also linguistic comprehension - in particular, systematization of
terminology, publishing of dictionaries, development of specific educational programs etc.
The peculiarities of IT nomenclature are as follows: accuracy, condensation of meaning
(high nominative density), logics, consistency and brevity.
The academic significance of the research is explained by the analyzing of the
correlation ratio between the level of translatability and nominative density; the proposed
classification of IT, technical concepts and nomenclature are also of great interest. The
work is aimed to identify the main features characteristic of this vocabulary, as well as to
analyze the relationship between its nominative density and the level of translatability. To
achieve this goal, the authors set the following objectives:
1) to assess the overall significance of the terminology when translating technical
texts;
2) to identify the main types of information technology vocabulary;
3) to classify these types according to their level of translatability and nominative
density;
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4) determine the relationship, correlation and ratio between the degree of translation
complexity and nominative density.
The process of the research included the methods of vocabulary, the syntactic and
comparative translation analysis. The research material involved the extracts from the
technical texts and individual lexical units typical for the field of information technology -
excerpts from instructions and textbooks, as well as examples from the authors` translation
and teaching practices. The results of the research could be used in the development of the
courses on technical translation, as well as practical materials for interpreters in the
computer, technical and information fields.
1. Literature Review and Discussion
The issue of the technical texts` translatability is reflected in the works of many
Russian and foreign researchers: J. Byrne (2006), I. Blank (2000), L. I. Borisova (2005), P. A.
Elin (2012), B. N. Klimzo (2017), I. L. Komleva (2009), L. A. Konyaeva (2015), O. D.
Mitrofanova (1973), A. L. Pumpyanskiy (1965), N. Ravzhaa (2009), V. I. Sidorova, E.V.
Tikhonova, L.K. Kondratyukova (2011), R. Stoltse (2009). The scholars raise the question of
the translation difficulties, reveal a number of lexical features of the English-Russian
academic and technical translation, consider the trends in the development of the so-called
"technical English". They study and analyze the issues of dynamic equivalence,
translatability levels, general translation techniques and specific translation areas based on
the hand-on experience and case studies.
Thus, I. L. Komleva (2009) introduces the term "computer language" and offers the
following definition: "... a specific terminology that is being formed in the subject area,
technologically related to the production of personal computers and software". At the same
time, the researcher highlights the following thematic areas of the computer terminology
development: general information about digital devices (creation, production, models,
functions); hardware and equipment; software (including operating systems);
programming languages, creation of software products; solving computational problems;
information, communication and multimedia technologies.
Considering the problem of “neologization” (neologisms formation) and codification
of terms, N. Ravzhaa (2009) analyzes a number of principles, "on the basis of which the
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Russian-language technical terminology is formed in a particular area or industry": the
principle of translation (simple transfer of the semantics of certain lexical units: antivirus,
homepage, speakers, resolution); the priority of the native language (edit, paste, booting), that is,
the rules of the Russian vocabulary, lexis and grammar are given priority); the principle of
common, “everyday”, vocabulary (mouse, web, basket); the principle of integration (the
transition of terms from one area of knowledge to another: for example, “social network” is
not merely the Internet technology, but a sociological concept as well). According to A. V.
Lebedev (2018), “the Internet space is a source of formation of a new culture, including the
latest linguistic concepts".
The researchers V. D. Tabanakova and A. B. Kutuzov (2007) state that “... the
computerization progress necessitates the adequate translation. Nowadays, the issue of
translating English digital terminology into Russian is especially relevant. It is necessary
and vital for technical documentation and literature, software interface and lexicographic
work”. However, they also note that "the difficulty of texts translation, in the field of
information technology in particular, is that many computer terms refer to non-equivalent
vocabulary, that is, they do not have regular correspondences in Russian (except for
dictionaries’ descriptive articles)".
V. V. Makhova (2015) lists the criteria for the successful and valid translation as a
result of the interpretation process: “one cannot avoid the fact, that when performing an
academic text translation, the following elements are to be taken into account: the accuracy
of information inherent in it, the argumentation persuasiveness, the logical presentation
sequence, the laconic form, consistency, as well as a high degree of information density due
to the number of terms in the text”. The authors of this paper agree that when working
with technical texts, one should take into consideration the prevalence of various types of
abbreviations, the preference of some syntactic phrases over others, the peculiarity of the
grammatical constructions` translation.
