A Basis for Scientific and Engineering Translation
A Basis for Scientific and
Engineering Translation
German–English–German
Michael Hann
University of Mainz
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam/Philadelphia
8
TM
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hann, Michael.
A basis for scientific and engineering translation : German-EnglishGerman / Michael Hann.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
1. Science--Translating. 2.Technology--Translating. 3.English
language--Translating into German. 4.German language--Translating into
English. I.Title
Q124.H36 H36 2004
501’.4-dc22
2003067672
isbn 90 272 2608 3 (Eur.) / 1 58811 483 X (US) (Hb; alk. paper)
isbn 90 272 2609 1 (Eur.) / 1 58811 484 8 (US) (Pb; alk. paper)
© 2004 – John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or
any other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. · P.O. Box 36224 · 1020 me Amsterdam · The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America · P.O. Box 27519 · Philadelphia pa 19118-0519 · usa
Table of contents
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction
1.
Broad Outlinexxii
2.
Engineering Chaptersxxiii
3.
Terminology Sectionsxxiv
4.
Lexicography Unitsxxv
5.
Dictionary Unitsxxvi
6.
Lexicology Unitsxxvi
7.
Long-Term Objectivesxxvii
8.
Technical German Text Samples (TGTS)xxviii
User Guide
1.
Textual & Glossary Materialxxix
2.
Browsingxxx
3.
Visual Material: Illustrationsxxxi
4.
Access, Navigation xxxi
5.
Systematic Study xxxii
Appendix: Symbols and Abbreviationsxxxiii
Unit 1
Access Facilities
1.1 Technical Polyseme Dictionary1
1.2 Technical Thesaurus2
1.3 Technical Collocation Dictionary3
1.4 Noun Classes3
1.5 Microglossaries, Thesauri4
1.6 Classification Systems6
xiii
xv
xxi
xxix
1
vi
Table of contents
1.7
1.8
Main Index, German Index7
Alphabetic Dictionaries8
Unit 2
Basic Mechanics
2.1 Physics, Mechanics9
2.2 Multiple Meaning, False Friends10
2.3 Parameter Definition11
2.4 Parameter Differentiation11
2.5 Concept Determination12
2.6 Units, Symbols, Orthography13
2.7 Grammatical Distinction14
Unit 3
Basic Electricity
3.1 Subject History18
3.2 Voltage, Potential, Emf, Bias, Tension19
3.3 Entity, Property, Parameter21
3.4 Noun Countability22
3.5 Terminological Relationships24
Unit 4
Translational Equivalence
4.1 One-To-One Equivalence27
4.2 Dual Equivalence28
4.3 Multiple Equivalence29
4.4 Polyseme Groups30
4.5 Hierarchic Dimensions31
4.6 Hierarchic List, Thesaurus33
Unit 5
Materials Science
5.1 Material Properties38
5.2 Mechanical Properties39
5.3 Chemical, Electrical, Thermal Properties40
5.4 Lexical Gaps40
5.5 Microthesaurus Construction41
9
17
27
37
Table of contents
Unit 6
Nucleonics
6.1 Nucleonics, Nuclear Engineering46
6.2 Radiation, Radioactivity47
6.3 Radio Morphology48
6.4 Radiant Energy, Harmful Radiation49
6.5 Beam, Ray, Current, Stream49
6.6 Decomposition, Disintegration, Dissociation50
6.7 Storage, Disposal51
6.8 Reprocessing Plant, Repository52
6.9 Landfill, Disposal Site53
Unit 7
Lexical Interpretation
7.1 Collocation Lists55
7.2 Countable, Non-Countable Nouns56
7.3 Dual Terms, Different Terms58
7.4 Singular Nouns, Plural Nouns59
7.5 Pair Nouns60
7.6 Borderline Cases60
7.7 Standard Grammatical Categories61
7.8 Language Evolution62
Unit 8
Automotive Engineering
8.1 Polyonymy64
8.2 Associated Fields65
8.3 Main Field66
8.4 Misnomers67
8.5 Misinterpretations68
8.6 Hierarchic Organisation68
8.7 Diachronic Change69
8.8 Term Spotting70
Unit 9
Mechanical Engineering
9.1 Streamlining76
9.2 Drag, Lift, Thrust, Buoyancy76
45
55
63
73
vii
viii Table of contents
9.3
9.4
9.5
9.6
9.7
9.8
Fuselage, Hull, Helm, Rudder77
Pitch, Roll, Yaw78
Construction Terminology78
Stress, Strain, Deformation79
Fatigue, Creep, Dislocation80
Gap, Hole, Foreign Atom, Impurity80
Unit 10
Technical Polyseme Dictionary
10.1 Subject Fields83
10.2 Variation, Gender86
10.3 Polysemy86
10.4 Hyponymy87
10.5 Homonymy87
10.6 Entry Blocks88
10.7 Indentation90
10.8 Secondary Indentation91
10.9 Concept Specification, Target Language93
10.10 Concept Specification, Source Language94
Unit 11
Chemical Engineering
11.1 Chemical Terminology99
11.2 Metal, Non-Metal, Inert Element100
11.3 Lexical Gap, Multiple Meaning101
11.4 Solid, Liquid, Gas, Vapour102
11.5 Solute, Solvent, Solution103
11.6 Bond, Radical103
11.7 Oxidation, Reduction104
11.8 Reagent, Catalyst, Inhibitor104
11.9 Organic/Inorganic Chemistry105
11.10 Recycling, Reprocessing107
Unit 12
Electronics
12.1 Early Electronics109
12.2 Semiconductors, ICs111
12.3 Conduction, Bonding112
83
97
109
Table of contents
12.4
12.5
12.6
12.7
12.8
Impurity, Contaminant, Pollutant113
Resistance, Capacitance114
Reactance, Impedance114
Transducer115
Bias, Operation, Mode, State116
Unit 13
Technical Grammar
13.1 Shades of Meaning119
13.2 Entity, Property, Parameter120
13.3 Hyponymy, Countability121
Unit 14
Technical Thesaurus
14.1 Concept Specification124
14.2 Homonymy124
14.3 Polysemy125
14.4 Hyponymy126
14.5 Hierarchic Relations127
14.6 Contrast128
14.7 Synonymy129
14.8 Other Terminological Associations131
14.9 Morphology133
Unit 15
Electrical Sciences
15.1 Circuit Design135
15.2 Power Supply Unit137
15.3 Hierarchic Arrangement138
15.4 Light/Heavy Electrical Engineering140
15.5 Electrical/Electronic/Magnetic141
15.6 Electrics, Electronics142
15.7 Plugs, Fuses, Cut-Outs142
15.8 Power, Performance, Energy143
119
123
135
ix
x
Table of contents
Unit 16
Mechanical Sciences
16.1 Machine Tools146
16.2 Machines, Engines146
16.3 Drive Systems148
16.4 Newtonian Mechanics148
16.5 Solid-Body Mechanics149
16.6 Fluid Mechanics150
16.7 Quantum Mechanics151
16.8 Celestial Mechanics152
16.9 Subject Fields153
Unit 17
Technical Collocation Dictionary
17.1 Access155
17.2 Specialised Nouns in Context156
17.3 Long Technical Expressions157
17.4 Technical Verbs, Specialised Predicates157
17.5 Pragmatics158
17.6 Syntax, Prepositions159
17.7 Specialised Adjectives/Adverbs160
17.8 Polysemous Adjectives/Adverbs161
17.9 General Nouns, Specific Interpretation162
17.10 Opposites, Contrasts163
17.11 Mathematics Expressions163
Unit 18
Computer Engineering
18.1 Dictionary Compilation165
18.2 Logic Gates, Memory Modules166
18.3 Microminiaturisation167
18.4 Processor, Calculator168
18.5 Disk, Memory, Store169
18.6 Card, Board, Slot, Bus170
18.7 Works, Windows, Word171
18.8 Word Terms172
18.9 Polysemy, Polyonymy173
145
155
165
Table of contents
Unit 19
Error Analysis
19.1 Quality Assessment175
19.2 Phrase-Level Assessment176
19.3 Other Assessment Criteria178
Unit 20
Concept Analysis
20.1 Hierarchic Organisation, Compactness181
20.2 Conceptual Incompatibilities182
20.3 Contextual Equivalence184
20.4 Concept Differentiation185
20.5 Concept Recognition187
20.6 Concept Splitting187
Unit 21
Mathematics
21.1 Fraction, Proportion, Quotient, Ratio191
21.2 Term, Variable, Expression, Function193
21.3 Average, Mean, Variation, Deviation195
21.4 Geometric Construction196
21.5 Real/Imaginary/Complex Number197
21.6 Vector Models, Alternative Number Systems198
21.7 Geometric Configurations199
21.8 Other Areas of Mathematics199
Unit 22
Specific Expression
22.1 Special Interpretation201
22.2 Specialised Verbs202
22.3 Symbol Conversion203
Unit 23
Non-Technical Specialised Language
23.1 Language Variants206
23.2 Distinctive Feature Specification207
23.3 Business Translation208
175
181
191
201
205
xi
xii
Table of contents
Unit 24
Translator Education
24.1 Constructivist Approach215
24.2 Social Approach216
24.3 Electronic Approach217
24.4 Transmissionist Approach217
24.5 Disk Approach218
215
Bibliography
221
Appendix 1: Approach Survey
1.
Convention223
2.
Orthography224
3.
Text Typology224
4.
Terminology Processing225
5.
Hierarchic Organisation227
6.
Contiguity229
7.
Speech Acts230
8.
Error Analysis230
9.
Sememe, Chereme231
10. Standardisation of Nomenclature232
11. Translation Approaches233
12. Future Technology233
13. Technical Language234
14. Reference234
223
Appendix 2: American-English Survey
1.
Transatlantic Glossaries237
2.
Automotive Terms239
3.
TPD Entries241
237
Appendix 3: Overall Survey
1.
Disk Format243
2.
High-Tech, Low-Tech244
3.
Popular Misconceptions245
4.
Coverage, Detail246
5.
Possible Omissions247
6.
Materials, Presentation247
243
Index
249
Acknowledgements
Special thanks are due to Jason Hann for excellent supplies of computer
hardware and up-to-date software throughout the project, but above all for
patiently converting an enormous collection of ragged Microsoft Word files
into a neat, fully operational HTML electronic book. A debt of gratitude is also
owed to Jean Hann for diligently proof-reading the entire manuscripts of both
the handbook and the e-book. Grateful thanks are due to Bertie Kaal and
friends, of John Benjamins Publishing Company, for permission to reuse
valuable material from my earlier publication The Key to Technical Translation
(1992). This book is dedicated to the memory of Stanley William Hann, who
provided infinite support throughout his life.
Credit for many ideas employed in the lexicography units and dictionary
arrangements is due to a group of writers discussed in the final Appendix. Some
of these are personal friends and have provided valuable direct feedback or
inspiration over many years: Juan Sager, Paul Kussmaul, Don Kiraly. Others
belong to an earlier period, but their writings and ideas are universally familiar
and well established: John Lyons, Eugene Nida, Eugen Wüster. Grateful thanks
for helpful comments, direct and indirect inspirations relating to specific
sections of the book are also due to certain colleagues and ex-colleagues at the
Johannes-Gutenberg University of Mainz (FB23, FASK): Paul Foster, Rudolf
Mikus, Eberhard Rüffer, Rainer Torka.
Inspiration and valuable feedback for the engineering sections came from
several local scientific and industrial institutions, especially: the Nuclear
Research Centre (KfK), Interunion-Technohandel, Watlow-Electric, AITEC.
Technical translators need helpful customers and engineering partners with
whom they can discuss their work at any time. Grateful thanks for assistance in
this respect are due to Messrs Cook, Göbelbecker, Mikosch, Wiebe.
The most valuable literary inspirations, however, were obtained neither
from academic nor industrial colleagues but from many hundreds of enthusiastic, highly gifted students taking the technical translation options in the language
xiv
Acknowledgements
department (FASK) of the Johannes-Gutenberg University in Germersheim,
Germany. Equipped with minimal resources, they struggle with a wide range of
translation topics and regularly provide not only highly original translation
solutions, but also valuable insight into the kind of literature and reference
material urgently required by technical linguists. Grateful thanks are expressed
for many constructive comments and suggested improvements on my earlier
literary attempt in this field. Hopefully, this book will compensate enthusiastic
translators at all levels by helping them to complete their education.
Preface
With the advent of on-line dictionaries, Internet searching facilities, e-mail and
other electronic aids, the closing years of the millennium brought radical
changes to many professions, but especially to that of the technical translator.
Gone are the days when translators invested in huge personal libraries, printed
dictionaries and well-guarded card indexes. The modern linguist has become a
member of the new generation of “mouse-clickers”, tapping computers for upto-date first-hand information all over the world. This approach provides rapid
translations, but a lot of time is spent surfing or merely drifting around on the
Internet, and often the more unfamiliar the subject matter the less readable the
ultimate translation becomes. Translators who use this method exclusively lack a
systematic basis for their work, a knowledge of technical language (Ge. Fachsprache).
Learning a technical language, for instance the specialist languages of
Mechanical, Chemical or Nuclear Engineering, is similar in many ways to
acquiring the skills of communication for a foreign natural language. It is not
just a question of terminology. Grammar rules change, verbs and prepositions
acquire new significances, and similar terms occur with entirely different
implications within brief sections of the same engineering text. Even a highly
proficient translator with many years of experience in the field of Electronics,
who can happily distinguish the fundamental meanings of the German polyseme Widerstand (E. resistance, resistivity, resistor, reluctance, reactance, impedance) within this specific field, has to be careful not to confuse the countable
nouns (CN’s) resistance, reluctance, reactance, impedance with their noncountable counterparts. This book and its electronic component examine not
just the engineering basis of technical translation, but also the linguistic and
general semantic aspects. They fulfil the functions of several books in one.
xvi
Preface
1. Layout
Modern translators are fully conversant with on-line methods of data exchange,
whereby information requested in response to a query is accessed automatically
and presented in little boxes. There are limits to the amount of information the
user can truly absorb by this method, but it does have advantages when crossreferencing or re-accessing information. The technical component of the book,
the chapters dealing with the conceptual aspects of engineering and the appropriate bilingual dictionaries, are confined to the disk, whereas the linguistic
component appears in this handbook and provides a useful guide to the content
of the disk.
There are three disk volumes. The first is mainly text subdivided into
chapters, units, sections, and subsections. It also contains numerous microglossaries covering the individual engineering areas. The other two volumes
consist of large dictionaries and indexes. A fourth area of the disk contains some
45 coloured illustrations clarifying important conceptual aspects of the engineering chapters. The discussion below distinguishes the trees from the ordered
forest and examines the general structure of the book.
The first disk volume (Vol.1) contains 16 chapters headed:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Basic Mechanics
Basic Electricity
Materials Science
Nucleonics
Semiconductor Technology
Electronics
Circuit Technology
Automotive Engineering
9.
10.
11
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
Machine Technology
Chemical Engineering
Computer Engineering
Mechanics
Construction Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Mathematics
The chapters gradually describe the basis of the entire spectrum of scientific and
engineering disciplines, providing fundamental terminologies of the areas
concerned in both English and German.
Interspersed among these chapters is a second component consisting of
eight so-called lexicography units, dealing with areas like:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Translational Equivalence
Interpretation
Dictionary Structures
Technical Grammar
5.
6.
7.
8.
Linguistics
Concept Analysis
Translation Difficulty
Specific Expression
Preface xvii
These too are subdivided into sections and tackle other fundamental problems,
encountered by technical translators, from a linguistic vantage point. These
units have a variety of purposes, but one of their main objectives is to acquaint
the reader at the earliest possible stage with the dictionaries of Volume 2.
The latter are not just dictionaries in the normal sense of the word but
carefully organised term bases revealing the polysemy of technical language as
well as lexical, grammatical, contextual and semantic information essential to
translation proficiency. There are three major dictionary units headed:
1. Technical Polyseme Dictionary (TPD)
2. Technical Thesaurus (TT)
3. Technical Collocation Dictionary (TCD)
and two large indexes:
4. Main Index (MI)
5. German Index (GI)
which direct the reader (i.e. the user of the disk) to individual chapter sections
containing terminology sought, via English (Main Index) and to a lesser extent
via German (German Index).
The third volume has two main components:
6. German-English Alphabetic Dictionary (GE)
7. English-German Alphabetic Dictionary (EG)
each providing direct links to the dictionary resources of the other two volumes
and the bilingual illustrations.
The handbook is divided into units discussing important aspects of the disk
chapters and other features of the first two disk volumes. Some units, those
dealing with engineering, constitute carefully watered-down versions of the disk
chapters or combinations of these chapters. The rest, including the Introduction
and the first Appendix, concentrate on material not present on the disk or less
readily accessible in disk sections, aspects of technical language relating to areas
like grammar, lexicology and linguistic semantics with occasional references to
text typology and translation theory.
Obviously, continued usage of terms like disk volume, disk section, disk
subsection would soon make the handbook appear repetitive. The expression
disk is therefore dropped, and the disk itself is hereafter referred to simply as the
book. The same convention is employed on the disk, where the terms reader and
user become, in fact, contextually synonymous.
xviii Preface
2. Objectives
The disk provides a summary of the underlying basis of science and engineering, of the associations and inter-relationships among technical terminology,
and of the most persistent errors made by translators from or into German. It
also provides concrete applications of general linguistics to technical literature,
and of structural lexicology to the presentation of semantic information.
The book aims at the following main groups:
i. professional translators lacking a formal scientific or engineering education;
ii. teachers of technical translation strategies and expertise who seek additional
inspiration for their courses from what could be regarded as a teacher’s as
well as a translator’s handbook;
iii. students of technical translation or language graduates embarking upon a
career in this field who wish to make a valuable long-term investment in
their professional future.
The disk itself is a carefully structured multi-dimensional didactic tool, enabling
readers to absorb vast quantities of technical and linguistic information
passively at their own pace, permitting rapid access to previously absorbed
material via a cross-referencing system originally geared to the printed page. A
gradual transfer of information takes place from the book to the reader’s brain,
which copes with elaborate networks of conceptual links automatically and
receives continual memory-refreshing boosts from the daily processes of
reading, cross-referencing and general familiarisation.
Readers should use the disk initially as a self-teaching aid. Sections which
take more time to digest can be printed and stored in a permanent hard-copy
folder, where undisturbed by noisy fans and flickering monitor screens the
reader can absorb the information efficiently. Acquiring the skills of technical
translation with the aid of the disk is like learning to play a musical instrument.
A direct link forms between the mind of the musician and the instrument
played, between the reader and the book itself. This takes time, familiarity and
practice. The handbook helps the reader to accomplish the first stage.
3. User Expectations
To the world at large a specialised book is a static entity, the contents of which
correspond to the state of the art in the discipline concerned at the date of
publication. But to an author it is a living organism evolving in tiny stages on
Preface
disk and continually looking towards its next revision. One such book, entitled
The Key To Technical Translation (Hann 1992) was published by the author
during the first era of global PC activity.
In response to valuable feedback from many sources, the meticulous allembracing project of reorganising and updating the original version commenced. This entailed expanding the spectrum of scientific and engineering
fields covered, restructuring the dictionaries and incorporating far-reaching
additions and improvements in regard to grammar, linguistics and lexicology.
