The process of translation involves finding out equivalences - both linguistic and situational, at various levels. Translation is a process of (a) decoding the SL (source language) graphemes into symbols and the concepts they represent (b) matching these concepts with TL (target language) concepts and (c) transferring these concepts into TL symbols and graphs. This process of translation thus involves simultaneous working at various levels both linguistic and extralinguistic. This process naturally necessitates a sound knowledge of the subject and the text that a technical translator undertakes to translate, and an intimate knowledge of the two languages and the cultures they belong to. At the linguistic level it involves replacement at the graphic, morphological, syntactic and semantic levels, etc.
At the situational level it involves matching of the cultural, geographical and historical milieu and the concepts of the two languages, something - if not impossible - but difficult to achieve. Problems related to translation in general, and technical translations of social sciences in particular, circulate around these levels and units. Different geo-historical, political and socio-economic development of language result in the emergence of concepts and ideas that are difficult to translate accurately into another language. These socio-economic and cultural peculiarities and distinctiveness are witnessed much more in social science terms than in the terminology of physical and natural sciences.
Knowledge is mediated by language, and language is a channel as well as a barrier in the dissemination of knowledge. A communication event generally encompasses all the circumstances in which a message occurs - the linguistic factors, the subject field, the author of the text and his intention, the receiver of the message, the time, place, and context. In translation, however, another factor is added to the already enumerated ones, that is the translator, his knowledge of the subject and understanding of the text, his socio-cultural background, language competence and performance. Translator's lack of knowledge either in the subject or the language and its culture can result in distortion of the message. Too much of the subject knowledge on the part of the translator could also sometimes result in oversimplification or undertranslation of the text. A translation even involves "who", "what", "whom", and "how", which means who does a translation represent, the original author or the translator? What does the author want to convey? In other words, what is the content and what its nature of research findings are or what a teacher's instruction manual is, information relevant for sales material, etc. How accurately is it transferred? Who is it meant for - a social scientist, a planner, a student or a layman? The message or the information that the original author writes for various readers varies, depending upon the user and the purpose. The manner of communicating the information by the author to the intended reader is again determined by the author's academic and socio-cultural background, the reader or the receiver of the message and his / her academic level and the purpose that it is intended to achieve. All these factors put together determine the "how" of a translated text, that is the language, the style, etc. An ideal translation is one that should read like the original, in both content and style.
Technical language is a kind of specialized language as far as its vocabulary and syntax are concerned. Every discipline has a specialized vocabulary which is technical. Even though the words are often taken from the general language, they have some specialized and restricted senses. Sometimes the same technical term may be used in different fields, each having a specialized restricted meaning besides sharing some general meanings. In contrasts to the versatility of the ordinary language, the technical term is a specialized one with a highest degree of precision and convenience. Specialization in scientific and technical terminology is a continuous process. While the grammar of a language is close-ended, vocabulary is open-ended. Neologism of languages results in the creation of new terms everyday or in the old terms getting new dimensions of use, or meaning, or both. New words come into the language, some old words become obsolete or go out of use. Old words acquire some new extensions of meaning or the meanings are restricted.
Generally, in all scientific languages, technical terms are created by (1) borrowing (2) adaptation, (3) extension and /or metaphorization, (4) coining. Quite often a technical term is borrowed from classical languages, or from a widely spoken language or an international language or a language of the industrially developed nation(s). English draws many technical terms from Latin and Greek. Similarly, Indian languages have many technical terms directly borrowed from Sanskrit, Perso-Arabic sources or from English. Words like "radio", "telephone", "cinema", "film", "station", "school", "bank", "rail", "budget", although borrowed from English have become a part and parcel of Indian languages in general and Hindi in particular. Some of these terms are borrowed along with the material and politico-economic culture. |