The issue of “translation decision” and “interpreter`s creativity” is studied by
multiple Russian and Post-Soviet researchers. L. L. Nelyubin (2003) states that the
translation solution plays an important role when interpreting scientific and technical
literature, one needs to find the optimal choice of synonymous substitution for a specific
translation unit in the translating language. V. I. Karaban (2003) expresses similar views
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indicating that “one of the most difficult aspects in translation is the choice of one lexical
element from a number of synonyms”, justifying this by the fact that “synonyms are often
characterized only by insignificant semantics and stylistics which the translator needs to
know in order to make the right interpretation decision”. N. E. Bobrova (2004) points out
that “having basic knowledge in the professional field a future specialist needs to possess
analytical thinking”.
The study by E. F. Skorokhodko (1963) analyses the peculiarities of scientific texts
touching upon special technical terms: “A large number of special terms in the text,
especially newly appeared (neologisms), creates significant difficulties in translation
practice”. Neologisms formation is in focus of the other works. In addition, A. A. Veyze, N.
B. Kireev, I. K. Mironchikov (1997) concentrate on neologisms as the most considerable
difficulty when working with scientific and technical literature, since most of them are
absent in dictionaries. The problem of polysemantic words is pointed out by R.F. Pronina
(1989): “despite a huge number of technical terms, the language of scientific and technical
literature includes a large percentage of common words and phrases, and a significant part
of common lexis is polysemantic words”.
The concise and precise wording of the translation is in focus of L.N. Porokhovnik`s
research (1992). The author stresses that the interpretation is directly dependent on the
personal qualities of the translator, as well as “requires knowledge in the specific field of
the translation”. L. S. Barkhudarov (1975) suggests that the most widespread and generally
accepted concept is the interpretation of non-equivalent vocabulary as lexical units that
have neither full nor partial equivalents among the target language lexical units. The
scholar (Nelyubin, 2009) states that non-equivalent vocabulary traditionally includes
culture-bound terms, neologisms, anthroponyms, toponyms, zoonyms and other proper
names, as well as temporarily non-equivalent terms and accidentally non-equivalent words,
or "accidental gaps".
Dealing with the English language computer terminology translation and the ways of
non-equivalent vocabulary cultural adaptation are considered in the survey by M. A.
Bolotina and A. A. Smirnova (2018), as well as some types of non-equivalent vocabulary in
the English discourse and the ways of translating lexical items into Russian. The
researchers claim that the main types of non-equivalent vocabulary are divided into three
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groups: referential-non-equivalent, pragmatic-non-equivalent and alternative-non-
equivalent vocabulary. For computer-information discourse referential-non-equivalent
vocabulary is the most typical, namely terms, author's neologisms and words of broad
semantics.
The translation of IT and technical nomenclature has been a study focus of many
international researchers dealing with translatability into their local languages, as well as
the implementation of technical and online advances into the professional and educational
spheres. For instance, S. Göpferich (2018) analyzes the linguistic measures of
standardization that consists of the introduction of a standardised terminology, compliance
with a style guide and the use of a controlled language (CL). Inter alia, CLs are illustrated
by the rules of the Simplified Technical English (STE). The study “Leveraging bilingual
terminology to improve machine translation in a CAT environment” (Arcan et al., 2017)
deals with the extraction and integration of automatically aligned bilingual terminology
into a Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) system in a Computer Aided Translation
scenario. The information technology nomenclature is compared and tested in English,
Italian and German and draws the conclusion of the significant improvement of the system
results, especially compared to the widely-used XML markup approach. S. Wentao (2016)
from Linyi University of Shandong, China emphasizes the significance of computer English,
the manifestation of the linguistic features, IT English vocabulary and syntax
characteristics and the peculiarities of computer English-Chinese translation skills.