Fortunately, this period coincided with one of rapid advancement in dataprocessing technology itself and provided software presentation facilities which
would have been almost unimaginable ten years beforehand. The long-awaited,
ultimate result of the revision never came. Instead a new book emerged, one
which in view of present approaches to translation activities was best presented
as an electronic book.
In contrast to some e-books that are essentially glorified second-hand
databases with information downloaded from different sources and adapted to
the purpose at hand, the e-book is therefore the result of a gradual evolution of
a very large, fully consistent printed manuscript designed to be read from end to
end. To avoid unreasonable or false expectations, users accustomed to more
conventional electronic information management environments, Web-based
training materials, etc., who may be more interested at this stage in what the
book does not do, are recommended to consult Appendix 3. Those prepared to
study the information necessary to acquire the expertise for rapid efficient
access during professional translation assignments will realise that the effort
spent is well rewarded. Indeed, by and large, the easiest way to get the maximum benefit out of the book is to study the main sections before being confronted with urgent material for translation.
The need to acquire specific access expertise is not the only temporary
obstacle impatient users will come up against, when using the disk. Obviously,
the terminologies of English and German presented do not contain every
isolated expression a technical translator might wish to find — a database of the
entire terminologies alone of all branches of engineering, science and mathematics would comprise several million entries. Instead the disk resolves the
most common misconceptions by covering in depth the set of several thousand
key terms basic to all technical translation areas. It aims at a long-term improvement in the reader’s overall translation proficiency by providing access to the
likely missing link in virtually every current technical-translator education
programme: the language of technology itself.
xix
Introduction
There are hopeful translators who feel that electronic media will soon provide
cost-free solutions to all their problems. But they are deluding themselves.
Many hours of productive work can be wasted during on-line searching, and
even then the results only consist of haphazard, fragmentary details. Under such
conditions, “technical translation” remains little more than disappointing
guesswork. No self-respecting translator would accept an assignment for a
language he or she had no grounding in. By the same token, technical translators with a fluent command of general language but a poor command of
technical language are living very dangerously.
Large-scale, multi-access, interactive term bases and other electronic data
facilities provide intelligent suggestions for translations of obscure but welldefined compound technical expressions, but unfortunately they generally
make little attempt to distinguish basic engineering conceptions which, by virtue
of the polysemous nature of both technical and general language, can be even
more difficult to translate precisely. For instance:
Auftriebskraft
Kondensator
Spannung
Verkleidung
buoyancy, lift, upward thrust
capacitor, condenser
bias, emf, potential, voltage
cladding, cowling, padding
Nonetheless, just as personal computers replaced the typewriters and card
indexes of previous translator generations, so electronic media are clearly
replacing libraries. This handbook and above all the accompanying disk
therefore offer not a substitute for the use of data media but a parallel approach,
one which provides a firm conceptual basis, constant didactic training and is
likely to be more stimulating and rewarding intellectually than just slavishly
scanning the Web all the time. It provides a systematic approach to the study of
science and engineering from the translation aspect itself, applying features of
the reader’s likely educational background, areas such as general linguistics,
xxii Introduction
semantics, lexicology, to the broad spectrum of technical information common
to the overall majority of scientists, engineers and modern industrial technologists.
1. Broad Outline
Linguists with different areas of specialisation, scattered all over the world,
easily communicate with one another in a language of their own, employing
terms like homonym, speech act, denotation, paradigm, phoneme. The situation
is similar in engineering, which employs terms like energy, power, current,
resistance, momentum, with precise meanings understood by all technologists.
The next level of technical language requires a small degree of specialisation. A phoneticist employing expressions like glottalic egressive, prominence
peak, rhotacized vowel and a grammar theorist studying elliptic genitives or
transitional conjuncts may find initial communication slightly difficult, but it
would not be impossible, as they share the same basic education. An electronics
engineer too could easily discuss aspects of his job with a nuclear scientist, and
vice versa. Moreover, if they happened to be involved in a joint project, each
would rapidly acquire a knowledge of the other’s terminology. A freelance
technical translator must acquire this degree of familiarity with the terminologies of all engineering areas, and know instinctively and immediately which of
a range of possible alternatives, such as:
Spur
Stange
Träger
lane, trace, track, wake
arm, bar, lever, rack, rod
carrier, girder, holder, member, rack
is the correct one in a given specialised context. The book aims specifically at
these initial levels of technical language.
Beginning with the terminologies of Mechanics and Electricity, Volume 1
of the disk gradually covers the broad basis of all areas of science, engineering
and mathematics employed in industrial technology. Volume 2 presents three
highly concentrated, didactically organised glossaries for German/English/
German translators that supplement this knowledge, each with an elaborate
system of mnemonic descriptors providing intricate labyrinths of semantic
information relating to hyponymy, polysemy, synonymy, contrast, context, usage,
association and other features. The lexicography units take a look at other
considerations involved in terminology specification and demonstrate applications
Introduction xxiii
of linguistic semantics (Lyons et al.) to the structural organisation of lexicographical information. The set of coloured illustrations containing terminology
in two languages completes the reader’s understanding of basic technical
material.
This handbook provides a brief introductory description of the engineering
chapters and summarises the ancillary sections. Certain material is not present
anywhere on the disk, for instance Units 10, 14, 17, which present separate
linguistic introductions to each of the main dictionaries, and Unit 19 that
touches upon aspects of technical translation beyond phrase-level. Other units
discuss material of general interest to technical linguists, especially to nonnative English speakers.
The result is a contribution to the literature of scientific and engineering
translation studies presented at two levels: a handbook providing a light
introduction to German/English technical translation with a substantial
general-linguistics orientation; an electronic book supplying an in-depth view
of the scientific and engineering complexities but with a less pronounced
linguistics component.
2. Engineering Chapters
The disk contains sixteen main chapters dealing primarily with engineering
conceptions, but also with aspects of general science and mathematics. The first
two chapters illustrate fundamental distinctions employed in the definition of
engineering parameters, for instance energy, force, impedance, power, voltage,
some of which occur in all branches of technology. These conceptions were
formulated long ago by scientists, such as Newton, Ampere, Faraday, Maxwell
and Kelvin, but still cause tremendous problems for inexperienced translators.
Having mastered them, however, the reader can proceed to the next level of
language specialisation.
Chapters 3–15 cover specific technologies, such as: Nuclear Technology,
Electronic Circuit Design, Constructional Engineering, Aerospace Technology.
Distinctions are drawn between scientific and engineering disciplines, such as
Mechanics or Chemistry on the one hand and Mechanical and Chemical
Engineering on the other. Attention is frequently focussed on problems
resulting from the usage of identical expressions in different fields to refer to
very different concepts (polysemy):
xxiv Introduction
Fremdkörper
Klemme
Teilspannung
contaminant, impurity
clip, clamp, terminal
voltage component, stress component
Chapter 16 completes the reader’s command of technical language by introducing certain important conceptions relating to all areas of science and technology
but belonging to a quite separate self-contained academic field, namely Mathematics.
3. Terminology Sections
Within the engineering chapters there are subsections dealing with terminology,
where important concepts like average, mean, deviation, variance, which are
often confused by linguists with limited technical background, are defined
explicitly. Concepts concerning concrete objects, fuselage, hull, helm, rudder, are
described in context. Those difficult to visualise, such as alkane, alkene, alkyne,
are described by analogy with everyday situations. Different translational
possibilities or paradigmatic substitutions according to the level of language or
potential customer are discussed (e.g. Deponie: landfill, disposal site, dump),
and frequent translation errors occuring in each field are highlighted, especially
where they result from similar terminology belonging to other fields:
Verbrennung
Widerstand
Zerfall
combustion, incineration
resistance, reluctance, reactance, drag
decomposition, disintegration, dissociation
These sections stimulate the reader’s enthusiasm for the dictionaries of Volume 2, where other potential pitfalls for translators are revealed:
Basisstärke
Beleuchtungsstärke
Feldstärke
Stromstärke
basicity
illumination intensity
field strength
current
In normal engineering contexts, substitutions like *“base strength”, *“illumination strength”, *“current strength” would be quite wrong.
As well as dealing with contrast among terminology (e.g. emf/mmf, fatigue/
creep, isomer/polymer), there are subsections within the engineering chapters
illustrating grammatical and lexical aspects too. For instance: Chapters 1 and 2
Introduction xxv
illustrate semantic differences between countable nouns such as mass, charge,
speed, light and their corresponding non-countable but orthographically
identical counterparts; one aspect of Chapter 8 concerns polyonymy in the
Automobile Industry, a phenomenom whereby identical car parts sold on
opposite sides of the Atlantic have different names; Chapter 11 draws attention
to the lives, recent deaths and altered significances of specific terminology in fields
such as Electronics or Computer Engineering which change very rapidly.
The organisational structure of the engineering chapters is designed to
permit smooth transitions from the explanation of scientific and technological
conceptions to the discussion of translation problems and the avoidance of
translation errors. To facilitate equally smooth transitions for access purposes
during subsequent reading, readers are recommended to re-examine the
Contents section of the disk at periodic intervals and print a hard copy.
4. Lexicography Units
The lexicography units (Lex. 1–8) placed strategically among the engineering
chapters take a closer look at fundamental terminology and direct attention to
important structural features of the dictionaries of Volume 2. These units
complete the reader’s mental digestion of scientific or engineering information
by examining grammatical, lexical or other linguistic aspects of terminology
covered up that point. They discuss translational equivalence, the semantic
connotations of noun countability/non-countability, the use of collocations to
resolve syntagmatic problems in translation and the application of conceptually
organised terminological hierarchies to overcome paradigmatic ones. The units
examine linguistic aspects of terminology that are useful for concept specification and differentiation, such as synonymy, hyponymy, polysemy, homonymy,
context, usage, and take a brief look at the type of writing styles and conventions
to which most technical translations conform.
As the reader’s command of specialised concepts and understanding of
technology progresses, more advanced applications of semantics are introduced
in order to discuss unusual technical linguistic phenomena, such as different
knowledge structures in different countries in the same engineering area. Other
sections analyse different degrees of translation difficulty and the gravity of
specific substitution errors. The Appendix takes a small break from Engineering
and illustrates applications of the collocational and thesaurus approaches to
dictionary organisation for other areas of specialised translation, such as
Business Studies.
xxvi Introduction
5. Dictionary Units
The second volume is dominated by the three elegantly structured dictionaries
(TPD, TT, TCD). These employ a wide variety of symbols, designating the
following features: fields, subfields and areas of science or engineering; semantic
relationships among terminology (e.g. hyponymy, partitive association); different
categories of noun (CN, NCN, …). The dictionaries themselves are discussed in
due course, and so is the set of dictionary symbols, three tables headed Field
Codes, Thesaurus Descriptors, Other Symbols. A clear understanding of the
semantic principles governing these symbols helps the reader to interpret
information more efficiently in the actual dictionaries.
Another feature of Volume 2 is the index component. Facilities for accessing terminology, whether English or German, directly in the engineering
chapters or lexicography units appear in the Main and German Indexes respectively. The book is arranged so that any important engineering terminology
appearing in the handbook reappears in a similar context on the disk, thus
averting the necessity of additional handbook indexes.
Volume 3 contains two more dictionaries, this time conventional alphabetic
ones — German-English (GE) and English-German (EG). Hasty readers used
to working with simple data bases might mistakenly assume that these dictionaries are the ultimate goal of the book. They are in fact just a by-product,
presenting the terminology of the other dictionaries, thesauri, indexes, diagrams
and illustrations collectively in a more readily accessible form. Instantaneous
access to the sources themselves is achievable via the eye buttons.
6. Lexicology Units
One question invariably asked by students struggling to learn two or more
foreign languages while being confronted simultaneously with the classic work
of authors like Lyons, Leech and Nida is “Why do we have to learn so much
linguistics?”. The answer is “Because it is useful”. And this book proves it.
Using natural language to illustrate different degrees of hyponymy, distinctions between antonymy and contrast, or different categories of synonym has the
disadvantage that terms are not as tightly bound to concepts as in technical
contexts. The lexicography units of the disk are not subject to this drawback.
They familiarise the reader with general semantic aspects of new terminology,
stimulate the reader’s enthusiasm to use the dictionaries, and encourage
Introduction xxvii
individual translators not only to interpret structural clues regarding concept
specification in terminological data bases, such as the TPD, but also to think and
act like a lexicographer.
Some aspects of these lexicography units are discussed again in this handbook. So too are certain features of the dictionaries TPD, TT, TCD. Indeed, the
handbook contains units that effectively constitute new dictionary introductions, from a slightly more advanced linguistic vantage point. Units 10 and 14
concern the first two dictionaries and adopt a classical semantic approach,
discussing: homonymy as opposed to polysemy; hierarchic versus non-hierarchic
conceptual relationships; morphological considerations relating to term selection. Unit 17, the second TCD introduction concentrates more on concordances
concerning prepositions and nouns, nouns and verbs, on phenomena involving
technical verbs and specialised predicates, and on the narrow significances of
adjectives and adverbs in specialised contexts.
Hence some sections of the handbook deal not with specific background
information relating to technical translation but with general lexicology. In
many respects, these lexicology units are as important to the dictionary user as
the dictionaries themselves.
7. Long-Term Objectives
For too long, academic institutions have treated technical language as jargon
separate from natural language. It is not. Technical language evolves naturally.
It simply entails conceptual restrictions unfamiliar to many linguists. The book
traces its evolution from natural science to the basis of modern industrial
technology and reveals how labels attached to concepts in one language differ
radically from those in another. The prime objective of the two volumes is to
provide an efficient, systematic method of learning the skills of technical
translation, a viable alternative to the blind substitution employed by too many
on-line dictionary enthusiasts and translators with no formal training in
engineering whatever.
A second, long-term aim of the disk publication is to produce a book whose
organisational structure could function as a permanent model for general
reference, in regard to:
i. future literature on technical translation (Engineering, Science, Mathematics);
ii. similar material on other areas of specialised translation (Law, Medicine,
Business, Economics);
iii. material for language pairs other than English-German.
xxviii Introduction
The book is suitable for all technical translators from student to professional,
regardless of background or ability, by virtue of the manner in which information contained is absorbable in various ways. Despite the electronic appearance
readers are advised to work systematically through the book, studying one
chapter at a time, and obtain familiarity with the organisational structures of
the dictionaries at the earliest possible stage. But at their own pace, as the
structures themselves are of valuable assistance in the gradual acquisition of
technical language skills.
The book has a final primary objective. It focusses attention on the lexical
basis of engineering in the hope that gifted translators will eventually be in a
position to obtain foreign-language equivalents of obscure compound terms,
not included on the disk, by inspired guesswork. Substitutions may need to be
verified by scanning international data-base networks, but, in contrast to the
usual, haphazard, hit-or-miss methods of Internet surfing, the reader will then
have a better idea of whether the term selected is likely to be correct.
8. Technical German Text Samples (TGTS)
Further sources are available on the author’s web site, including a collection of
German source texts for initial classroom practice for the training of technical
translators. This material is useful for an elementary understanding of technology, thereby employing terminology fundamental to the areas concerned. The
texts vary in length from single paragraphs to 500 words, sample a broad range
of science and technology.
User Guide
Many readers will wish to study the handbook first and then work their way
systematically through the e-book, familiarising themselves with the access
techniques as they do so, in which case they should skip this section and proceed
to the first Unit. Those who wish to acquire broad familiarity with the e-book
immediately should follow the guidelines below.
Insert the disk, go to your CD-Rom drive and click on e-start to get to the Home
Page.
The CD is PC and Mac compatible. For optimal viewing please adjust your Internet
Explorer settings to View Æ text size Æ smallest.
1. Textual & Glossary Material
A click on Volume 1 reveals access to the engineering chapters (Chap. 1–16) and
lexicography units (Lex.1–8). Click open a chapter; the first page appears. Chapter
sections are opened by links at the bottom of the first page, the chapter page,
subsections at the bottom of the respective section page. To return to a section from
a subsection click on the diagonal arrow near the top left corner of the window. To
return to the chapter page from a section, or to the chapter list (Volume 1 page)
from the chapter page, do likewise. Some pages are long and require scrolling.
At the foot of a long page, click on the vertical arrow to return to the top. All
diagrams, tables, microglossaries and microthesauri relevant to the chapter are
accessed via links at the foot of the chapter page. The basic procedure is the same
for the lexicography units, dictionaries and other units of the two volumes.
The navigation bar at the top of the page enables the user to switch to other
parts of the book (Volume 2, Illustrations, etc.) at any time, or to consult the
Dictionary Symbols. Illustrations themselves are opened by clicking on their
respective thumbnails. The dictionaries and indexes are divided into pages
according to the initial letter of the entry term like a conventional dictionary.
xxx User Guide
They are opened at the page required by clicking on the book icon in the vertical
bar (left). The user can scroll to the entry sought or skip to it directly via the
letter buttons of the horizontal bar at the top of the page, returning to the top at
any time via one of the many vertical arrows.
It is advisable to consult the Contents of the e-book at regular intervals. The
Contents are accessible via the main navigation bar and provide direct access to
any section of the book. The user should also get accustomed to the eye buttons
(blue, purple, green, brown) that provide alternative access to each of the four
main areas of the disk:
Volume One
Volume Two
Volume Three
Illustrations
16 engineering chapters, 8 lexicography units
3 large dictionaries, 2 indexes
2 large reference dictionaries
45 technical diagrams and illustrations
The reader should also study the main introduction, the separate introductions
to Volumes 2 and 3 and the various dictionary introductions in depth. The red
eye (Hints) draws attention to important sections that require more frequent
scrutiny: User Instructions, Search Instructions, etc.
2. Browsing
It is possible to open the e-book at different points simultaneously, in different
windows. Thus subsections of the same or different chapters can be compared,
chapter sections can be browsed alongside diagrams, term lists, microglossaries, or
alongside the main dictionaries and relevant illustrations. The normal browser
commands, i.e. Back, Find, Home, etc., apply throughout the book.
Find (CTRL-F) is especially useful. Supposing the reader is looking for
possible English translations of the German technical term Läufer. One method
is to open up the Technical Polysyme Dictionary (TPD) at page L and then click
on La in the horizontal bar. If the desired equivalent is not obtained, try the
German Index. Another way is to use Find and enter “läuf”. The German Index
reveals the information:
Läufer
8.2.1 Figure 8B Figure 8F
Using the same input data, still present in the Find command, the reader
discovers English equivalents at various locations elsewhere on the disk: in
context in Chapter 8, in the structured term list Figure 8B and in the microthesaurus Figure 8F. A similar approach for another expression:
User Guide xxxi
Laufwerk
11.5 Figure 11H eins-
reveals, in addition, a location on page E of the Technical Collocation Dictionary (TCD) (entry einschalten). Readers accustomed to research involving web
pages will soon discover many similar shortcuts for smooth rapid access using
the cross-referencing facilities provided.
3. Visual Material: Illustrations
Readers are now recommended to familiarise themselves with the coloured
illustrations present on the disk. They are divided into the following groups:
Basic Mechanics
Basic Electrical Engineering
Materials Science, Nucleonics, Semiconductors
Electronics, Electronic Circuit Design
Automobile Engineering
Chemical Engineering
but there are many overlaps. The illustrations link terminology in both English
and German to visual diagrams. Readers struggling to grasp moderately difficult
engineering concepts — momentum, reaction, phasor, RMS voltage, reactance,
lattice bond, power supply, diode characteristic, rocker shaft, alternator, alkane —
who are familiar with these diagrams, may find them a great asset when they
have trouble digesting information of the e-book or its handbook counterpart.
4. Access, Navigation
Volume 1 can be read, page by page, like a conventional book by clicking on
either the subsection links or navigation arrows according to the instructions
given. Alternatively, direct access to a particular section is obtained by clicking
on Contents in the navigation bar and selecting the appropriate line in the Table
of Contents. A third method, providing instantaneous access to any chapter,
section or subsection from anywhere on the disk is via the eye buttons
(Chap. 1–8: green; Chap. 9–16: brown). This navigation technique is recommended when using the indexes. (See Appendix.)
The dictionaries of Volumes 2 and 3 are divided into pages according to the
initial letter of the entries. They are opened in a similar manner (letter buttons,
xxxii User Guide
navigation arrows, etc.). A second method facilitating rapid access between any
of the seven dictionary units is to employ the blue eye button. Instantaneous
access from any page of a dictionary to any page of another dictionary is via the
purple eye.
The blue eye lists the dictionaries in the order of presentation:
TPD TT TCD MI GI GE EG
The purple eye separates the letter pages into two blocks:
TPD TCD GI GE TT MI EG
according to whether the dictionary entries are German or English.
The blue eye also provides direct access to the full set of microglossaries of
Volume 1 and to all illustrations. Indeed, together, the four eye buttons provide
immediate access from any electronic page of the entire disk (chapter, illustration, thesaurus, index, etc.) to any other. They are complemented by another set
of buttons that reveals the various dictionary symbols (field codes, thesaurus
descriptors, etc.) used throughout.
The disk volumes vary in size. Together with the illustrations, Volume 1 is
responsible for about two-thirds of the information contained, Volume 2 about
one-third. Volume 3 merely repeats terminology present elsewhere on the disk
and provides direct access to more detailed information in the other volumes.
The disk is user-friendly but unconventional.
Brief reminders of techniques explained in the introductory sections are
obtainable via the red-eye button (hints).
5. Systematic Study
Before shutting down the computer and returning to the handbook, readers
should click on the icon of the main navigation bar to return to the home
page, and then click open the main Introduction. There are three subsections —
Primary Objectives, General Layout, User Instructions, each of which should be
studied properly, possibly by printing a hard copy. They illustrate the structure
of the disk and demonstrate the full range of electronic tools provided.
Translators might not study their Bible every day, but should get into the
habit of gradually or periodically working through the disk, page by page, in
consecutive order as if it were truly a book. It makes translation under pressure
User Guide xxxiii
so much easier. This handbook provides a more leisurely introduction to the main
features of the e-book, to general problems encountered in technical translation
and to slightly advanced usage of the disk from a linguistic viewpoint.
Note
Though possibly itself a useful contribution to the world library of technical
translation literature, this handbook serves a primary purpose: the description
of the e-book on the CD-Rom that accompanies it. To avoid confusion, the
reader should bear in mind at all times when hastily re-examining individual passages that, unless otherwise specified, the terms book, disk, chapter,
section, subsection refer only to the e-book. Cross-referencing within the
handbook itself is minimal but, where necessary, takes place via the terms:
handbook, handbook unit, unit, handbook section. Likewise the terms illustrations and figures refer to different sections of the e-book, the expression diagram being used only in reference to their content.
Appendix: Symbols and Abbreviations
Navigation Symbols
Homepage
Field Codes
Thesaurus Descriptors
Other Symbols
Unit Symbols
green
Chapter Sections 1–8
brown
Chapter Sections 9–16
blue
Figures, Illustrations, Dictionary Homepages
purple
Individual Dictionary Pages
red
Navigation Hints, American Terms
xxxiv User Guide
Dictionary Symbols
Table 1.Field Codes
ACU
AERO
ASTR
ATOM
AUTO
BATT
BIKE
BRAK
CHEM
CLOK
CONS
DPS
EENT
ELEC
ELNC
ELSC
EMAT
ENGN
FLUD
FRIG
FUEL
GAS
GEN
GEOM
GRAF
HOUS
HYD
IGN
LAB
LAMP
MACH
MAGN
MATH
MATS
MEAS
MECH
MET
METR
NAUT
NUCL
OFF
Acoustics
Aeronautical Engineering
Astronomy, Cosmology
Atomic & Molecular Physics
Automobile Technology
Batteries, Battery Cells
Bicycles
Automobile Braking Systems
Chemistry, Chemical Engineering
Clocks & Watches
Construction Engineering
Data Processing Systems
Electronic Entertainment
Electricity, Electrical Engineering
Electronics
Electrostatics
Engineering Materials
Engines
Fluid Mechanics/Fluid Dynamics
Refrigerators & Freezers
Automobile Fuel Systems
Gases & Vapours
General Language
Geometry
Graphs & Charts
Household Applications
Hydraulic Engineering
Automobile Ignition Systems
Laboratory Apparatus
Lamps & Fittings
Machine Technology
Magnetism
Mathematics
Materials Science
Precision Measurement
Mechanics, Mechanical Engineering
Meters & Gauges
Meteorology
Nautical Engineering, Shipbuilding
Nucleonics, Nuclear Engineering
Office Equipment
User Guide xxxv
OPT
OSCN
PHOT
PHYS
POW
RADN
RAIL
REM
ROCK
RUNN
SDEV
SEMI
STEA
SUBJ
SUBS
TELE
TOOL
TRAN
TV
WAST
WAVE
Optics
Oscillations & Vibrations
Photography, Camera Systems
Physics
Power Systems
Radiation, Radioactivity
Railway/Railroad Engineering
Remote Control Systems
Rocket & Missile Technology
Automobile Running Gear
Semiconductor Components/Devices
Semiconductor Design Technology
Steam Engines
Subject Field, Academic Discipline
Substances, Materials
Telecommunications
Tools, Implements
Transformers
Televisions, Monitors
Chemical/Radiochemical Waste Disposal
Waves, Wave Propagation
xxxvi User Guide
Table 2.Thesaurus Descriptors
Symbol
Implication
Example
a:
associated with
anode (ELEC),
a: battery cell.
ct:
contrasted with…
atomic number (CHEM),
ct: mass number, valency.
cv:
covers the concept(s)
electromagnetic wave (PHYS),
cv: radio wave, light wave.
co:
consist(s) of
electron cloud (MATS),
co: freely mobile electrons.
d:
defined as/designates
disintegration (NUCL),
d: rapid nuclear decay.
ex:
typical example…
electrical quantity (PHYS),
ex: current, voltage.
m:
measurable parameter of
electrode gap (AUTO),
m: spark plug.
p:
part of…
element (ELEC),
p: heater, cooker, kettle.
s:
synonym/abbreviation
HT-lead (AUTO),
s: ignition lead.
t:
a type of …
magnistor (ELNC),
t: magnetic sensor.
tu:
typical unit …
pressure (PHYS),
tu: bar, millibar, pascal.
u:
used in connection with
protractor (MATH),
u: angle measurement.
cs:
ps:
nps:
contextual synonym/near synonym
preferred term/preferred synonym
non-preferred term
User Guidexxxvii
Table 3.Other Abbreviations
sg
pl
CN
PN
NCN
CN/NCN
Br.
Am.
Br./Am.
obs.
lmn.
Singular Noun: physics, statics, wave mechanics
Plural Noun: electrics, nuclear binding forces
Countable Noun: gearbox, gradient, integral
Pair Noun: callipers, dividers, pliers, shears
Non-Countable Noun: ammonia, chromework, wiring
Dual Noun: charge, current, energy, power
British: alternator (AUTO), truck (RAIL)
American: AC generator (AUTO) , wagon (RAIL)
Both Variants: disk (DPS), generator (AUTO)
Obsolete Expression: atomic weight, condenser
Layman Expression: breadboard, engine revs
Table 4.Unit Symbols
amp
milliamp
microamp
A
mA
µA
ohm
kilohm
megohm
Ω
kΩ
MΩ
volt
millivolt
microvolt
kilovolt
megavolt
V
mV
µV
kV
MV
micron
angstrom
µ
Å
coulomb
electron-volt
C
eV
watt
milliwatt
megawatt
W
mW
MW
N
newton
newton-metre Nm
J
joule
farad
microfarad
F
µF
henry
weber
H
Wb
Unit 1
Access Facilities
At this point readers divide naturally into two broad classes: those impatient to click open sections of the electronic dictionaries to see what
terminological information the book supplies, and those preferring a
more systematic approach aimed at acquiring an overall long-term
improvement in their translation proficiency by virtue of the conceptual
information provided. This unit is for the dictionary enthusiasts. It
serves as an initial guide to the cross-referencing and organisational
facilities of the disk, discussing collective features of the microglossaries
following the early engineering chapters and the various large
dictionaries. Discussion of dictionary search strategies and other ancillary
work involved in technical translation continues at various points later
in the handbook, employing examples from the engineering chapters
discussed up to that point.
1.1
Technical Polyseme Dictionary
The Technical Polyseme Dictionary (TPD) is a structured bilingual glossary
designed to reveal the polysemous nature of German technical terminology.
Entries are arranged alphabetically in order of root terms, followed by their
respective compounds. The objective is to make the following attributes of
technical terminology explicit:
polysemy
homonymy
hyponymy
Netz (network, grid, graticule, reticle)
Lack (paint, lacquer, varnish, photoresist)
Bahn (lane, trajectory, webbing)
Scheibe (pulley, washer, window pane)
Kraft (force), Antriebskraft (propulsion),
Auftriebskraft (buoyancy), Gewichtskraft (weight)
Säge (saw), Ansatzsäge (tenon saw),
Laubsäge (fretsaw), Stichsäge (compass saw)
2
Access facilities
Other attributes appear distinctly too:
contextual synonymy
antonymy/contrast
Methan-/Ameisensäure (formic acid)
Photodissoziation/Photolyse (photolysis)
Plus-/Minuspol (positive/negative terminal)
Eigen-/Störstellenleitfähigkeit (intrinsic/extrinsic
conductivity)
Polysemy presents the main difficulty in translation assignments, and is the
feature most obvious in this dictionary, by virtue of the different L2 equivalents.
Hence, the name: Polyseme Dictionary.
1.2
Technical Thesaurus
Each engineering chapter is followed by one or more microglossaries or
microthesauri summarising the terminology of the chapter. The large Technical
Thesaurus (TT) supplements the smaller thesauri and introduces other
engineering conceptions not necessarily based on Volume 1.
For instance, the expression carriage has the engineering interpretations:
i. part of a typewriter or printer
ii. part of a lathe
iii. part of a railway train
Concepts of this type are distinguished in the Thesaurus by field codes, dps,
mech, rail and other specific information. In order to save space, however, and
concentrate the reader’s attention on the engineering associations, as well as
other entry links in the thesaurus, printer, lathe, railway, frequently employed
phrases of the type “part of” are replaced by symbols such as p.
The dictionary user rapidly learns new symbols by heart (e.g. t: “a type of”),
and is able to apply them to less familiar concepts in the Thesaurus:
auger
autoclave
NTC resistor
t: hand tool for boring holes.
t: purification apparatus using superheated steam.
t: device whose resistance decreases with temperature.
The symbols themselves are listed in Table 2 of the Dictionary Symbols.
1.3Technical Collocation Dictionary
1.3
Technical Collocation Dictionary
There are verbs whose significance is restricted to a single engineering interpretation, such as leerlaufen (to idle), a term whose meaning is associated only with
automobile engines. But most verbs encountered by technical translators
reappear in a variety of a different contexts. These too have precise interpretations and require a specific translation from a range of possibilities:
ausdehnen
lösen
verstärken
extend, expand
solve, resolve, dissolve
amplify, magnify, strengthen
Adverbs can also be troublesome, so can adjectives, prepositions, and even
certain general nouns when their meaning is narrowed by a specific engineering
context.
Whereas the other dictionaries highlight technical polysemes, the Technical
Collocation Dictionary (TCD) draws attention to the polysemous nature of
general vocabulary in technical contexts. Entries provide examples for resolving
translation problems in specific contextual environments.
1.4
Noun Classes
Non-native English speakers beginning to learn the skills of general translation
into the foreign language tend to produce statements like:
*“The scissors is broken.”
*“The police has arrived.”
*“The goods is outside in the van.”
*“The data requested were faxed yesterday.”
*“The informations are in this book.”
all of which contain serious errors. They illustrate rare cases where grammatical
considerations outweigh semantic ones; the sentences should read:
“The scissors are broken.”
– implying one pair of scissors
“The police have arrived.”
– a single helpless policewoman
“The goods are outside in the van.”
– one box containing a camera
“The data requested was faxed yesterday.”
– the data figures requested
“The information is in this book.”
– the information details requested
3
4
Access facilities
German has der/die/das to make life difficult for non-native speakers, but
English too has several important noun classes which can only be mastered by
obtaining familiarity with the language and studying the grammar. Indeed, the
above examples themselves illustrate a variety of noun classes described by
grammarians by labels such as: singular/plural, countable/non-countable, collective
and occasional alternative designations such as uncountable noun, mass noun.
Some words commonly regarded as non-countable nouns, like energy,
impedance, mobility, often switch categories in an engineering context and
behave as countable nouns:
A single accelerated particle acquires an energy of 30 eV.
The speakers have different impedances.
Electron mobilities vary according to the material structure.
Expressions like work (Ge. 1. Arbeit; 2. Werkstück(e)) do not:
Some work is done on the gas, possibly as much as 28 kJ.
The work done by the engine per revolution amounts to 500 J.
Certain work is treated for rust protection even before machining.
The dictionaries indicate this aspect of technical language. Nouns which are
always singular or always plural are followed by the symbols sg/pl respectively.
They are also differentiated as follows:
CN
NCN
PN
Countable Noun: carburettor, network, reaction, winding
Non-Countable Noun: bonding, chromework, damp, flux
Pair Noun: callipers, pliers, dividers, shears, tongs
The symbols are used in all dictionaries and thesauri throughout the book, so
that the non-native English speaker realises immediately that expressions like
*chromeworks, *paintworks, *bondings do not exist in standard technical English
whereas networks is perfectly acceptable. Their inclusion also helps the dictionary user to separate extended meanings of similar terms, a feature especially
useful in analysing fundamental technical expressions, such as charge, inductance, resistance, tension, which function as NCN’s when referring to an engineering property and CN’s when denoting a measurable parameter.
1.5
Microglossaries, Thesauri
Diagrams, such as the Periodic Table of Elements or the Electromagnetic
Spectrum appear at the ends of the chapters concerned. They are followed by
1.5Microglossaries, Thesauri
alphabetic or hierarchic lists of terminology, in both English and German, or by
thesaurus arrangements illustrating terminological relationships. Various
sorting configurations are employed.
Consider, for example, the following arrangement:
1
11
12
13
radiation
thermal radiation
electromagnetic radiation
nuclear radiation
Strahlung
Wärmestrahlung
elektromagnetische Strahlung
Kernstrahlung
Even though the reader may not be familiar with the concepts at this stage, it is
evident at a glance that the concept radiation is divisible into three broad
categories: thermal, electromagnetic and nuclear radiation. A slight addition at
the appropriate point in the arrangement:
121
122
microwave radiation
optical radiation
Mikrowellenstrahlung
Lichtstrahlung
reveals the next level of subdivision: electromagnetic radiation relates to either
the microwave or optical part of the spectrum; optical radiation is itself divisible
into infra-red, visible and ultra-violet radiation. A simple alphabetic glossary of
radiation terms would occupy the same amount of page space, but not reveal
conceptual interrelationships. Where convenient, therefore, the book employs
hierarchic arrangements.
Taking two further examples, this time without the German:
1
11m
12m
13m
14m
travelling wave
amplitude
wavelength
propagation velocity
frequency
1
11p
111p
12p
121p
122p
atom
set of electron shells
electron(s)
nucleus
proton(s)
neutron(s)
In the first example, amplitude, wavelength, etc. are not hyponyms of travelling
wave but measurable parameters (m) describing the wave. Similarly, an atom can
be considered to consist of the following constituent parts (p): a set of electron
shells and a nucleus, themselves containing one or more of the constituents
electron, proton, neutron.
A slightly different method of illustrating similar information is the
thesaurus approach. Information relating to associated concepts appears in
concise form alongside entries:
5
6
Access facilities
amplitude
nucleus
proton
visible radiation
m: travelling wave
p: atom
p: nucleus
t: optical radiation
Most chapters are concluded by detailed microthesauri similar to the above. In
addition, some contain glossaries of hierarchically interrelated terminology.
1.6
Classification Systems
The hierarchic approach is merely an alternative application of the common
family tree structure used by genealogists to reveal lineages of ancestral heritage.
These methods are also employed by biologists to indicate taxonomic relationships among plants, creatures and organisms, by library workers classifying and
arranging books, and above all by information scientists and software writers
dealing with data-management schemes requiring fast retrieval and compact
storage.
Some linguists would no doubt prefer the usual tree diagrams employed by
semanticists to illustrate what they call “lexical” or “semantic fields”: the set of
concepts denoted by a given superordinate lexeme (dog: bulldog, poodle, terrier,
…) or the set of attributes (e.g. dog: paw, tail, faithful, smelly), where set
elements are further divisible into subsets. But for engineering applications, and
especially for the more sophisticated conceptual hierarchies appearing in the
later chapters, the enormous space requirements together with the increased
complexity and amount of repetition required rule out tree diagrams themselves. The standard method of indicating hierarchical classifications:
1.2.2.2.3.g omega particle
is also avoided, in the book, in favour of:
12223g
omega particle
in order to provide room for near synonyms and lengthy German equivalents
on the same line, since many readers will presumably wish to print out individual arrangements and study them at their leisure.
It is helpful for readers if they aquaint themselves with hierarchic organisation at an early stage. The same system of notation is employed later in the
book in connection with more advanced semantic discussion relating to the
1.7Main Index, German Index
structural organisation of the dictionaries, as well as for illustrating different
knowledge structures in different parts of the English and German-speaking
worlds. Numerals indicate which pair of terms is related; four symbols (a, g, m, p)
reveal the kind of relationship — associative, generic, metric, partitive, and
correspond to the definitions: “associated with”, “type of”, “measurable
parameter of”, “part of”.
1.7
Main Index, German Index
The Main Index (MI) specifies locations of English terms within the engineering chapters, rather like the index of a normal specialised book. It has entries
like:
tension
1.4.4 2.4 8.1 13.1
which reveals that the term concerned appears in Chapter 1 (Subsection 1.4.4),
Chapters 2, 8 and 13. The index itself has many other functions, providing
access to terminology in the lexicography units, the collocation dictionary (TCD),
as well as in various term lists, microglossaries and thesauri. The latter generally
provide possible German equivalents together with structured definitions.
Where TCD collocations exist, they lead the translator indirectly to German
equivalents in context.
The German Index (GI) provides direct access to TCD collocations of
German terminology too. But its main purpose is to direct the reader to
microglossaries and thesauri containing this terminology, and to other specific
sections of engineering chapters where it occurs. As the German Index contains
fewer entries than its counterpart, some entries reveal a certain extravagance.
For example:
Dehnung: Figure 13 Figure 13 Figure 13 Figure 13
This type of entry is not a misprint. It means that the term concerned appears
at least four times in the same microglossary. If the glossary is a thesaurus the
reader may find four separate definitions or descriptions of the different
concepts involved (e.g. elongation, extension, strain, tensile strain).