In the survey “Evaluating Automatic Term Extraction Methods on Individual Documents”
(Bašić et al., 2019), the researchers state that ATE is implemented in many tasks, including
Computer Assisted Translation. The authors study the results of transfer to document-level
ATE and “evaluate 16 state-of-the-art ATE methods on full-length documents from three
different domains, on both corpus and document levels”. The similar issue is discussed in
the study by V. Bilic (2020) on the online computer-assisted translation classroom, that is a
means of teaching how to use the latest translation technology through hands-on remote
software use and collaborative translation exercises. In teaching the prospective technical
interpreters, the scholar draws on process-oriented approaches to translator training and
the method of cooperative translation.
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Digital technologies and the terminologized lexis are also in focus of the
comprehensive research by V. Celiešienė and S. Juzeleniene (2020) who state the aim of
their article: to reveal semantic motivation of terminologized Lithuanian and English
computer lexis, drawing the conclusion that close similarities between central meanings of
specific English and Lithuanian words caused the development of new terminological
meanings related to information technologies.
Authors (Nzomo et al., 2016) study the multilingual information retrieval and use
within the framework of perceptions and practices amongst bi- or multilingual academic
users. Having analyzed the issue by surveying bi- or multilingual students recruited from a
Canadian university and a community college both located in London, Ontario, the authors
conclude that achievements of technology have alleviated some of the linguistic related
challenges while searching for information online. However, language barriers still exist for
some students, especially at the query formulation stage. The issue of Speech-to-speech
translation (S2ST) and word-level equivalence is dealt with by authors (Do et al., 2017).
The system is designed to remove barriers in cross-lingual communication, including the
technical and programming area. The conventional S2ST systems substantially and
appropriately convey the linguistic meaning of speech, but partially lose paralinguistic
information expressing other speech characteristics (i.e., emotion or emphasis). The paper
proposes a method to translate this paralinguistic data, focusing on emphasis and
intonation, studying the components that can accurately translate emphasis using all
acoustic features of speech. The listening tests indicate that the respondents could identify
the emphasized words with 87.8% accuracy, and that the naturalness of the audio material
was preserved.
Thus, there is a common agreement that a translator dealing with IT-terminology is
to comprehend the peculiarities of both English and Russian nomenclature. The linguistic
knowledge should be accompanied by the competence in a subject area; this is critical for
coping with the difficulties of translating technical terms specific to the field. Inconsistent,
incorrect and inappropriate use of terms distorts the meaning of the original information
message and impedes communication, resulting in data loss. Since contemporary
companies and industrial establishments consider the consistency of terminology as the
core of business communication, they are seriously involved in terminology work, clarifying
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terms that can lead to confusion, and ensuring the uniformity of the terminology used in
practice. These institutions develop specialized terminology databases containing not only
industry-specific terminology, but also corporate abbreviations and intercompany
terminology that are specific for certain companies.
Basing on the above-mentioned concepts and researchers` notions and viewpoints,
one could single out several major types of lexical units related to information and technical
terminology.
2. Findings
2.1. Neologisms
Regarding the translation of original sources into the Russian language, the main
difficulty is posed by neologisms. The translation solution plays an important role when
dealing with scientific and technical literature; an interpreter would need to find an
optimal synonymous substitution for a specific translation unit in the translating language.
Computer vocabulary in English (along with youth slang, terminology of art, journalistic
texts, and academic nomenclature) is the most important source of neologisms in the
sphere of the Russian linguistics. Along with the production of a technical innovation,
these lexical units emerge in the English language and then are transferred into Russian,
becoming the common-use lexemes in everyday life, while the term already existing in the
language is replaced.
Consequently, the emergence and widespread dominance of computer technology in
Russia resulted in the replacement of the following words: calculator - computer, digital
printing device - printer, etc. This trend is driven by the tendency to form a unified
international terminology, as well as the ease of its application in real communication
situations. At the same time, already capacious English words are simplified and
"vulgarized" which leads to the appearance of the so-called "computer slang" - "hard" (hard
disk), "soft" (software), "mat` " (Russian “mother”,`motherboard), "fiksit" (from the word fix -
repair), "drova" (Russian “firewood”, drivers, programs to ensure the operation of devices) and
many others.
2.2. Contextual Terminology
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Another feature of computer and technical terminology is its highly specialized
nature and contextuality. The main task in its translation is the definition of the discourse,
sphere and area translation, as well as an adequate transfer of meaning, taking into account
the semantics of lexemes. If some computer lexical units can be translated by the method of
transferring an unambiguous equivalent in about the same for all spheres in a way (tablet,
device, desktop, laptop, personal computer), in other cases the equivalence is contextual (variant)
and the contextual translation is preferred.