Thus, like the other dictionaries, both the MI and the GI illustrate the
polysemy of technical language. This is a fortunate by-product of their structural
organisation but a benefit translators should not overlook.
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8
Access facilities
1.8
Alphabetic Dictionaries
Systematic translators consult more than one dictionary and, when searching for
L2 equivalents, they attempt to specify the exact concept implied by using
whatever reference sources are available. Regrettably, another species of
translator appeared at the turn of the millennium, one who clicks L2 terms into
translations from a trusted electronic dictionary almost without bothering to
read them, the non-thinking translator. Ironically, both are well-served by the
two alphabetic dictionaries of Volume 3, German-English (GE) and EnglishGerman (EG).
The dictionaries are intended for the more systematic translator and are
merely logical extensions of the first two volumes providing direct reference to
terminology in the TPD, the TT, the various microglossaries, microthesauri,
bilingual diagrams and illustrations. Entries are specified by their field and more
precisely by their source (TPD, Figure 2A, etc.) in separate columns of the
dictionary table. Like the indexes (MI, GI), the alphabetic dictionaries (GE, EG)
provide indirect indications of terms which are polysemous. It is up to the user
to follow the leads provided.
Unit 2
Basic Mechanics
Chapter 1 of the disk divides into sections according to the following
scheme:
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
Statics, Kinematics, Dynamics
Physical Quantities
1.2.1 Basic/Derived Quantities
1.2.2 Mass, Weight
1.2.3 Energy, Power, Work
1.2.4 Coulomb, Kelvin, Candela, Mol
1.2.5 Unit Conventions
1.2.6 Orthographic Conventions
Scalar/Vector Quantities
1.3.1 Magnitude, Direction
Mechanical Quantities
1.4.1 Speed, Velocity, Acceleration
1.4.2 Power, Performance, E~ciency
1.4.3 Impulse, Momentum
1.4.4 Stress, Strain, Tension
1.4.5 Moment, Torque, Torsion
Units, Symbols
Grammar
Figure 1: Mechanical Quantities
The chapter begins by introducing some fundamental scientific terminology from the field of Physics, and from an important subfield: Mechanics.
2.1
Physics, Mechanics
The study of Physics constitutes an important part of the basic education of all
scientists and technologists, and the terminology of this discipline appears
10
Basic mechanics
throughout Engineering. It contains many branches. Whereas terms relating to
Optics or Acoustics, for instance, are needed only by specific translators
working on material involving cameras, loudspeakers or musical instruments,
the terminologies of two major physics branches, Mechanics and Electricity, are
fundamental to virtually all technology, and underlie Mechanical Engineering,
Electrical Engineering, Semiconductor Electronics, Aeronautics, Automotive
Technology and many other industrial areas. Chapter 1 focusses on Mechanics,
one of the oldest technical disciplines of all, which dates back to Aristotle’s law
of levers and his deductions of buoyancy, and now provides technology with the
means to explore the beds of the oceans and send people to the moon. The
second chapter concentrates on Electricity.
2.2
Multiple Meaning, False Friends
Because physics terms are used in so many different engineering areas, they
have adapted over the course of time to these areas. Polysemous terms which
cause confusion among technologists are eventually modified, but the changes
implemented are by no means symmetrical from one language to another.
Scientists living a century ago were no doubt content with translators who
rendered elektrische Spannung as electrical tension. Modern technologists,
however, faced with the obsolete terminology of their great grandfathers,
rapidly become frustrated and irritated on reading a text which obliges them to
make the repeated mental substitution voltage. Moreover, renderings like
*electrical voltage, *mechanical tension as translations of elektrische/mechanische
Spannung can leave a similar bad impression on the translation customer. He
knows of no other kind of voltage, no other form of tension springs to mind, and
the result may be chaos anyway if the translator is unaware of the significance
of the second technical meaning of mechanische Spannung, namely stress.
There are many everyday terms which have a precise significance in
elementary physics but are not included or given misleading translations in
dictionaries. A conscientious translator given a complex technical text to
translate may render the obscure terms correctly, yet his translation may be
totally misleading because he does not realise that an apparently simple word
like Spannung implies both tension and stress within the same short text. The
alternatives denote very different concepts. And there are “false friends” too.
The German expression Impuls is not translated by impulse, but by pulse in
Electronics and momentum in Mechanical Engineering. The chapter investigates
2.3Parameter Definition
other German expressions, which have a variety of interpretations with different
English equivalents, terms like Drehmoment, Geschwindigkeit, Leistung, together
with common expressions whose meanings are often narrowed within science
and technology by concise mathematical definitions: Arbeit, Dehnung, Energie,
Wirkungsgrad (E. work, strain, energy, efficiency).
2.3
Parameter Definition
The opening sections of the chapter illustrate certain universal conventions
employed by scientists and engineers in the definition of technical parameters,
viewed from the aspect of their basic conceptual and mathematical properties.
The expression parameter is actually an engineering concept referring to a
subset of what scientists call physical quantities (Ge. physikalische Größe). The
chapter concentrates on mechanical quantities, those central to the Physics
branch Mechanics and to Mechanical Engineering, but introduces basic
quantities relating to other branches as well (e.g. charge, temperature, luminous
intensity) for the purposes of comparison. Translators equipped with the underlying principles of parameter definition can employ this knowledge to distinguish
different concepts which happen to correspond to the same German expression,
and to select the appropriate L2 equivalent in cases where units or other physical
properties provide the only clue. For example: tension, stress (Ge. Spannung);
speed, velocity (Ge. Geschwindigkeit); power, performance (Ge. Leistung). The
bilingual (English-German) microglossary denoted by Figure 1, at the end of
the chapter, summarises these clues for all terminology discussed up to that
point. Figure 2A provides a similar service distinguishing the electrical quantities
of Chapter 2, such as voltage/potential, resistance/resistivity, reactance/impedance.
2.4
Parameter Differentiation
Many technical translators are baffled by the enormous variety of parameters
occuring in engineering texts. These are often crucial to the meaning of the
target text and hence to the customer’s understanding. The chapter offers
guidelines which, though not applicable in every case, will nevertheless help
translators reach speedy decisions regarding accurate L2 terminology.
For instance, suppose that a translator is unsure how to translate the
expression Bremskraft in a text dealing with the testing of a new automobile
11
12
Basic mechanics
engine. Dictionaries reveal three alternatives: braking force, braking performance,
braking power. The translator looks closely at the source text and observes that
the parameter concerned is measured in kW. After reading Chapter 1, he is
aware that force is normally measured in newtons, power in watts, and that
performance is not a well-defined engineering parameter at all. He selects
braking power, which is likely to be the correct substitution.
The fact that no correlation exists between the units newton and kilowatt,
and hence that there is a large difference between braking force and braking
power may be obvious, even to the most humble laboratory assistant or automobile mechanic, but is a vital clue sadly missed by many translators. To rectify
this problem, the chapter takes a close look at how parameters are defined in
general, and how they can be differentiated. Distinctions are drawn between
scalar and vector parameters, such as speed versus velocity. And the chapter
relates any parameters sharing the same units to their common root concept —
thus tension, traction, thrust designate different types of force.
2.5
Concept Determination
Even at this early stage many readers will feel overwhelmed by the complexity
of technical language. But there is worse to come. It may take weeks to study the
opening chapters properly, but the reader then has a valuable asset for the rest
of the book and has made an indispensible long-term investment in a future
career in translation. Chapter 1 illustrates the first examples of polysemy,
drawing careful distinctions between the technical terms, such as stress, strain,
tension or moment, torque, torsion. It examines fundamental conceptions like
mass/weight, speed/velocity, impulse/momentum, which provides a sound basis
for the differentiation of more complex engineering concepts elsewhere on the
disk, for instance atomic mass/atomic weight, orbital speed/orbital velocity.
It is assumed from the outset that the reader has no real grasp of Mathematics. Hence, in order to provide a basis for differentiation among terminology,
certain conceptual tools employed by scientists and engineers in everyday
situations are also described in passing: basic/derived quantities, scalar/vector
quantities, magnitude/direction. This enables the chapter to indicate how
divisions occur naturally within Mechanics itself, areas such as Statics, Dynamics, Kinematics, and how these divisions lead on to the major engineering
branches discussed in subsequent chapters: Machine Technology, Construction
Engineering, Transport Engineering and of course Mechanical Engineering itself.
2.6Units, Symbols, Orthography
The reader soon realises that the immense variety of units employed in
industrial technology (i.e. joule, farad, millirem, megavolt, gallon, decibel, etc.)
virtually all derive from a tiny set of just five basic units, kilogram, meter, second,
coulomb, kelvin, characterising the conceptions: mass, distance, time, electricity,
temperature. The first three lead to other fundamental conceptions, force,
velocity, energy, power, work, whose quantisation is independent of the context
of the conception and applies equally to areas unconnected with the mechanical
sciences, for instance magnetic energy, electrostatic force, luminous power. By a
fortunate coincidence, these simplifications gradually thrust upon scientists and
engineers over the years, in reaction to the complexities of their subject areas,
provide useful guidelines for translators. Instead of merely guessing which of a
range of dictionary alternatives is appropriate in a practical translation situation:
Gewichtskraft
Geschwindigkeit
Impuls
Leistung
weight, gravity, force of gravity
speed, velocity, rate
impulse, momentum, pulse
power, performance, output, capacity, efficiency
linguists familiar with the chapter acquire a feeling for these conceptions and
make sensible intuitive translational substitutions from semantic clues provided
by the conceptions themselves.
2.6
Units, Symbols, Orthography
Although different systems of units are used in different parts of the world,
technologists are usually fully conversant with the various differences between
British and American units (gallon, pound, etc.) and can easily convert units
from one system to another. To avoid confusion, the chapter advises the reader
not to change units in translated texts. The same applies to algebraic symbols,
for instance voltage in English texts usually has the symbol V as opposed to U in
German. The translator may wish to add a footnote, but the symbols themselves
represent only a mathematical abstraction and should not be altered.
Some linguists would disagree with this advice and insist that the target text
be fully adapted to the customer’s vernacular working environment. But, in
contrast to their engineer customers, technical translators rarely have a head for
figures. Nor is their command of mathematics generally of a level where symbol
substitutions can be carried out automatically. A miscalculation involving units
can mislead and irritate the customer, just as much as a poor translation.
13
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Basic mechanics
Failure to realise that a changed symbol (V) occurs in the source text with a
different significance (e.g. Geschwindigkeit) could make nonsense of equations
and cause complete confusion. In specific areas, such as Automobile Advertising, it may be helpful to change for instance fuel consumption in litre/100km into
mpg (miles per gallon). But care is necessary. Otherwise the translator might
unwittingly describe a speedboat with the fuel consumption of a chain saw.
The more specialised a unit becomes, for instance becquerel, candela, weber,
the more likely it is that technologists will employ the singular form, especially
in the spoken language. It is also the case when the individual concerned is
subconsciously thinking of the unit symbol as opposed to the unit itself. This
contrasts with the situation in general English which always quotes units in the
plural: “a man six feet tall”, “a tank with a capacity of 50 litres”, “two light bulbs
providing 100 watts”. German is consistent but always quotes units in the
singular: “drei Pfund”, “fünfzig Ampere”.
There are no hard and fast rules for Technical English as to which type of
substitution is preferable. Translators must adopt a common sense approach.
This is a minor problem but the chapter nevertheless provides guidelines to
eliminate it.
2.7
Grammatical Distinction
Having discussed at length a variety of important conceptions fundamental to
all branches of science and engineering, the chapter closes on a lighter note and
approaches an area which many translators barely consider: that slight discrepancies occur in technical language in connection with grammar.
Consider the following general statements:
1. The vehicle loses speed on a sharp incline.
2. The vehicle is moving at a speed of almost 70 mph.
In the first example, the term speed is used as a non-countable noun (NCN).
Substitutions like some speed, a lot of speed, part of its speed are perfectly
acceptable but *“the vehicles lose speeds” is not a sensible, well-formed English
statement. Example 2 illustrates speed as a countable noun (CN). Here the
substitution possibilities are completely reversed.
Similar considerations apply to technical terminology. For instance, the
expression mass:
2.7Grammatical Distinction
3. In contrast to photons, electrons have mass. (NCN)
4. The electron has a mass of 0.9 × 10−30 kg. (CN)
Some of the terminology introduced in the chapter has a similar dual function.
The NCN denotes a technical property of the specified object, and the CN a
parameter specifying this property:
Electrons have mass. (NCN)
The particles acquire energy. (NCN)
The wire has resistance. (NCN)
… a mass of 0.0005 a.m.u. (CN)
… kinetic energies of 5eV. (CN)
… a resistance of 0.1 ohm. (CN)
Nevertheless, it is not advisable for the reader to seek sweeping generalisations.
Similar statements can refer to the same conception:
The mass of the comet is rapidly decreasing. (CN)
The comet is rapidly losing mass. (NCN)
or have very different connotations:
Opposite charge attracts. (NCN)
Opposite charges attract. (CN)
The NCN charge denotes an amount of electrostatic charge present for instance
on a cloth, metal rod, etc. The CN charges refers to discrete quanta of electric
charge carried by atomic and other elementary particles (Chap. 3), a term used
figuratively, as if “particles of charge” existed as separate, concrete entities.
It is recommendable for the reader to examine verbs that co-occur with
NCN alternatives. Statements like:
*“electrons have charge”
*“the strut has tension”
*“the object has velocity”
do not make sense. Other substitutions are necessary or intelligent paraphrasing
is required:
Electrons carry charge./… are charged particles.
The strut is under tension./… is subjected to tension.
The object is moving (at a particular velocity).
In isolated cases, attention to semantic aspects may also be necessary:
The filament generates heat. (NCN)
The liquid has absorbed a heat of 50 joules during this time. (CN)
The heating element provides a continuous heat of 2 kW. (CN)
15
16
Basic mechanics
The concept heat (NCN) is specified by two parameters denoted by two
different CN’s heat: one relating to energy and employing the unit joule, the
other concerning power measured in the SI unit watt. The examples illustrate
the typical laboratory report jargon of engineers and physicists analysing heat
transfer or heat flow in a specific engineering system. Substitution of alternative
expressions employing just the NCN heat, such as 2kW of heat, 50J of heat,
enables the semantic problem to be sidestepped but leads to excessive repetition
in translations.
Physical quantities can be divided into four groups according to the
grammatical behaviour of the terminology concerned. Some terms are used
only as CN’s, for instance angle, area, height. Some, such as inertia, gravity, work
are always NCN’s. Thus statements like: *“a gravity of 50t”, *“a work of 50kJ”
are completely impossible and must be paraphrased:
a force of 50t due to gravity
50kJ of work
Terms like momentum, pressure, stress, tension, thrust appear throughout
Engineering as both CN’s and NCN’s, with closely related meanings comparable to those quoted above for mass, charge, heat. Other CN/NCN terms, such as:
light NCN (optical energy)
light CN (a lamp, torch, etc.)
Ge. Licht, Lichtenergie
Ge. Lampe
sound NCN (acoustic energy)
sound CN (a sound, note, etc.)
Ge. Schall, Schallenergie
Ge. Ton, Geräusch, Laut
have different interpretations and different German equivalents.
The purpose of the chapters is to describe engineering concepts themselves,
as simply as possible and without too much sidetracking. Grammatical guidelines for technical translators are therefore restricted to the lexicography units.
Specific information is also available in Volume 2, where the Polyseme Dictionary (TPD) and Thesaurus make clear distinctions between CN’s and NCN’s,
and the Collocation Dictionary (TCD) illustrates and contrasts different usages
of fundamental engineering terminology.
By now the reader will have realised that there is another reason for
referring to the sections of this handbook as units rather than chapters. They are
in no way complete, but merely provide a means of light relaxation for the long
dark evenings when the computer is off and the disk is safely tucked away.
Before moving on to the next unit, load the disk again, examine Chapter 1 in
greater depth and then click open some of the sections of Chapter 2.
Unit 3
Basic Electricity
Chapter 1 of the disk enables readers to understand what is meant by
the engineering conception parameter. It introduces a small set of concepts which recur throughout the entire spectrum of Engineering, such
as energy, power, work, velocity, acceleration, momentum, and fundamental
units from which all other units throughout science and technology are
derived: candela, coulomb, kelvin, newton, joule, watt, etc. The chapter is
entitled Basic Mechanics, although it also includes Basic Physics, areas
like Optics, Acoustics, Heat Flow, which have less to do with Mechanical
Engineering itself. Nevertheless, one important group of fundamental
engineering parameters is virtually absent, the electrical parameters.
Chapter 2 completes the picture, introducing the reader to the electrical sciences and the domain of Electrical Engineering. The structure is
as follows:
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
Current, Voltage, Charge
2.1.1 Voltage, Potential, Emf
2.1.2 Bias, Tension
2.1.3 Charge, Load
Resistivity, Resistance, Resistor
2.2.1 Variable Resistor, Potentiometer, Rheostat
Direct/Alternating Current (AC/DC)
2.3.1 AC Source, DC Supply
2.3.2 Terminology Conventions
Reactive Devices
2.4.1 Capacitor, Capacitance, Capacity
2.4.2 Inductor, Inductance
2.4.3 Transformer, Choke, Coil, Winding
Power, Wattage, Rating
2.5.1 Peak/RMS Amplitude
2.5.2 Real/Reactive Power
18
Basic electricity
2.6
2.7
2.8
2.9
Resistance, Reactance, Impedance
2.6.1 Transient Behaviour
2.6.2 Phase Lag, Phase Lead
2.6.3 Volt-Amperage, Reactive Volt-Amperage
2.6.4 Devices, Parameters
Scalar/Phasor Quantities
Transmission Cables
Terminological Relationships
Figure 2A:
Figure 2B:
Figure 2C:
Figure 2D:
Figure 2E:
Electrical Quantities
Alternating Voltage/Current
Resistor, Capacitor, Inductor, Transformer
Impedance
Circuit Component/Module
Some section headings may plunge readers who had di~culty with
Chapter 1 into a state of panic, but remember that the book can be read
on di¬erent levels. Translators specialising in Semiconductor Technology or Electronics need to be familiar only with basic distinctions, for
instance capacity/capacitance, resistivity/resistance, inductance/inductor and
the di¬erent interpretations of the highly polysemous German expression Widerstand (i.e. resistance, reactance, impedance). Those dealing with
other electrical fields, motors, generators, power transmission, etc., need to
be conversant with all of the chapter, but after clicking open and perusing the sections, readers can study them in detail at a later stage.
3.1
Subject History
The scientific study of electricity began in the early nineteenth century, largely
in response to Volta’s experiments with electric cells, but also inspired by a
general growing awareness among physicists of the fundamental associations of
electricity with magnetism and with what is now known as static charge. Michael
Faraday and other great pioneers soon showed that the three new, rapidly
emerging, scientific fields of Electrochemistry, Electromagnetism and Electrostatics did not involve three kinds of electricity (chemical, magnetic and static) but
only one. When Faraday’s demonstrations of the relationships between electricity and magnetism had acquired general recognition throughout the scientific
world, and his analysis of the features and properties of electromagnetism
became widely acknowledged, brilliant mathematicians such as Maxwell began
3.3Entity, Property, Parameter
their quest for concise, elegant vector equations to link the basic conceptions of
electricity with the behaviour of electromagnetic waves. By the end of the
century, Edison’s invention of the electric light bulb had provided incentives for
the construction of power generators and power distribution networks, Marconi
was about to demonstrate the applications of radio waves to the field of “wireless transmission”, and the way was clear for other far-sighted engineers with a
keen eye on consumer markets to investigate the many practical advantages of
electricity which eventually brought a vast range of household appliances, from
hair dryers to satellite receivers, into the modern domestic environment.