In particular, different words denoting seemingly similar concepts can vary
significantly in context. For example, translating requires the knowledge how to
distinguish the words “storage” and “memory” and how these notions are fundamentally
different, which denote computer memory. In the first case, most likely, one implies a data
storage device / drive, while the word "memory" more frequently denotes random access
memory (RAM). In this case, both words can be translated as pamayt` “memory (device)".
Another example of contextuality when translating technical terms is the word "deadlock",
which can be translated as "stalemate" in the general sense, but has at least two meanings in
the digital environment - "program freeze", "glitch". In the English version, the definition of
deadlock is much shorter while in the process of translating into Russian, it seems critical
to avoid ambiguous interpretation.
This leads to the identification of three main principles when dealing with
contextual terminology translatability: 1) the correct definition of the concepts expressed
by a term could be done provided that a translator acquires certain specialized knowledge;
2) despite the fact that terms are characterized by a specific meaning in concrete contexts
and have a tendency to be mono-semantic, they cannot be considered as absolute semantic
units, since a number of terms with a certain technical meaning can change their content
depending on the field and context in which it is used; 3) correct interpretation of
terminology units requires the knowledge of terms morphological structure, their specific
semantic meaning, as well as the main types of terms and phrases.
Regarding their structure, all the terms can be divided into the following categories:
1. “Simple” type - e.g. application, decode, panel – which are characterized by the same
term system and relative unambiguity;
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2. Multi-semantic type – e.g. pagefile, paint-brush, fault-tolerant - that can be differently
used in various contexts and have different meanings in some branches of the same
scientific or technological sphere. For instance, deadline - a date within each assignment by
which submission, review and approval should be completed (IT sphere), deadline -
equipment awaiting repair or maintenance (oil refining industry). Thus, a translator is
expected to pay attention to the semantic environment when translating the homonymous
terms to avoid incorrect and inappropriate equivalents and interpretations.
3. Word combinations – e.g. file allocation table, call distribution, scale integration - that are
the most difficult for translation since they consist of two and more separate units. The
main component is the last word, and the determining element is the penultimate word,
phrase or compound term.
This indicates that the referred technical style under consideration should be
characterized by concreteness and unambiguity. The following terms also require taking
into account the contextuality in translation: monitor ("Monitor" or "checking, tracking"),
input ("input" or "information induction"), computing ("calculation" or "computer
network"), data mining ("mining" or "data extraction") etc.
2.3. Translation Misinterpretation (i.e., “Translator`s False Friends”)
In other cases, only unambiguous equivalents should be considered - the terms may
outwardly resemble widely used words (the so-called "false friends of the translator"). This
leads to the misinterpretation of the terminology based on linguistic similarities.
Consequently, "waking up" has nothing to do with morning routines but refers to "waking
up" of the computer system; battery life is not how long the battery can operate without
charging but the level of battery deterioration; frame rate is not the "level of framework" but
rather the digital terminology; box is a "window", not a physical "box"; bar - "panel, tab ", not"
hash "and so on. When translating into Russian, additional verbs and auxiliary words can
be introduced, if necessary, to comply with the language norm, which is an integral part
method of compensation for translation: e.g., Code-Less - "reduction of the amount of code
(program)"; Physical Security - not - "ensuring security at the physical level"; Firewall Virus
Detection - "detection of virus programs using a firewall".
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2.4. “Imagery” Terminology
The technical and IT-vocabulary is commonly associated with the units that create
an image providing users with a mental picture. This implies the wide implementation of
phraseological units - expressions which are lexically indivisible, compositionally and
structurally fixed, integral in meaning and reproduced in the form of a ready-made speech
units. L.V. Tsybina and D.G. Garan'kin (2020) states the properties of phraseological units:
reproducibility, sustainability, idiomaticity, inseparability, belonging to the nominative
inventory of the language. The distinctive features of digital and IT-terminology
additionally include metaphorical nature and imagery. For instance, users and developers
view the sphere of computer technology as representing “intelligent creatures” that possess
memory, language and even become “infected” with a “virus”. The other illustrations include
the terms “mouse” and “Windows” showing their similarities to the represented images. A
device for regulating the movement of the cursor has the image of a mouse, while the name
of the Windows program is associated with the way of providing information in the form of
windows on a computer screen (graphic user interface).