Despite the long history of this field, certain basic concepts, such as the
differences between current and voltage, conductance and conductivity, charge
and load, are poorly understood by many translators. These fundamental
electrical conceptions underlie numerous branches of technology and reappear
throughout the book. They are the main topic of the chapter and reappear in
the bilingual microglossary headed Figure 2A.
3.2
Voltage, Potential, Emf, Bias, Tension
Chapter 1 of the disk (Basic Mechanics) introduces the German polyseme
Spannung, which is translated by either stress or tension according to the
mechanical context. When the term refers to a parameter, the choice is easily
resolved by close attention to the units employed (Figure 1). The same polyseme
occurs in electrical contexts (i.e. elektrische Spannung), for which many conventional dictionaries simply present a vague list of alternatives: bias, emf, potential,
tension, voltage. Here a different approach is required to differentiate them:
i. Voltage, Potential
The expression potential occurs in Chapter 1 in connection with so-called
potential energy, for instance the energy contained by a compressed spring (Ge.
Sprungfeder). The chapter begins by drawing an analogy between objects rolling
down a hill, losing the potential energy they initially possessed by being at the
top of the hill, and an electrical situation involving current and voltage. A 9-volt
battery creates a potential difference of 9 joule/coulomb (similar to a hill 9
metres high) across any component connected directly to the two terminals.
The term potential appears in this field as a near synonym of voltage but with
important restrictions. The English technical expression potential designates
relative voltage with respect to a specific reference level in the electrical system
19
20
Basic electricity
or circuit, the so-called earth (Am. ground), which may or may not correspond
to the mains earth (Ge. Erdpotential). Thus an electronics engineer who probes
potentials at different points in a complex integrated circuit is conducting an
activity rather like an aviation pilot recording the altitudes of different mountains from an aircraft and registering them with respect to a given level, for
instance sea-level. It is evident from the analogy that the term potential necessarily implies direct voltage (Ge. Gleichspannung) in a direct current system; in
connection with alternating voltages the term is meaningless.
ii. Voltage, Emf
Another near synonym of voltage, used in connection with batteries and
sometimes magnetic devices, is emf (also e.m.f.). The term originally stood for
electro-motive force and implies the voltage generated by a particular chemical or
magnetic arrangement. When a voltage is applied to a coil of wire wound
around an iron core the flow of current is impeded, in the tiny fraction of a
second required to set up the magnetic field, by a reverse voltage due to the
magnetic arrangement itself. This is known as the back emf (Ge. Gegenspannung). A similar effect occurs when the magnetic field collapses. The back
emf can easily reach values as high as 30 kV, for example the voltage produced
by the ignition coil of an automobile, that causes the spark plugs to fire.
A different meaning of emf occurs in the field of Electro-Chemistry, where
a specific arrangement consisting of an electrolyte (normally a certain acid) and
two electrodes of different metals can constitute an electric cell — like the cells of
a battery, each generating an emf of about 1.5 volts. Despite its rather nebulous
definition and apparent double meaning, English-speaking technologists are
reluctant to discard the term emf in favour of simply voltage, possibly because
it provides a convenient stylistical alternative when formulating complex
reports.
iii. Voltage, Bias, Tension
Electronics reports and other documents compiled by English-speaking
engineers contain expressions like: “a bias of 0.72 volts is sufficient to switch the
diode into the conducting mode”; “the circuit requires a bias of at least 30V”.
The term bias is used here merely as a short form of bias voltage. Chapters 6–7
discuss the usage of bias as a contextual synonym of voltage, along with areas of
overlap and contrast concerning the related expression operating voltage. In
German, Betriebsspannung denotes both bias and operating voltage.
There is yet another term for voltage, which dates back to the pioneer days
of electricity and still survives in the layman language of a few isolated areas
3.3Entity, Property, Parameter
outside Electrical and Electronic Engineering. The word is “tension”. One
example is the area Automobile Ignition which employs terms like HT-circuit,
LT-lead, LT-connection (HT/LT = high/low tension). But here too, voltage is the
preferred term and indeed the only possibility in terms like: charging voltage,
spark voltage, battery voltmeter.
3.3
Entity, Property, Parameter
Broadly speaking, the translator may render Spannung as voltage in any electrical context. Translators who are aware of the existence of terms like back emf,
primary emf, battery emf can employ them by all means, but semantic confusion
will not necessarily result if the more obvious alternatives back voltage, primary
voltage, battery voltage are substituted.The terms bias, emf and potential are
pragmatic alternatives in specific cases, but tension is obsolete and should be
avoided at all costs.
The variety of possible substitutions for the German concept elektrische
Spannung does not present a serious problem to translators. The situation is
very different, however, when another closely related polyseme is considered:
Widerstand (Eng. resistor, resistivity, resistance, reactance, reluctance, impedance).
Here the meanings are entirely different, and the result of a translation where
substitutions like these are picked at random is chaos.
i. resistor, resistance, resistivity
The first two alternatives resistor/resistance are easily distinguished. They
conform to a conceptual pattern followed by other devices (e.g. capacitor,
inductor) but to varied extents. The pattern is that of entity, property, parameter.
A resistor is an object (i.e. an entity) which can be picked up and handled.
Resistance (NCN) is a property of this entity, and resistance (CN) is a parameter
characterising the entity. Resistivity (NCN) is a property of the material constituting the entity and resistivity (CN), a parameter characterising the material
property. The pattern is similar for capacitor/capacitance and for inductor/
inductance. However, the device properties capacitance/inductance have no
simple corresponding material property. There is no concept *“capacitivity” or
*“inductivity”, analogous to resistivity, despite the frequent occurrence of the
latter expression in many published dictionaries as a mis-translation of the
German Induktivität (E. inductance).
21
22
Basic electricity
ii. reactance, impedance, reluctance
Reactance is employed only for specific electrical devices, capacitors, inductors,
chokes, whereas resistance is reserved for devices whose behaviour in response to
an alternating voltage obeys the same physical laws as for direct voltage (Ohms
Law, etc.). The term impedance is the parameter employed when a device
exhibits a combination of the properties resistance, reactance. But this is a
radical oversimplification. Chapter 2 sheds more light on the matter. It is
helpful to realise, nonetheless, that unlike resistance, reactance depends not just
on the parameters characterising the electrical device concerned, i.e. capacitance, inductance, it also depends on the frequency of the alternating voltage
bias. These concepts occur repeatedly in the book, and this discussion is
continued on the disk. Reluctance is a concept related to inductance, but from
the field of Electromagnetism rather than Electricity, and is not measured in the
unit ohm. It is dealt with in Chapter 15.
3.4
Noun Countability
Let us consider at this stage an extract from the microglossary Figure 1, reproduced from the book, without the German equivalents:
The glossary enables a number of common translation problems to be
resolved simultaneously. For example:
i.
Two possible substitutions for the German polyseme Spannung, namely
stress, tension are easily differentiated. The two parameters have different
units (i.e. newton.m−2 as opposed to newton).
ii. False friends are easily detected too, such as Impuls (E. momentum),
Kraftstoß (E. impulse), even though the units may be the same.
iii. Closely related but non-synonymous concepts, such as speed, velocity (both
Geschwindigkeit in German), are differentiated by the general parameter
distinction scalar/vector introduced in Chapter 1.
What is interesting to the linguist is that some terms are always NCNs, for
example friction, gravity, work, while others exhibit dual properties (CN/NCN):
energy, mass, momentum, power, pressure.
Figure 2A provides a similar bilingual microglossary for the electrical
parameters of Chapter 2. It too enables polysemes to be differentiated by their
units, and by a similar parameter distinction scalar/phasor analogous to that of
the mechanical quantities, for instance: resistance/resistivity, conductance/
3.4Noun Countability
Figure 1. Extract
Quantity
v/s
SI-Unit
acceleration
angle
angular velocity
area
compression
compressive stress
density
distance
energy CN/NCN
force
friction NCN
gravity NCN
impulse
mass CN/NCN
moment
moment of inertia
momentum CN/NCN
orbital velocity
power CN/NCN
pressure CN/NCN
reaction
rotational speed
speed
strain
stress
tension
tensile stress
thrust
torque
torsional stress
traction NCN
upward thrust
velocity
volume
weight
work NCN
v
s
v
s
v
v
s
s
s
v
v
v
s
s
v
s
v
v
s
s
v
v
s
s
s
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
s
v
s
m.s−2
radian
radian.s−1
m2
newton
newton.m−2
kg.m−3
m
joule
newton
newton
newton
kg.m.s−1
kg
newton.m
newton.m2
kg.m.s−1
radian.s−1
watt
pascal
newton
rev/s,rpm
m.s−1
DL
newton.m−2
newton
newton.m−2
newton
newton.m
newton.m−2
newton
newton
m.s−1
m3
newton
joule
v/s = vector/scalar; m = metre; s = second; DL = dimensionless
The above terms are CN’s unless otherwise specified.
23
24
Basic electricity
conductivity, inductance/inductive reactance. Why then does it not reveal which
terms are NCNs. The answer is that a more subtle differentiation technique is
necessary, revealed later in the book (Lex.4–6).
3.5
Terminological Relationships
Whereas, in Chapter 1, it is possible to use examples involving simple technical
expressions like crane, elevator, bridge, steering wheel which do not detract from
other engineering concepts constituting the main theme (e.g. power, performance, strain, torsion), Chapter 2 requires the reader to visualise concepts like
impedance, inductance, capacitance, resistivity on the basis of examples involving
devices such as the transformer, rheostat or choke, which are not common
everyday objects to non-technical readers. Though there are a variety of useful
circuit illustrations, additional photos and diagrams would be difficult to
accommodate on the disk and would not greatly contribute to a better understanding, since the reader’s main interest as a translator lies in the terminology
itself. The solution offered is to employ a more sophisticated type of glossary
(Figures 2B–D), one which lists these additional basic concepts not alphabetically but in the form of semantically organised hierarchies.
Consider, by way of example, the following list which appears in the
glossary of Figure 2C:
4
41p
411g
412g
414m
42m
transformer
winding
primary winding
secondary winding
number of turns
turns ratio
Transformator
Wicklung; Spule
Primärwicklung
Sekundärwicklung
Windungszahl
Windungsverhältnis
The hierarchic arrangement indicates that the semantic relationship between
winding and transformer is a partitive one (p): a winding is “part of” a transformer. Similarly the relation between primary winding and winding is a generic
one (g): the primary winding is one type of transformer winding; the other type
is secondary winding. The expressions number of turns and turns ratio denote
metric concepts (m), in other words measurable parameters normally involving
units; in this case they happen to be dimensionless quantities. It is intuitively
apparent in the hierarchy that the concept number of turns is equally applicable
to the subordinate generic concepts of winding, i.e. to primary winding as well
as to secondary winding, whereas the expression turns ratio (a parameter relating
3.5Terminological Relationships
to both primary and secondary windings simultaneously) refers only to
transformer itself.
Close examination of the second hierarchy of Figure 2B reveals other
interesting features:
1
11m
111m
12m
121m
122m
1221a
13m
131m
1311a
13111a
alternating voltage
frequency
angular frequency
amplitude
peak value
RMS value
RMS voltage
phase
phase angle
voltage phasor
phasor diagram
2
alternating current
222m RMS current
2311a current phasor
Wechselspannung
Frequenz
Kreisfrequenz
Größe
Scheitelwert
Effektivwert
effektive Spannung
Phase
Phasenwinkel
Spannungszeiger
Zeigerdiagramm
Wechselstrom
effektive Stromstärke
Stromzeiger
For instance, that the concept alternating voltage is characterised by three metric
parameters frequency, amplitude, phase, which are themselves characterised by
other metric concepts, such as angular frequency, RMS value, phase angle. The
hierarchy also reveals that the concept alternating current is closely associated (a)
with alternating voltage, and if the reader were to guess from the presence of RMS
current and current phasor that terms like frequency, angular frequency, peak value,
phasor diagram can also refer to alternating current, the guess would be right.
It has taken a page or more to expand information contained in just a few
lines of a hierarchic glossary, even without mentioning the German. Yet this is
by no means irrelevant. The hierarchies of Figure 2C and 2D provide clear
indications of the polysemous nature of the German terms Widerstand and
Spule, even within this small basic field. They also illustrate why the English
concept resistance requires four or more German equivalents, i.e. ohmscher
Widerstand, Verlustwiderstand, Wirkwiderstand, Gleichstromwiderstand, and why
impedance needs at least two: Wechselstromwiderstand, Scheinwiderstand. Once
these hierarchies are intuitively expanded, properly digested and analysed, the
reader can deduce other discrete packages of fundamental electrical knowledge
directly and avoid many persistent conceptual errors and terminological
inadequacies in future translation assignments.
25
Unit 4
Translational Equivalence
At this point it is useful to briefly revise some of the terminology of the
first two chapters and aquaint the reader with the Technical Thesaurus
and Technical Polyseme Dictionary (TPD) of Volume Two, in order to
establish strategies for the access of terminological and lexicographical
information which are applicable to other fundamental engineering
concepts dealt with in subsequent chapters. This section is very similar
to the disk unit Lexicography 1, and the terminology is accessible on disk
in much the same form. It is reproduced here so that the reader can
compare di¬erent lexicological approaches, and digest them, without
too much mouse clicking.
4.1
One-To-One Equivalence
Terms such as the following from Chapter 1 are unlikely to create problems for
translators:
acceleration
angle
density
energy
inertia
mass
pressure
strain
volume
weight
work
Beschleunigung
Winkel
Dichte
Energie
Trägheit
Masse
Druck
Dehnung
Volumen
Gewicht
Arbeit
For each English term there is one German equivalent, and vice versa. The odd
term might acquire an occasional extended meaning, for instance Winkel is a
28
Translational equivalence
laymen term for a geometrical instrument for drawing specific angles (E.
protractor), but for the majority of translation purposes the translational
equivalences listed above can be regarded as one-to-one in both language
directions. A study of dictionary arrangements is not necessary here and such
terms appear in Volume 2 only for completeness.
4.2
Dual Equivalence
As soon as terms like Geschwindigkeit (speed, velocity) or Spannung (stress,
tension) appear in a text the translator’s problems begin. Two approaches are
adopted in the second volume to help readers faced with such dilemmas.
First, the Polyseme Dictionary lists samples of adjacent compounds at
entries like Geschwindigkeit, Spannung so that the translator realises the terms
are polysemous:
Fluchtgeschwindigkeit
Reisegeschwindigkeit
Schallgeschwindigkeit
escape velocity
cruising speed
speed of sound
Oberflächenspannung
Wärmespannung
Zugspannung
surface tension
thermal stress
tensile stress
Secondly, the Thesaurus provides brief “definitions” of English terms which
help the reader nail down the appropriate concept. For instance:
speed
velocity
t: scalar quantity; tu: ms−1, km/h, mph;
t: vector quantity; d: speed in a given direction;
stress
tension
d: force acting per unit area; tu: newton.m−2;
t: force; tu: newton;
where the thesaurus descriptors t, d, tu require substitution of the sequences a
type of, designates, typical unit respectively. Hence the semantic feature distinguishing speed and velocity is that one term denotes a scalar quantity, the other
a vector, whereas stress/tension are different parameters distinguished among
other things by their units.
4.3Multiple Equivalence
4.3
Multiple Equivalence
Some translators expect a compound term in one language (e.g. Drehgeschwindigkeit) to correspond to a compound in the target language (E.
rotational speed), and are surprised that expressions like Schubkraft (E. thrust)
do not. Moreover, when the concept corresponding to the compound occurs
repeatedly in the source text it is inevitably shortened, and the translator has to
decide whether in a particular context to translate Kraft, for example, as thrust
or to insert the broader term force.
Such problems can occur with harmless looking expressions, such as
Abstand (E. distance) which is translated by clearance, spacing, pitch, gap in
specific contexts:
Bodenabstand
gegenseitiger Abstand
Gewindeabstand
Kontaktabstand
mech
geom
mech
ign
clearance
spacing
thread pitch
contact breaker gap
The TPD helps specify the concepts implied by indicating possible subject fields
(mech: Mechanical Engineering, geom: Geometry, ign: Ignition Systems), but
cross-checking in the Thesaurus is advisable. This reveals that distance has a
basic meaning in Physics:
distance
phys
Abstand
t: physical quantity; ct: time, mass, temperature, etc.
namely: a type of physical quantity, contrasted with concepts like time, mass,
temperature (Chapter 1). A second entry for distance indicates that the reverse
translation into German is not necessarily Abstand:
distance
braking distance
focal distance
math
auto
opt
Abstand, Strecke
Bremsweg
Brennweite
The entry consists of a so-called polyseme group more typical of the TPD. The
Thesaurus employs this lexicological device for terms like line (Ge. Linie,
Gerade), load (Ge. Ladung, Last, Belastung), concepts which are easily understood but have different shades of meaning and context-specific interpretations
in German:
29
30
Translational equivalence
axle load
cargo load
dotted line
auto
aero
geom
Achslast
Frachtladung
Punktlinie
The polyseme group entered at distance indicates that, according to the context,
the German equivalent could be Strecke, Weg, Weite, terms which are themselves polysemous:
Bahnstrecke
Lichtweg
Spannweite
rail
opt
aero
rail section
light path
wing span
This is evident in the TPD.
To obtain familiarity with the terminology of both source and target
languages the reader is advised to conduct regular lexicological exercises of this
nature, using the TPD and Thesaurus. The latter are not dictionaries in the
ordinary sense of the word at all but organised didactic guides specifically
designed for resolving semantic problems of this type in technical translation.
4.4
Polyseme Groups
When the number of entries in the TPD at a particular polyseme becomes
excessive, the compounds are arranged into separate groups. For instance, the
entries for Spannung are arranged into a group designating electrical concepts
(i.e. voltage, potential, emf, etc.) and one denoting mechanical ones (e.g. stress,
tension). The slightly longer accessing time required to locate a particular
compound (if two groups of entries are scanned alphabetically instead of just
one) is compensated by the didactic organisation.
Hence, the term Kraft, discussed in Chapter 1 and mentioned above is
divided into two distinct polyseme groups — those designating a type of force
and denoting a measurable parameter or theoretical concept, such as:
Anziehungskraft
Auftriebskraft
Auftriebskraft
etc.
elsc
aero
naut
attractive force
lift
buoyancy
and those denoting a different physical quantity or something else entirely:
4.5Hierarchic Dimensions
Bremskraft
Kernkraft
Spannkraft
Wärmekraft
4.5
brak
nucl
mat
pow
braking power
nuclear power
elasticity
heat
Hierarchic Dimensions
The German expression Kraft is very difficult to specify in any form of dictionary, even though the concept force is fundamental to almost every branch of
engineering. The reason is that hyponyms exist in English which are absent in
German.
After studying Figure 1 (Chapter 1) readers familiar with semantic hierarchies may deduce the following hyponym arrangement for the concept force:
1
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
181
182
19
force
action
reaction
tension
compression
friction
gravity
thrust
upward thrust
buoyancy
lift
traction
Kraft
Kraft
Gegenkraft
Spannung
Druckkraft
Reibungskraft
Gewichtskraft
Schubkraft
Auftriebskraft
Auftriebskraft
Auftriebskraft
Zugkraft
At first glance this seems a neat convenient organisation, but a closer look at the
hyponyms in the TPD indicates that the hierarchy above is an oversimplification. Terms like action/reaction belong to a more fundamental area of science
than tension/compression yet neither this nor the contrasts themselves are
marked; friction/gravity are forces occuring in nature over which the technologist has little control, in contrast to thrust/traction which involve controlled
motion. Upward thrust covers concepts such as buoyancy (Nautical Engineering) and lift (Aeronatics) but is not a hyponym of thrust itself.
Rather than leave the reader totally perplexed at this stage, Figure L1A
divides the main interpretations of Kraft into subcategories, an arrangement
equivalent to a multi-dimensional hierarchic structure. An appropriate field
31
32
Translational equivalence
code (e.g. mech: Mechanical Engineering) is given for each concept listed, and
brief contextual explanations of the subcategories (e.g. “Electrostatics: interactions
between charged particles”) help the reader to specify the concepts more exactly.
The essential features of the glossary are reproduced below.
Figure L1A.Different Types of Force
A demonstration model of a multidimensional hierarchic system with terminology centred
on the engineering concept force and the German expression Kraft. It employs the following
dictionary labels:
acu
aero
astr
elsc
flud
Acoustics
Aeronautics
Astronomy
Electrostatics
Fluid Dynamics
cons
mech
naut
nucl
phys
Construction Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Nautical Engineering
Nuclear Engineering
Physics
a:
d:
associated with
designates
u:
tu:
used in connection with
typical unit
Subcategories of Kraft
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Engineering Science, d: physical quantity distinct from power, energy, etc.
Kraft (tu: newton)
phys
force
Newtonian Mechanics, u: fundamental properties of all forces.
Kraft
phys
action
Gegenkraft
phys
reaction
Electrostatics, u: interactions between charged particles.
Abstoßungskraft
elsc
repulsive force
Anziehungskraft
elsc
attractive force
Mechanical Engineering, u: forces producing motion.
Antriebskraft
mech
propulsive force
Hubkraft
mech
lifting force
Zugkraft
mech
traction
Mechanical Engineering, u: quantities with different units (i.e. not forces).
Drehkraft (tu: newton.metre)
mech
torque
Hebelkraft (tu: newton.metre)
phys
leverage
Aeronautics, Fluid Dynamics, Shipbuilding, u: motion or flight.
Auftriebskraft
aero
lift
Auftriebskraft
flud
upward thrust
Auftriebskraft
naut
buoyancy
Gewichtskraft
phys
weight
Luftwiderstand
aero
drag
Reibungswiderstand
flud
drag
Strömungswiderstand
naut
drag
Schubkraft
aero
thrust
4.6Hierarchic List, Thesaurus
7.
Civil Engineering, u: forces resulting in material stresses.
Druckkraft (u: bar, beam)
cons
compression
Spannung (u: general context)
cons
tension
Spannkraft (u: cable)
cons
tension
Zugkraft (u: bar, beam)
cons
tension
8. Physics, u: concepts relating to Mechanics, Acoustics.
Spannkraft
phys
tension
Federkraft
phys
spring tension
Saitenspannkraft
acu
string tension
9. Physics, a: forces difficult to control.
Reibungskraft
phys
friction
Gewichtskraft
phys
gravity
Gravitationskraft
astr
gravitation
Schwerkraft
astr
gravitation
10. Collective Term, a: forces, difficult to distinguish individually.
Verbiegungskräfte
mech
bending forces
Verdrehungskräfte
mech
twisting forces, torsion
Kernbindungskräfte
nucl
nuclear (binding) forces
Nevertheless, even this arrangement does not cover all interpretations of the
polyseme, and it is not a practical organisation in a large dictionary anyway in
view of the increased access time. The TPD therefore adopts a compromise
solution and lists these entries in alphabetic order as a collective polyseme
group. It was pointed out in the Introduction that often the worst errors made
by technical translators involve the most fundamental engineering concepts.
Kraft is one example. Others will follow. Simultaneous systematic study of the
engineering chapters, the Thesaurus and TPD will help the reader to eventually
overcome these problems.
Chapter 2 and Figures 2A–D introduce another basic technical polyseme,
the German expression Widerstand, whose meanings denote different electrical
concepts: resistance, resistor, resistivity, reactance, impedance, rheostat, etc. Here,
the TPD employs a multidimensional internal entry arrangement similar to the
arrangment for Kraft in Figure L1A. These arrangements are discussed later,
when more engineering concepts and relevant terminology have been covered.
An alternative approach to polyseme differentiation may clarify the situation at
this stage: a comparison between hierarchic listing and the thesaurus approach.
4.6
Hierarchic List, Thesaurus
The hierarchic term lists of Chapter 2 are concise lexicological arrangements for
relating technical concepts to broader concepts. This organisational principle
33
34
Translational equivalence
can be used in specific engineering areas to simultaneously portray a large
number of conceptual interrelationships, distinguished according to their
logical (i.e. hierarchic) and ontological (i.e. semantic) properties by the descriptors generic, partitive, metric, associative. The Technical Thesaurus employs
other descriptors to relate engineering concepts.
The lack of immediate hierarchic information in a thesaurus is compensated by the easier access to terminology (alphabetic order) and the fact that
greater detail is possible in thesaurus definitions. Figure L1B demonstrates
applications of the thesaurus descriptors to the main terminology of Figures
2A–D (Chapter 2). Readers are invited to examine the contents and compare
the thesaurus definitions to the information deductible from the term lists
concerned, and from that presented in Unit 3 of this handbook. Once the
demonstration model is understood, use of the main Thesaurus and of larger
more complex hierarchic arrangements introduced in later chapters follows
naturally.
Figure L1B.Thesaurus Representation of Figure 2A–D
a:
co:
ct:
cv:
d:
ex:
associated with
consist(s) of
contrasted with
covers the concept(s)
defined as/designates
(typical) example
m:
p:
s:
t:
tu:
u:
ac voltage (s: alternating voltage)
ac current (s: alternating current)
amplitude (u: oscillation, wave, waveform)
amplitude (cs: peak amplitude)
RMS amplitude (cs: RMS value)
capacitance (t: electrical parameter)
capacitor (t: circuit component)
ceramic capacitor
electrolytic capacitor
parallel-plate capacitor
charge (tu: coulomb)
choke (t: electrical component)
coil (u: transformer)
conductance (tu: mho)
conductivity (tu: mho.cm−1)
current (tu: amp)
alternating current
direct current
a (measurable) parameter of
part of
synonym for/abbreviation of
a type of
typical unit
used in connection with
Wechselspannung
Wechselstrom
Größe
Scheitelwert
Effektivwert
Kapazität
Kondensator
Keramikkondensator
Elko
Plattenkondensator
Ladung
Drosselspule
Wicklung
Leitfähigkeit
spezifische Leitfähigkeit
Strom
Wechselstrom
Gleichstrom
4.6Hierarchic List, Thesaurus
dc current (s: direct current)
dc voltage (s: direct voltage)
dielectric (p: capacitor)
emf (t: voltage; u: transformer)
frequency (u: waveform; tu: Hz)
angular frequency (tu: radian.s−1)
heat (t: energy; tu: joule)
impedance (t: parameter; tu: ohm)
inductance (t: parameter; tu: henry)
inductor (t: circuit component)
iron core (p: inductor, transformer)
loss resistance (u: coil; tu: ohm)
number of turns (u: winding)
peak value (u: wave amplitude)
phase (t: circuit parameter)
phase angle (u: waveform; tu: degree)
phase shift (u: impedance)
phasor (t: vector)
voltage phasor
current phasor
phasor diagram (u: circuit design)
plate (p: capacitor)
potential (t: voltage)
potentiometer (t: potential divider)
power (tu: watt)
reactance (t: parameter; tu: ohm)
capacitative reactance
inductive reactance
reactive volt-amperage (tu: ohm)
resistance (u: impedance)
resistance (tu: ohm)
resistance (s: electrical resistance)
resistivity (tu: ohm.cm)
resistor (t: circuit component)
rheostat (t: laboratory component)
RMS value (ct: peak value; u: wave)
RMS voltage (m: alternating voltage)
RMS current (m: alternating current)
time constant (u: capacitor discharge)
transformer (t: circuit component)
turn (u: winding)
turns ratio (m: transformer)
volt-amperage (u: impedance; tu: VA)
Gleichstrom
Gleichspannung
Dielektrikum
Spannung
Frequenz
Kreisfrequenz
Wärmeleistung
Scheinwiderstand
Induktivität
Spule
Eisenkern
Verlustwiderstand
Windungszahl
Scheitelwert
Phase
Phasenwinkel
Phasenverschiebung
Zeiger
Spannungszeiger
Stromzeiger
Zeigerdiagramm
Kondensatorplatte
Potential
Potentiometer
Leistung
Blindwiderstand
kapazitiver Widerstand
induktiver Widerstand
Blindleistung
Wirkwiderstand
Widerstand
ohmscher Widerstand
spezifischer Widerstand
Widerstand
Schiebewiderstand
Effektivwert
effektive Spannung
effektive Stromstärke
Zeitkonstante
Transformator
Windung
Windungsverhältnis
Scheinleistung
35
36
Translational equivalence
voltage (tu: volt)
direct voltage
alternating voltage
wattage (u: heating device; tu: watt)
wattage (u: impedance; tu: watt)
winding (p: transformer; t: coil)
primary winding
secondary winding
Spannung
Gleichspannung
Wechselspannung
Wattleistung
Wirkleistung
Wicklung, Spule
Primärwicklung
Sekundärwicklung
Unit 5
Materials Science
The third disk chapter completes the reader’s basic technological
education, introducing a subject whose terminology, like that of its
predecessors, reappears in virtually all branches of engineering but
originates from Chemistry as well as from Physics: the field of Materials
Science. The chapter begins with a brief examination of the engineering
implications of the term material and then discusses one of the main
tools of the materials scientist: the Periodic Table of Elements. A knowledge
of the Periodic Table enables technologists to understand how atoms
combine to form molecules, compounds and ultimately materials, and how a
vast range of material properties occur — mechanical, optical, electrical,
magnetic, thermal, chemical, radioactive. It also enables them to design new materials with specific properties engineered to specific applications. The chapter has the following main sections:
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
Substance, Material, Matter
The Periodic Table
3.2.1 Atomic Number, Mass Number, Atomic Mass
3.2.2 Electron Shell, Group Number, Valency
3.2.3 Period, Group, Subgroup
Isotope, Nuclide
Atomic Bonding
3.4.1 Binding/Bonding Forces
3.4.2 Ion, Plasma
3.4.3 Atomrumpf, Elektronenhülle
Material Properties
3.5.1 Mechanical Properties
3.5.2 Electrical, Thermal, Chemical Properties
Figure 3A:
Figure 3B:
Figure 3C:
Figure 3D:
Extract from the Periodic Table of Elements
Common Elements
Atom, Atomic Bond
Microglossary of Materials Science Expressions
38
Materials science
Life for the reader gets easier in this area. The chapter begins by introducing and di¬erentiating a small set of chemical terms, such as mass
number, group number, valency, isotope, nuclide, that reappear frequently
elsewhere in the book, especially in Nuclear Engineering (Chap. 4) and
in the polymer and other chemical industries (Chap. 10). It then reveals a
good example of a technical verb which is polysemous in German: binden
(E. bind, bond). It is conjugated either bind/bound or bond/bonded, according to the context. The reader will encounter other technical verbs later
in the book, and indeed these are one of the features of the third major
didactic glossary, the Technical Collocation Dictionary (TCD).
5.1
Material Properties
Whether they are designing bridges, computers, power stations or space
vehicles, all engineers require an intimate knowledge of the materials available
to them and their respective properties. Even the manufacture of a simple
automobile requires a diverse range of materials, iron, steel, glass, rubber,
plastics, not to mention the variety of electrical and electronic components, and
for steel alone there are at least 2000 varieties to choose from. Different material
strengths, densities, electrical or thermal conductivities have to be taken into
account, as well as considerations such as:
i.
machinability — whether the material is machinable, i.e. can be cut or
shaped using machine tools (Ge. Werkzeugmaschine);
ii. formability — whether it can be shaped or cast in a hot molten state in a
mould (Ge. Form);
iii. durability — whether the material loses its strength or is subject to corrosion or other chemical decomposition as it ages;
and many other factors. This chapter draws attention to some of the parameters
employed by engineers when selecting materials for specific design applications.
Different technologists are interested in different material properties. A
mechanical engineer may be interested in the stresses and strains to which a
particular type of perspex (Ge. Plexiglas) may be subjected whereas the designer
of a greenhouse is more interested in its optical and thermal parameters, how
much light it lets through and how much heat it retains. Similarly, an electrical
engineer requires uniform materials with a constant specific conductivity. The
conductivity may be high in the case of conducting materials but should be
5.2Mechanical Properties
negligibly low for insulators or dielectrics. Electronic engineers require special
semiconductive materials (Ge. Halbleiter) with combinations of these properties.
Just as automobile engineers are perpetually producing innovative designs for
new vehicles manufactured from the same basic set of machinery, so scientists
are perpetually designing new materials by rearranging or establishing new
combinations of the basic atoms.
5.2
Mechanical Properties
Gears, drive components and other parts of the transmission system of a motor
vehicle require materials which can be easily machined in the initial manufacturing stages and then strengthened in the final production stages to withstand
rigorous everyday usage. On the other hand, bumpers (Ge. Stoßstange, Am.
fender) have to be made from materials which are easily shaped but resist deformation on impact. The chapter looks closely at what is meant by material strength
and how it relates to other factors such as elasticity, ductility, creep, hardness.
Chapter 1 draws a distinction between the concepts stress and strain (Ge.
Spannung, Dehnung). For example, a metal bar of length 1 metre, subjected to
a heavy load producing a stress of 500 kilonewtons/square-metre (500 kNm−2),
stretches by 0.25 mm, thus resulting in a proportional elongation of 0.00025,
the so-called strain. When a material is stressed, in other words stretched,
compressed or deformed in some other way, but regains its shape and returns
to its original state as soon as the stress is removed, it is said to have been
subjected to elastic strain. Elastic strain is directly proportional to the stress
applied, and the ratio of the two quantities (stress divided by strain) is known as
the modulus of elasticity. When the tension or compression is increased beyond
the elastic point (Ge. Elastizitätsgrenze), the material undergoes plastic deformation. Plastic strain entails permanent deformation. Strain is no longer proportional to stress, and the design engineer requires a special table or graph of the
relationships between the two quantities, the stress/strain chart.
The chapter introduces a broad range of terminology, expressions like yield
stress, breaking strength, hardness, toughness, creep, analysing the parameters,
units and their German equivalents. These terms, especially the parameter creep,
which concerns changes in stress/strain behaviour when a material ages or is
subjected to persistent loads for long periods, are important in Construction
Engineering and reappear in Chapter 13.
39
40
Materials science
5.3
Chemical, Electrical, Thermal Properties
The electrical property of main interest to design engineers is conductivity (Ge.
Leitfähigkeit) and its behaviour at different temperatures. Conductivity is
measured using the SI unit ohm−1.cm−1 and is closely related to the resistivity of
the material (Ge. spezifischer Widerstand; unit: ohm.cm). Other basic electrical
parameters, resistance, reactance, impedance, etc., come into play at a more
advanced stage in the design of electrical equipment than that of ordering the
materials, but a large section of Materials Science is devoted entirely to one
particular area of electrical engineering: the design of semiconductor materials
for fields like Electronics or Data Processing.
There is a parameter analogous to electrical conductivity used in the description of the thermal properties of materials: thermal conductivity (Ge. Wärmeleitfähigkeit). Just as electrical conductivity is a measure of the rate of charge flow per
unit of electrical energy (voltage) applied, so thermal conductivity expresses the
rate of heat flow to the heat applied. Like every other form of energy, heat is now
measured almost universally in the unit joule. The calorie received an official
funeral in the seventies and units like the Btu (British Thermal Unit) are
employed only in very specific areas.
Regarding the chemical properties of materials, the interest of most designers
centres on their resistance to corrosion, especially to oxidation in the presence of
water, the phenomenon normally known as rusting. Various parameters are
employed to describe this, for instance millimetres of surface lost per year. This
area is related to Metallurgy (Chapter 9). A second separate area of engineering
has evolved almost entirely from the study of Materials Science, the polymer
industry (Chapter 10).
5.4
Lexical Gaps
An interesting aspect of Chapter 3 from the linguistic viewpoint is the demonstration of the fact that technical terms present in one language can be completely absent in another, when the concept itself is absent. There seem to be no
exactly equivalent expressions in technical English for two German materials
science terms: Atomrumpf, Atomhülle. The concepts can only be described.
Any atom which has become separated from one of its valence electrons
becomes a positive ion. Various terms denote this same entity in different
engineering contexts: cation, ion core, ionised atom, host atom. Each of these
5.5Microthesaurus Construction
terms could correspond to the German concept Atomrumpf. For instance, the
ions present in solids generally remain at fixed sites in the material; only the
electrons move. Thus, the terms ion, positive ion, positive atom, parent atom, host
atom, fixed atom, which occur throughout the literature, denote different
attributes of what is essentially the same German concept: Atomrumpf. Yet
English has no exact designation for this concept.
Selection of the “correct” English term in a context like the above is a
matter of common sense. Substitution of common but very misleading dictionary suggestions, such as *“atomic residue”, *“atomic trunk”, must be avoided
at all costs, as these do not appear in the normal technical literature and this
makes translations difficult or impossible to understand. This is rather like the
situation with another dictionary coinage *“inductivity”, mentioned earlier
(Unit 3). The fact that it might appear in a dozen different bilingual dictionaries
does not necessarily mean that the term is correct, simply that an entire
generation of lexicographers have copied one another’s mistakes.
Like Atomrumpf, the German Atomhülle (frequent synonym: Elektronenhülle) constitutes a similar problem for translators. It implies the set of electron
shells (Ge. Elektronenschale) which surround the nucleus of an atom in the
manner in which the atmosphere, stratosphere and ionosphere surround the
earth. Once again, dictionary suggestions like *“atomic sleeve”, *“atomic
envelope”, *“atomic mantle” have no basis in normal engineering practice.
English-speaking technologists do not employ the concept, but translation
problems can sometimes be avoided simply by rendering Schale as shell and
Hülle as shells.
Lexical gaps occur in general language, and the more remote the language
relationship (English and Native American languages) the more likely their
occurrence. Some linguists may be surprised to find that they also occur in the
technical languages of very similar industrialised countries.
5.5
Microthesaurus Construction
Like its predecessors, the third chapter presents a selection of microglossaries
providing German equivalents to terminology employed and illustrating a
variety of conceptual inter-relationships. Figure 3D provides a didactically
ordered microthesaurus too.
The descriptors (d: “designates/denotes”, u: “used in connection with”, p:
“part of”, etc.) are the same as those of the main Technical Thesaurus of
41
42
Materials science
Volume 2, but the structural principles are slightly different. The microthesaurus
is reproduced below, so that the reader can compare the two approaches at his
or her leisure.