Professional terminology is frequently associated with jargon (estimated to
constitute up to 40% of IT nomenclature). The thesaurus of the computer and information
technology sphere is borrowed from general English; consequently, the technical
vocabulary is used not only in professional environments, but also in everyday life, both by
specialists and users of all ages and professions. As one can observe from the previous
examples and illustrations, in some cases, computer vocabulary is characterized not only by
imagery, but even some emotional coloring and metaphor, which is especially characteristic
of the American technical discourse (firewall - literally "a wall of fire, an insurmountable
obstacle"; hosting - literally "placement, to be the master of smth."; web - "cobweb"; network
- "fishing nets" etc.).
While preserving the original semantics as much as possible, a translator has to
dwell on a more neutral equivalent, omitting stylistically or overly “emotional” or “imagery”
elements. For instance, V. I. Sidorova, E.V. Tikhonova and L. K. Kondratyukova (2011) offer
the following example: Dial up FireWalling with Free BSP could be rendered as "building a
firewall on a dial-up communication channel using Free BSP". The word “bottleneck”
(literally - “neck of a bottle”, “narrow passage", "traffic jam"), which in the technical sense
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conveys the meaning of a resource limiting the production capabilities of the entire
production process, i.e., equipment with the lowest bandwidth, the inability of a separate
segment of the system to cope with a given volume of work, which slows down the
execution of subsequent operations by other segments of the system” (Tanenbaum &
Herbert, 2015). Accordingly, the short and concise phrase “CPU bottleneck” is translated as
“the system downtime associated with CPU overload”. Another example is the phrase
“Split-hair accuracy”, which draws a specific image and mental picture to convey the
meaning of precision.
2.5. Abbreviations / Acronyms
Like other areas and fields, technical and computer terminology has a tendency to
abbreviations, which is associated with the need to quickly express complex and capacious
concepts and notions. There are a number of generally accepted and widespread
abbreviations that are common for the majority of computer or mobile device users: WWW
- World Wide Web; FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions; QR Code - Quick Response Code.
In a highly specialized text, there may be specific abbreviations that are understandable to
a specialist or an expert in a given field or a subject area: SSD - Solid-State Drive; API -
Application Program Interface (software interface); ISP - Internet Service Provider; DNS -
Domain Name System. Certain abbreviations or acronyms are actively used in speech, while
their complete explanation and expansion is not widely known. For instance, "SIM card" -
SIM – subscriber identity module; CD-ROM - Compact Disk Read-only Memory - a kind of
CD with recorded with read-only data; JPEG - Joint Photographic Experts Group - image
format. According to N. I. Rokunova and O. V. Slugina (2018) the learning of these lexical
units demands and requires a “contextual approach”.
2.6. Attributive Phrases
This type of collocations under consideration constitutes attributive constructions
that point to the properties, qualities and characteristics of various complex phenomena. At
the same time, attributive constructions with an adjective attribute can be distinguished as
subtypes (attributes - adjectives); attributive constructions with a verb attribute;
attributive constructions with a substantive attribute (attributes are nouns); attributive
collocations with internal predication (attributes - phrases or sentences). The need for
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attributive word combinations is associated with the overall high nominative density of
English language concepts, as well as with the tendency to compression, capacity and
accuracy. For instance, device charge status light defect is a non-working status indicator
device charge; equipment medical device interference guideline - equipment manual
(index) on the impact on the operation of medical devices; nearly total self-management
system - a system with almost complete self-management, etc. The examples indicate that
the translation of such attributive constructions is carried out by careful analysis of the
interdependence and interrelation of their structural elements and components. In this
case, the major semantic core is usually located at the end of the phrase, respectively, the
attributes are translated, starting with the closing elements.