Figure 3D.Microthesaurus of Materials Science Expressions
atomic number (d: number of protons in an atom)
Kernladungszahl
atomic mass (d: mass of an atom; tu: amu)
Atommasse
coefficient of expansion (t: thermal parameter)
Ausdehnungskoeffizient
coefficient of linear expansion
Längenausdehnungskoeffizient
coefficient of volume expansion
Volumenausdehnungskoeffizient
conduction (a: heat or current flow)
Leitung
conductivity (t: parameter; u: conduction)
Leitfähigkeit
electrical conductivity (a: resistivity)
elektrische Leitfähigkeit
thermal conductivity
Wärmeleitfähigkeit
deformation (d: change in the shape of an object)
Verformung
elastic deformation
elastische Verformung
permanent deformation
bleibende Verformung
plastic deformation
plastische Verformung
disintegrate (u: nuclear fission)
zerfallen
doping (u: impurity injection; a: semiconductors)
dotieren
elastic point (d: limit of elastic deformation)
Elastizitätsgrenze
electrolysis (u: current conduction in electrolytes)
Elektrolyse
electrolyte (t: solution containing mobile ions)
Elektrolyt
electron shell (p: atom)
Elektronenschale
(set of) electron shells
Elektronenhülle
electron cloud (u: metals, metallic bonding)
Elektronengas
element (t: fundamental substance; ct: compound)
chemisches Element
inert element (t: highly stable, non-reactive element)
Edelelement
noble element (ps: inert element)
Edelelement
metallic element (cs: metal; ex: calcium, iron, mercury)
Metall
non-metallic element (ex: sulphur, arsenic, chlorine)
Nicht-Metall
group (a: Periodic Table; ex: Group IV)
Gruppe
isotope (d: element with more neutrons than the basic type)
Isotop
mass number (d: number of nucleons in an atom)
Massenzahl
modulus of elasticity (d: ratio of stress to strain)
Elastizitätsmodul
Young’s Modulus (u: linear stress/strain curve)
Elastizitätsmodul
nucleon (p: nucleus; cv: proton, neutron)
Nukleon
nuclear forces (a: nucleons inside a nucleus)
Kernbindungskräfte
nuclide (d: one of several isotopes of an element)
Nuklid
positive ion core (d: atom lacking an electron)
Atomrumpf
resistivity (t: electrical parameter; tu: ohm.mm)
spezifischer Widerstand
semiconductor material (a: easily varied conductivity)
Halbleiter
5.5Microthesaurus Construction
strain (d: deformation due to stress)
strain (t: parameter; tu: dimensionless)
stress (u: forces leading to deformation)
stress (t: parameter; tu: newton.m−2)
subgroup (p: group; a: incomplete inner shell)
valency (a: element; d: number of outer shell electrons)
Dehnung
Dehnung
Spannung
Spannung
Nebengruppe
Valenz
43
Unit 6
Nucleonics
Chapter Four adopts a di¬erent approach to that of its predecessors.
Instead of describing key concepts in detail and later examining the
terminology for possible translation di~culties, the initial description
centres on terminology itself. From this point onwards the book moves
away from Science and into the realm of Engineering. Increased specialisation means that descriptions become more concise, and the microglossaries and microthesauri closing the chapters become more detailed
and much larger. The chapter concerned has the following structure:
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
Radiation, Radioactivity
4.1.1 Radio-Chemistry, Radio-Astronomy
4.1.2 Radiant Energy, Harmful Radiation
Alpha, Beta, Gamma Radiation
4.2.1 Particulate/Electromagnetic Radiation
4.2.2 Frequency, Wavelength, Distance
4.2.3 Acoustic, Electromagnetic Waves
4.2.4 Energy Quantum, Photon
4.2.5 Wave/Particle Duality, Di¬raction
4.2.6 Rem, Becquerel, eV, MeV
4.2.7 Beam, Ray, Current, Stream
Radio-Element, Radio-Nuclide, Radio-Substance
4.3.1 Radiant, Radioactive, Radiological
4.3.2 Decay, Disintegration, Decomposition, Dissociation
Matter, Anti-Matter
4.4.1 Positron, Neutrino, Quark
Fission, Fusion, Decay
4.5.1 Nuclear Power Generation
Nuclear Waste Disposal
4.6.1 Reprocessing Plant, Repository
4.6.2 Landfill, Disposal Site, Dump
46
Nucleonics
Figure 4A:
Figure 4B:
Figure 4C:
Figure 4D:
Figure 4E:
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Decay Transitions of U-238
Elementary Particles
Oscillation/Wave/Radiation
Microglossary of Nucleonics Terms
The chapter begins with a close look at distinctions between radiation
and radioactivity from the common viewpoint of a nuclear scientist,
radiochemist or radiological waste-disposal authority. It discusses the
various semantic interpretations of the morpheme radio in expressions
like thermal radiation, visible radiation, gamma radiation, and the linguistic
relationships to common everyday expressions like radio set, radiator,
radiotherapy, despite the apparent absence of any direct semantic relationship (cf. Ge. Rundfunkempfänger, Heizkörper, Strahlentherapie). A clear
insight into the etymology of the technical language of Nucleonics
assists the reader to understand more complex specialised concepts
such as radionuclide, positron radiation, radiological accident in later subsections.
Like its predecessors, the chapter discusses:
i. basic conceptions necessary for a broad understanding of the subject in
both English and German — fusion, di¬raction, spent fuel, terminal
waste, radiation dosage;
ii. important parameters appearing repeatedly throughout the field,
wavelength, transition period, decay rate, half-life;
iii. any units peculiar to the field, rem, bequerel, Mev;
iv. contrasting expressions — acoustic/electromagnetic wave, particulate/electromagnetic radiation, negatron/positron;
v. areas of semantic overlap that can lead to contextual synonymy —
photon/energy quantum, disposal site/repository;
vi. non-countable technical expressions (NCNs), matter, anti-matter.
Indeed these aspects of technical language are featured in all the
remaining chapters.
6.1
Nucleonics, Nuclear Engineering
Nucleonics concerns the detailed study of atoms, nuclei and their constituents,
so-called nucleons, as well as the radiation and other energy released when nuclei
are disrupted or fused together. Its development began with the increased use
6.2Radiation, Radioactivity
of nuclear technology for both peaceful and cold-war military purposes in the
early nineteen-sixties, and it is still evolving in different directions as a twentyfirst century applied science. The main industrial applications lie in the field of
nuclear power generation, and there are other practical applications in areas as
diverse as Archaeology (radiocarbon dating), Astronomy (studies of distant
galaxies and supernova), and Medical Science, especially the area of Radiological
Diagnostics (Ge. nuklearmedizinische Diagnostik), where supplies of radioisotopes to hospitals are almost as regular as supplies of synthetic rubber to an
automobile plant.
Nucleonics is an area in which some translators initially feel out of their
depth. The chapter introduces simply the main features and basic terminology
underlying the discipline. Though there is no direct link with the preceding
chapter on Materials Science, a connection with Basic Chemistry means that
certain previously discussed conceptions reoccur with similar connotations,
expressions like atomic number, mass number, isotope, nuclide, elementary
particle, nucleon. Chemistry deals with interactions between substances, but
there is another field more closely related to Nuclear Engineering, which deals
with the decay or disintegration (Ge. radioaktiver Zerfall) of substances: RadioChemistry. The two areas examine similar features of nuclear reactions but
from differing aspects: Nucleonics from the viewpoint of the engineer or
physicist, Radiochemistry from the viewpoint of the general scientist or chemist.
6.2
Radiation, Radioactivity
Rather like their German counterparts Strahlung/Radioaktivität, the terms
radiation and radioactivity have ominous connotations in general colloquial
English and, at first sight, they appear to be contextually synonymous. To levelheaded scientists, the terms have quite different meanings and are without the
disturbing overtones.
The basic meaning of radiation (Ge. Strahlung) concerns the mechanism
whereby energy is transferred over large distances by means of “energy rays” or
more specifically: electromagnetic waves. In the Physics branch known as Heat
Transfer (Ge. Wärmeübertragung), the expression thermal radiation (Ge.
Wärmestrahlung) contrasts on the one hand with conduction (Ge. Wärmeleitung) and on the other with convection (Ge. Wärmeströmung, Wärmekonvektion). Heat is a form of energy, and so is light. This technical meaning of
radiation is extended to imply the electromagnetic waves themselves which carry
47
48
Nucleonics
the radiated energy. Thus light is classified as visible radiation. Radio waves,
microwaves, ultra-violet rays, X-rays and gamma-rays constitute different types
of invisible radiation. Heat arriving from the sun can be considered as an effect
resulting mainly from infrared radiation.
Some substances emit radiation and in so doing disintegrate, forming other
substances. The activity or process of emitting radiated energy is termed
radioactivity. Just as the narrow meaning of radiation (a means of energy
transfer) also covers waves carrying radiated energy, so the technical meaning of
radioactivity is extended to cover the energy itself and contrasts with other more
familiar energy forms such as heat, light, sound, mechanical energy. Radiation
which causes substances to ionise is known in German engineering circles as
radioaktive Strahlung. English-speaking nuclear technologists employ the term
ionising radiation, and normally reject both the literal mis-translation *“radioactive
radiation” and the expression coined from general language: *“radioactivity”.
6.3
Radio Morphology
At this stage, the reader is invited to take a closer look at various semantic
interpretations of the morpheme “radio(–)”, as a prefix in expressions like
radio-element, radiochemist, radioastronomer and in the terms radiation,
radioactivity. The two distinct basic meanings of the prefix radio are easily
clarified:
i.
In expressions like Radiochemistry or Radiology, the morpheme implies a
direct connection with radioactivity or ionising radiation. This is not true of
Radioastronomy. The latter concerns the study of distant celestial bodies
(Ge. Himmelskörper) whose energy reaches us in the form of radio waves as
opposed to visible light.
ii. A second prefix radio- appears in terms like radiosubstance, radionuclide,
radioisotope. This is just a technical abbreviation of the concept radioactive.
Thus the term radio-element merely implies radioactive element.
Throughout Nucleonics, and its associate fields Radiochemistry and Nuclear
Power Technology, the narrow meanings of radiation and radioactivity specified
above are in fact broadened. They imply not just energy radiated by electromagnetic waves but also that carried by specific fast-moving particles, among which
are alpha and beta particles. This second type of radiant energy, known as
particulate radiation, is discussed in Section 4.2 (of the disk) along with its
counterpart electromagnetic radiation.
6.4Radiant Energy, Harmful Radiation
6.4
Radiant Energy, Harmful Radiation
Normally when technologists in one country use the same expression in
different ways or in different fields it causes headaches for non-technically
minded translators as there are different L2 equivalents for each polyseme.
Terms like Impuls (impulse, pulse, momentum), Widerstand (resistance,
reluctance, reactance, impedance), Spannung (tension, stress, voltage, potential), all of which occur in Basic Mechanical or Electrical Science, demonstrate
this phenomenon conclusively. Yet Strahlung, despite its very different implications and connotations in expressions like Wärmestrahlung, Kernstrahlung,
elektromagnetische Strahlung seems to be always translated by radiation and vice
versa. This is not one-to-one equivalence (Unit 4) but parallel polysemy.
There is no translation problem this time, but to avoid misunderstandings
in the chapter and in general in this field, readers may find the following
summary useful, a brief illustrative list of the main alternative technical
interpretations of the term radiation:
i. a means by which thermal energy is transferred (ct: convection, conduction);
ii. electromagnetic waves constituting transferred energy (ex: visible radiation,
microwave radiation);
iii. dangerous electromagnetic rays causing the ionisation of tissue and other
substances (ex: gamma radiation, X-rays);
iv. dangerous particles causing ionisation (ex: alpha radiation);
v. collective term for mixtures of electromagnetic and particulate radiation
resulting from a nuclear reaction (cs: nuclear radiation).
6.5
Beam, Ray, Current, Stream
Many disk users will not be English native-speakers, but German translators
into or from English. For their benefit, and also to provide other readers with a
brief respite from the bombardment with scientific information, the disk
examines difficulties arising in connection with polysemous terminology, which
would not necessarily trouble native English speakers. Interest here is concentrated on the German polysemes Strahl (E. beam, jet, ray, stream), Strom (E.
current, stream).
For instance, in a context involving the picture tube (Ge. Bildschirmröhre) of
a TV set or monitor screen, German translators may wonder why Lichtstrahl is
rendered as light ray whereas Elektronenstrahl is translated as electron beam. In
49
50
Nucleonics
a different context, one involving what British speakers call a torch (Am.
flashlight, Ge. Taschenlampe) the term Lichtstrahl is more likely to be translated
by beam. This problem is easily resolved.
Even in general language a ray of light has connotations of a single light
wave possibly passing through an aperture or gap (leaves, curtains, etc.),
whereas a light beam is something much brighter. In technical language, the
term beam is used when the individual rays are concentrated at a focal point and
obliged to move in a parallel direction. Hence the expressions: electron beam,
torch beam, etc. When the context concerns not waves but particles or nearparticles moving in the same general direction, the correct term may be stream,
for instance a stream of photons, neutrons, alpha-particles. The expression jet is
not appropriate in the contexts discussed. It is employed in connection with
liquids: water jet, spray jet, ink jet (Ge. Wasser-, Sprüh-, Tintenstrahl).
The second German polyseme Strom is rarely problematic. Plasmastrom
may imply:
i. plasma current — an electric current resulting from ionised particles;
ii. plasma stream — ionised particles travelling along a particular path or
trajectory (Ge. Bahn), often a circular one;
iii. plasma flow — when attention is focussed upon the flow rate, density or
velocity of the particles.
Generally speaking, Strom should only be translated as current when the
implication corresponds to the normal electrical significance (Ge. elektrischer
Strom). In other cases, different equivalents should be sought or the translator
must resort to paraphrasing, if confusion is to be avoided.
It is interesting to note that there is an intuitive conceptual distinction
between ray and wave, as in light ray and light wave, but no physical one. This
is apparent in the electromagnetic spectrum too (Figure 4A), which employs
expressions like radio wave, light wave, X-ray, gamma-ray for what is essentially
the same entity: radiation. Fortunately, German terminology follows the same
knowledge patterns here as English; it uses terms like Gamma-Strahlen rather
than *“Gamma-Wellen”.
6.6
Decomposition, Disintegration, Dissociation
It is evident from the above that the disk provides not just a powerful shortcut
to the acquisition of professional skills needed by translators, it also provides
6.7Storage, Disposal
university academics involved in the training of student translators with a
powerful insight into the conceptual problems encountered, especially by
German students. Technical translation is an activity that requires linguists to
perpetually differentiate concepts and narrow down terms. Non-native speakers
are at a greater disadvantage in this respect, but even native speakers can make
a total mess of a translation by employing a slap-dash approach to general
technical terminology. Consider, for instance, the German expressions Zerfall,
Zersetzung, which are translatable in various contexts by the terms: decay,
disintegration, decomposition, dissociation.
Decomposition and dissociation are unrelated to Nucleonics. The terms
belong to fields like Metallurgy or Chemical Engineering: a steel structure may
decompose (rust and become dangerous) when exposed to extreme weather
conditions; sulphurous acid (H2SO3) dissociates into water vapour and sulphur
dioxide when heated or allowed to dry up. Only decay, disintegration are relevant
to Nuclear Science, and even they are not synonyms.
But the terms are close, and like ray/wave, gravity/gravitation, voltage/emf
and one or two other marginal terminological or semantic discrepances
discussed in the early chapters, there is no physical distinction between nuclear
decay and nuclear disintegration. Translators have to adapt their work either to
the knowledge structure of the target language, or merely to what is said, as
opposed to what is not said. Disintegration is the general expression. It is applied
to nuclear transitions which take place over a wide range from several nanoseconds to a few weeks. Decay is the term employed when hundreds or thousands
of years are involved. The period between is left to the translator’s discretion.
In a text concerning the accurate radio-carbon dating of archaeological
artefacts, the preferred term is likely to be decay, whereas one involving the
generation of nuclear power might warrant disintegration. A third text, concerning the disposal of nuclear waste, may justify either.
6.7
Storage, Disposal
Like chemical waste disposal, the disposal of nuclear waste is an area where
translators sometimes need to pay more attention to politics than semantics.
Relatively straightforward, seemingly non-technical German expressions like
Endlagerung, Endlager, Zwischenlager, which at first sight or in other contexts
could be translated directly as ultimate storage, final storage site, intermediate
storage facility, tend to have their meanings slightly disguised in English by
51
52
Nucleonics
fanciful terms like terminal disposal, terminal repository, transitional repository
which direct public attention away from the fact that nothing is really done to
extremely hazardous spent fuel at these sites, except to store it safely out of
harm’s way.
Nuclear waste itself is divided into different categories. One of these is
referred to as highly active waste (Ge. hochradioaktiver Abfall), which internal
reports abbreviate to HAW. Use of the expression highly active is possibly to
avoid the repetitive sound of the morpheme radio- but more likely to avoid the
ugly connotations of the full expression highly radioactive. Like its counterpart
in the chemical industry, nuclear waste disposal has become a branch of engineering itself, especially HAW disposal. Due to the high degree of international
cooperation, it requires the services of skilled translators at every level.
6.8
Reprocessing Plant, Repository
In view of the global hazard, opinions world-wide are moving towards multinational reprocessing sites and a carefully guarded multinational repository for the
world’s nuclear waste. Countries like Britain and Japan, which do not have
convenient geological sites for waste disposal, have made considerable largescale investments in reprocessing facilities and import spent fuel (i.e. HAW) from
European and other countries in order to run their plants economically. The
residual nuclear waste is usually returned to the country of origin for terminal
disposal. The residual waste is first embedded in a special cement and poured
into lead containers. Germany has a number of convenient geological containment sites, in salt domes, which absorb heat generated from radioactive waste
underground without the likelihood of the occurrence of geological fissures and
the release of hazardous radiosubstances into the environment. Other countries
obtain an economic backhander from their geological advantages concerning
permanent repository sites (Ge. Endlagerstätte). These import terminal waste
from elsewhere and arrange for permanent storage. But sometimes waste is too
dangerous for immediate shipment either before or after processing. In cases
where the half-lives of the hazardous radiosubstances are relatively short (up to
a year or so), it is safer to employ intermediate storage (Ge. Zwischenlagerung)
at a transitional repository (Ge. Zwischenlager).
Profiting from the fact that nobody really wants nuclear waste on their
doorstep, several enterprising waste-management consortiums have put
forwards plans for global repositories to store the world’s nuclear waste. Suitable
6.9Landfill, Disposal Site
geological sites have been suggested in remote desert areas of North America
and Central Australia, but public pressure has been so intense that nuclear
power plants and military customers are now looking elsewhere in the world for
places to unload their waste. The most likely candidate at present is Russia, a
country with sufficient geological facilities, the necessary intellectual expertise
and above all a desperate need of foreign exchange liquidity. Contracts with
Switzerland have been agreed and are in the making with other European
countries too.
6.9
Landfill, Disposal Site
From the translation aspect, the concept nuclear waste (Ge. radioaktive Abfälle)
can imply spent fuel, HAW, residual, transitional or terminal waste according to
the context. German tends to be more direct in its terminology than English:
Entsorgung implies disposal in the basic sense; Lagerung implies storage for a
limited or unlimited period of time. English sometimes blurrs this semantic
distinction for political rather than scientific reasons.
This phenomenon occurs elsewhere in the waste-processing industry too.