3. The Nominative Density Ratio and Translatability Levels of IT-Terminology
Nominative density is defined as “the degree of detail of the linguistic representation
of a certain conceptual space, detailing the designated fragment of reality, multiple variable
designations and complex semantic shades of a notion under consideration” (Popova &
Sternin, 2007), it increases as the level of translatability decreases (reverse ratio). At the
same time, the level of translatability denotes the degree of equivalence (unambiguous,
variant, zero types) in translation, as well as the level of linguistic and cultural adaptation
of IT and technical concepts. For example, neologisms often have a high degree of
nominative density, but their mere existence is justified by the lack of translatability or
practical reasons (in particular, compression). Attributive constructions assume a
sufficient degree of unambiguity (respectively, have a lower nominative density), while
their translatability is higher.
The following diagram represents the typology of lexical units related to information,
computer and technical spheres. The basic types of lexical units discussed above were
taken as a basis, related to information technology terminology. There is also a certain
correlation between the degree of nominative density and the level of translatability.
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Based on this diagram, the following observations can be made:
1) translation of technical texts is especially complicated and challenging, since this
area has an impressive volume and contains many complex, as well as highly specialized
terms related to all of the stated categories;
2) there is an inverse proportionality (ratio) between the nominative density of
terminological concepts and the levels of their translatability;
3) the increasing nominative density leads to the “archiving” of the concept, which
makes the process of extracting and reconstructing it in the native language even more
challenging;
4) approaching the top of the diagram (“the pyramid”), the neologization
(neologisms formation) process takes place, which is justified by the high nominative
density and low level of translatability;
5) at the “base of the pyramid” there are those types of terms that have a low
nominative density (due to attribution, figurativeness and unambiguous equivalence).
Despite the high level of their translatability, translation may still be challenging.
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Conclusion
The globalization era increasingly reveals the importance of translation in every
sphere of life. Close interaction, collaboration and integration of countries, companies and
individuals across the world is the result of rapid pace of science and technology
development. Moreover, the rapid development of different fields of science and technology
enhances the importance of scientific and technical translation. The cyber world existence
proves the relevance of research on methods of translating English-language computer
terms. It has resulted in borrowing of a considerable number of technical neologisms into
the Russian language, especially in IT and Internet areas. This process is continuous,
inevitable and unstoppable.
Thus, the computer discourse consisting of non-equivalent vocabulary can become a
serious communication challenge. While translating various types of vocabulary, one
should focus on the diverse components of communication that are relevant in a given
pragma-linguistic and cultural context. The reference function (i.e., an idea behind the
lexical unit) is relevant for the terms and words of broad semantics translation. To achieve
the appropriate and correct equivalence, various translation transformations are used:
“calque” method, descriptive translation, transcription and transliteration, substantiation
and lexical omission. The interpretation models in the translation process include:
situational (denotative), transformational, semantic, and psycholinguistic.
It should be pointed out that both linguistic and extralinguistic factors influence the
translation solution choice; consequently, knowledge of linguistics and a substantial
amount of background (environment, reality) data are the key to professional translation.
Thus, a translator is required to rely on general erudition, possess the skills to search for
information, use linguistic knowledge in the field of a particular field and creative
approach. The major task is to choose the most appropriate equivalent for broad semantics
words basing on context, as well as to transfer what an author intended to say without
changing the lexico-semantic meaning of words. Contextual and hyponymic translation,
the method of assimilation is most frequently used when translating broad meaning
lexemes.
Having considered some of the features of the IT and technical terms translatability,
the following conclusions can be drawn:
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1. Translation in the field of IT occurs almost immediately after (or even in the
process of) the development of innovative technologies. This requires the earliest possible
study of existing terms and the competent introduction of new concepts into local
languages.
2. The research identifies the different types of terminology in the field of IT; their
classification and typology indicate the demand of further research on the issue of
translatability, as well as the direct study of the subject areas.
3. The distinctive feature of academic and technical vocabulary is a large number of
specialized terms and abbreviations. As the field of information technologies is constantly
developing, their number is increasing. At the same time, different degrees of translatability
determine the complexity of translation and the need for high competence required of the
translator.
4. The relationship, correlation and ratio between the nominative density and the
degree of translatability of the IT linguistic concepts is inversely proportional serving as the
evidence of the complexity in the transmission of lexical units from one language to
another.
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