The German expression Deponie basically means dump. The military expressions ammunition dump, fuel dump imply storage sites for valuable commodities
essential to a military campaign. This meaning of dump could be extended to
storage sites for different types of waste, but in practice it is not, owing to the
connotations of a second expression dump, meaning a place where rubbish is
discarded and conveniently forgotten (i.e. dumped). In fact the connotations of
rubbish dump (Am. garbage dump) are so strong that even in a text concerning
harmless non-recyclable household waste, the German term Deponie is translated not by dump but by landfill. The expression Deponie should no longer occur
in connection with chemical waste, but if it does, translators might be encouraged to look closely at the source text to see whether it is possible to substitute
the term disposal site (Ge. Entsorgungsstelle). Nuclear waste belongs either at a
reprocessing site or at a repository.
Technical translators generally have little or no choice in the selection of
terminology. Target-language equivalents, once chosen, are either correct or
incorrect, understandable or incomprehensible, according to the degree of
polysemy encountered in the source-language and the level of proficiency of the
translator. The waste disposal industries, whether household, chemical or nuclear,
are one of the few areas where technical translators still enjoy a small degree of
53
54
Nucleonics
flexibility. As competition increases, however, these industries will no doubt
advance and terminologies will stabilise, in which case areas of semantic overlap
in expressions like disposal site, storage site, repository may soon disappear, along
with this current, small degree of translation freedom. Whether translators will
be obliged to adapt their choices of nomenclature, to suit the customer or target
reader intended, will depend to a large extent on how eagerly the public eye
monitors these industrial changes.
Unit 7
Lexical Interpretation
This unit introduces the third major glossary of Volume 2, the Technical
Collocation Dictionary (TCD), which provides access to illustrations of
terminology in context. The unit also takes a closer look at scientific
terminology encountered early in the book, and demonstrates how
distinctions between di¬erent semantic aspects of this terminology are
reflected in the lexical and syntactic rules concerning its usage.
7.1
Collocation Lists
The structure of the TPD itself enables the translator to rapidly distinguish
between closely associated L2 alternatives:
Gehäuse
Welle
Zange
chamber, boss, housing, casing, case
shaft, spindle, rod
pincers, pinchers, pliers
as well as helping to obtain appropriate renderings for concise terms employed
in specific situations:
Gerät
Mittel
Scheibe
appliance, device, unit, equipment
agent, coolant, flux, lubricant, solvent
disc, pulley, screen, wheel
But not just nouns, also specialised verbs, e.g. disassemble, decompose, dissociate,
and specialised adjectives, e.g. conductive, ductile, fissile, malleable, constitute an
integral part of the terminology of specific subject areas. In such cases it is
useful to reveal possible contexts and demonstrate any syntactic or other
adjustments necessary in translation, especially when the term has no exact
equivalent in the target language and has to be paraphrased. There are collocations in the TCD that fulfil this purpose.
56
Lexical interpretation
The main function of the TCD is to tackle problems involving general
vocabulary with specific implications in engineering situations, for instance the
many interpretations of the German expressions groß, leicht, stark in technical
literature. But the dictionary copes with a number of other functions simultaneously, such as the translation of common phrases originating from Mathematics, the recommended use of prepositions in technical contexts, and the
illustration of specialised verbs in context. Polysemy is evident in the TCD too,
especially among nouns, for instance:
Bahn
Größe
Weg
lane, path, orbit, trajectory
amplitude, magnitude, quantity, size, value
distance, medium, means, path, route
where the same German expression appears in different engineering situations,
each with its own specific target-language interpretation.
The collocation examples demonstrate typical situations in the final stages
of the process of translation, when contextual and terminological problems are
overcome and the translator has to provide the framework of a well-formed
specialised target-language sentence. Demonstrations of the usage of technical
terminology introduced in the engineering chapters appear too, but these are a
bonus. A collocation dictionary illustrating all the implications, contexts and
German interpretations of all the terminology of the engineering chapters
would swamp the disk completely. Collocational arrangements are a topic for
further research, but large-scale, on-line dictionaries could nevertheless soon
appear if lexicographers receive unlimited first-hand access to published
technical literature in machine-readable form.
The rest of this unit re-examines the distinctions between countable and
non-countable technical nouns (CNs/NCNs), introduces further important
noun categories, and describes how this aspect of translation is tackled in the
TCD, and in the other major glossaries: the Thesaurus and Technical Polyseme
Dictionary (TPD).
7.2
Countable, Non-Countable Nouns
Grammar books propose simple tests for distinguishing CNs from NCNs. One
of these involves the possibility of co-occurence with the quantifier some or the
article a/an and the existence or non-existence of a plural form. Applying this
test to the terminology of Chapter 1 produces the following results (“*”
indicates non-grammatical technical expressions):
7.2Countable, Non-Countable Nouns
i. angle, area, density are CNs (*some angle, *some area, *some density);
ii. heat, work, friction are NCNs (*frictions, *heats, *a work);
iii. energy, force, power may be CNs or NCNs according to the interpretation.
But the “some” test requires closer inspection and can give misleading results:
1.
2.
3.
4.
The vehicle has virtually stopped but still has some velocity.
Some current passes through the first transistor, the rest through the second.
Some power is lost.
A heat of approximately 100 J escapes through each face of the metallic
enclosure.
Some velocity (ex.1) implies “a small, measurable or finite velocity”, whereas
some current (ex.2) denotes “part of the current”. Some power (ex.3) could have
the semantic implications of 1 or 2, according to the context, or it could be
equivalent to the simple statement “power is lost”. Thus there are at least three
different interpretations of some. Example 4 proves that the NCN heat can
appear as a CN with an indefinite article, but only in a very restricted context
when the statement is part of a mathematical derivation.
There are other tests involving expressions like amount of, number of, lot of,
many:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
equal amounts of heat/a lot of heat
*“equal amounts of angle”/*“a lot of angle”
equal amounts of energy/a lot of energy
*“equal numbers of energy”
equal amounts of charge/a lot of charge
equal numbers of charges
They distinguish NCNs such as heat from CNs like angle, but results for
expressions with dual properties (CN/NCN) may be inconclusive: “equal
numbers of energy” is not possible, in contrast to “equal numbers of charges”. The
dual category (CN/NCN) thus contains subcategories of its own.
Only the plural-test provides true evidence of countability:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Like charges repel. Unlike charges attract.
Like charge repels. Unlike charge attracts.
Like poles repel. Unlike poles attract.
Like matter can coexist. Unlike matter (matter/antimatter) results in
mutual annihilation with the release of energy.
57
58
Lexical interpretation
The CN charge (ex.1) exists side by side with the NCN charge (ex.2). Though the
connotations are slightly different, i.e. charge (ex.2) is likely to refer to charged
objects (e.g. a metal bar rubbed with a soft cloth), charge (ex.1) denotes charged
particles (e.g. ions), these are simply alternative statements of the same physical
law. Example 3 provides a similar statement for the field of Magnetism as
opposed to Electrostatics, but pole can only function as a CN. Example 4
indicates that matter is a NCN. Expressions like *“a matter”, *“matters” (Ge.
Materie) do not exist.
Note: Use of the specialised adjectives like/unlike (Ge. gleichnamig/ungleichnamig) is restricted to the above fields and virtually restricted to contexts
similar to the above. These adjectives belong to a special grammatical category
and can only be used before nouns. Statements like *“the charges are like”, *“the
poles are unlike” are substandard.
Solution: the charges are of the same type, the poles are opposite.
7.3
Dual Terms, Different Terms
The dictionaries differentiate four broad classes of noun:
i. CNs: screwdriver, electron, power plant, chassis
ii. NCNs: inertia, friction, gravity, heat, work
iii. CN/NCNs, similar meanings (dual nouns): energy-CN (the parameter);
energy-NCN (the concept)
iv. CN/NCNs, different meanings: light-CN (cs: lamp); light-NCN (cs: optical
energy)
Nouns which are always CNs (the vast majority) are unmarked, unless it is
necessary to distinguish them from similar NCNs. Entries, such as the physics
parameters friction, gravity, heat, inertia, work, the engineering expressions
matter, equipment, information, data, or the electronics terms attenuation,
distortion, interference contain the descriptive label NCN.
The third class, dual nouns (CN/NCN), is largely restricted to concepts
revolving around physical quantities, such as energy, power, resistance, reactance.
The Thesaurus attempts to provide separate entries for separate concepts with
different interpretations. But without overcomplicating the dictionary itself.
Whether the separate entries concerned correspond to the third or fourth class
of noun listed above, or even to some intermediate category, is normally
evident from the thesaurus definition.
7.4Singular Nouns, Plural Nouns
Nouns of the type light (lamp, optical energy) involve different terms and
therefore separate entries in both the TPD and the Thesaurus. Here polysemy,
the great enemy of technical translators, adopts a more benevolent stance:
identical lexemes refering to very different concepts are easily distinguishable by
their grammatical behaviour (CN, NCN).
7.4
Singular Nouns, Plural Nouns
English plurals are normally fairly obvious and, like CNs themselves, are
unmarked in the dictionaries of Volume 2. But there are exceptions:
moment of inertia
angular momentum
energy quantum
moments of inertia
angular momenta
energy quanta
In such cases, the relevant information is provided at the main entry in the
Thesaurus, i.e. moment, momentum, quantum, or the equivalent in the TPD:
Moment, Impuls, Quant. The dictionary symbol pl denotes the plural form in
such cases.
The symbol pl also indicates so-called plural nouns, those which are not
normally used in the singular, such as nuclear forces (Ge. Kernbindungskräfte).
And the dictionaries contain terms broadly classified as singular nouns, those
which may look plural at first sight (especially to German speakers) but in fact
require singular verbs: dynamics, nucleonics, physics. Here the symbol sg is
attached.
Wave mechanics is a field dealing with wave propagation.
Statics is an area of Newtonian mechanics.
A few nouns exhibit dual behaviour:
Ignition electrics is an interesting research topic.
The ignition electrics are due to be overhauled.
where normally two concepts are involved, for instance ignition electrics — the
engineering field, and its plural counterpart — the electrical components,
wiring and connections of an automobile ignition system.
59
60
Lexical interpretation
7.5
Pair Nouns
The designation pair noun (PN) covers technical terms comparable to common
expressions like trousers, scissors, glasses which behave like countable nouns in
German (Hose, Schere, Brille) and require special attention in translation. Pair
nouns take plural verbs regardless of whether the concept implied is singular or
plural:
Dividers are a tool used in Geometry, Map-Reading, Navigation.
Special tongs are needed to handle the heated metallic frame.
Pliers are necessary to twist the wire.
Just as the grammatical rules of general language lead to statements like:
He put on a pair of trousers./… wore a new pair of glasses
rather than *“a trouser”, *“a glass”, so technical language too requires translators to think in terms of:
a pair of dividers/… tongs/… pliers
for what German speakers regard as singular concepts (cf. Spitzzirkel, Zange).
7.6
Borderline Cases
The blanket category non-countable noun covers nouns with no plural form and
no plural meaning. The verb is always singular:
The bodywork of both vehicles needs some attention.
The doping of the crystals is carried out individually.
Lots of flux has to be used to get the solder to cover the areas.
All machinery is to be switched off.
Interference due to cosmic rays upsets this equipment.
Attenuation of the waves received is easily compensated.
NCNs can co-occur with quantifiers some/any/little/lots of/… but not with the
indefinite articles a, an, one, nor with numbers — two, ten, etc. They behave like
the general expressions bread, butter, information, progress. But there are a
number of borderline cases:
7.7Standard Grammatical Categories
i.
The difference between singular and non-countable nouns (sg/NCN) is that
the former do not co-occur with some, much, etc. (*“some statics”, *“much
kinematics”), though the distinction is often due to semantic rather than
grammatical reasoning, and may be marginal: catalysis, electrolysis, induction.
ii. Terms like circuitry, interference, machinery are perhaps a special type of
collective noun, a consideration evident from the fact that their nearest German
equivalents are plural expressions: Schaltungen, Störungen, Maschinen.
But this kind of hair-splitting is more for grammar enthusiasts than translators.
Non-native English speakers merely need to realise that terms like data,
circuitry, electrolysis take singular verbs and cannot co-occur with the article
a/an, regardless of which of the two grammatical categories sg/NCN is designated in the Thesaurus.
7.7
Standard Grammatical Categories
A tiny minority of readers, those who have made a point of studying English
grammar, may be disturbed by the author’s usage of the expressions pair noun,
plural noun. The following remarks should clear any misunderstandings:
i.
The category plural noun pl conforms to what certain scholars would call
pluralia tantum, namely nouns like clothes, premises, remains, savings or,
using technical examples, terms like nuclear binding forces, ignition electrics,
soap suds.
ii. Pair nouns PN, for instance vernier calipers, scales, wire strippers, conform to
what grammarians regard as summutation plurals, both being special cases
of plural invariable nouns (Quirk, Greenbaum et al.).
Categories, such as collective nouns — audience, committee, staff, team, do not
occur in sufficient quantity in technical literature to warrant special attention.
Terms like machinery are subsumed under the label of either non-countable or
singular nouns (NCN, sg).
Rather than complicate the task of memorising and understanding dictionary symbols, the labels chosen sacrifice grammatical precision in favour of
practical usefulness. They enable translators to interpret statements like:
The electrostatic charges accumulate at the electrode and provide a total
electrostatic charge of 20 micro-coulomb.
61
62
Lexical interpretation
The total impedance of the various impedances involved in the control
circuit can be calculated using phasor diagrams.
which, though not necessarily intended as models for the translator to imitate,
nonetheless occur frequently in engineering or scientific reports and, to the
technologist, are perfectly normal.
Symbols differentiating noun classes provide yet another lexicographical
device for improving the reader’s dictionary interpretation and special translation skills. By distinguishing different shades of meaning, this facility enhances
the reader’s ability to interpret source material in English technical literature
correctly. A scientist, industrial technologist or engineer does this passively and
automatically.
7.8
Language Evolution
Most non-countable technical nouns are NCNs in general English too. The
converse is not true, however, and translators who come across expressions like
energies, momenta, capacities, powers in technical literature should not consider
it substandard automatically on the basis of dictionaries or grammar textbooks.
Sometimes technical language evolves in a slightly different way to general
language. Translators who avoid or try to paraphrase such terms (energy
amounts, amounts of momentum, etc.) purely as a result of their generallanguage instinct produce technical translations which look quaint and unrealistic. Those who go to the opposite extreme and fail to realise that *works,
*heats, *inertias are not acceptable make serious errors. Non-native speakers
need to check literature rather than ordinary dictionaries to see whether an
unfamiliar technical term, such as apparatus, is a CN or a NCN, and be perpetually
on the lookout for false friends of the type data (NCN), Ge. Datum/Daten (CN).
Unit 8
Automotive Engineering
In contrast to some areas, the basic concepts of Automobile Technology
are likely to be at least familiar to even the most “non-technically minded” linguists. Not all translators would recognise a capacitor, when they
see one, but most people would know what an engine or gearbox looks
like, and what they consist of. Automobile Engineering is a area where
translation di~culties lie more in L2 term selection than in fundamental conceptual complexities. Technical descriptions in Chapter 8 are
therefore brief, and primarily concern facilities for terminology acquisition, with the detailed description of engineering concepts taking a
lesser role. Nevertheless, this chapter is probably the biggest of all,
contains the largest number of microglossaries, the biggest individual
thesaurus, and has links with virtually every other chapter.
So far the reader has been encouraged to study the book in the order
in which it is presented on disk. This is still the case, as a substantial
section of the terminology of Chapters 5–7 reappears in the field of
Automobile Technology. Chapter 8 is taken out of sequence so that
emphasis here can be placed more upon linguistic aspects of the technical discussion.
The contents of the chapter are as follows:
8.1
8.2
Preamble
8.1.1 Polyonymy
8.1.2 Associated Fields
8.1.3 Translator Training
8.1.4 Lexicology
8.1.5 Diachronic Change
Ignition, Fuel
8.2.1 Ignition Systems
8.2.2 Coil, Condenser, Capacity, Tension
8.2.3 Contact Breaker, Dwell Angle
8.2.4 Fuel Systems, Carburation
64
Automotive engineering
8.3
8.4
8.5
8.6
8.2.5 Pipe, Tube, Hose, Connection, Union
8.2.6 Mixture, Choke, Throttle
Engine, Transmission
8.3.1 Water Pump, Coolant
8.3.2 Solenoid, Starter, Starter Switch
Brake System
8.4.1 Bleed, Bled, Bleeder
Steering, Suspension, Bodywork
8.5.1 Tie, Strut
8.5.2 Bodywork, Paintwork, Chromework
Synonymy, Polyonymy, Jargon
Figure 8A:
Figure 8B:
Figure 8C:
Figure 8D:
Figure 8E:
Figure 8F:
Automobile Terms, British/American/German
Battery, Fuel and Ignition Systems
Engine, Clutch, Transmission, Drive
Brake Assembly, Hydraulic System
Steering, Suspension, Body, Windscreen
Microthesaurus of Automobile Expressions
As the topic is comparatively simple, the chapter provides an opportunity of looking at technical terminology from a di¬erent perspective.
Carefully chosen examples arranged in subsections separate from the
main description of engineering concepts reveal a number of general
features of specialised terminology: how meanings alter in the course of
time, how misnomers appear and how archaic expressions outlawed in
virtually every other branch of engineering can continue to persist when
the original significance of the out-dated expression remains and the
field is large enough to resist conformity. The phenomenon of polyonymy in technical literature, where a single concept has di¬erent designations in di¬erent parts of the English-speaking world, is introduced
at the same time, and the chapter compares some approaches towards
translator training.
8.1
Polyonymy
Automotive Engineering is not an area where differences between British and
American usage can be ignored. Just as a British housewife is confused by the
American usage of words like muffin, biscuit, jelly as opposed to cake, scone, jam,
so a British automobile mechanic hesitates when an American customer
complains of trouble with his muffler (Br. silencer). The industries grew up
8.2Associated Fields
independently in the countries concerned. Since many of the concepts have
become general everyday vocabulary, such as engine/motor, boot/trunk, windscreen/windshield, attempts to achieve conformity in the terminologies are
repeatedly frustrated.
Figure 8A lists common concepts which are named differently by British
and American automobile specialists. Apart from discrepancies in technical
terminology, such as antifreeze/defreezer, choke/air strangler, indicator/turn
signal, the list illustrates vocabulary contrasts relevant to motoring itself:
roundabout/turn circle, layby/rest area, traffic island/channelizing island. Attention is drawn to major differences between British and American usage (e.g.
alternator/AC generator) at various points in the chapter.
Spelling discrepancies — tyre/tire, carburettor/carburetor, adaptor/adapter
appear in Figure 8A too, but trivial variations, such as spark/sparking plug, bleed/
bleeding nipple), are not taken too seriously, owing to the fact that terminologies
of different automobile manufacturers operating in the same country or even
in the same city can vary due to internal company policy or to minor technical
differences in the vehicles themselves.
8.2
Associated Fields
Automobile Engineering originated in the days of skilled craftsman as a byproduct of what was then the mechanical engineering industry. Now, complex
electronic devices are needed for tuning the engine, monitoring fuel consumption, or even operating the windscreen wipers. Chemical and metallurgical
processes are required for material-strengthening, as well as rust-protection of
the bodywork, chassis and suspension system. Sophisticated robot technology is
employed for purposes such as production assembly, welding, testing, cablepositioning. Figures 8B–E provide microglossaries for the individual areas of the
field, ignition, carburation, braking, suspension, and Figure 8F presents a lengthy
microthesaurus.
Translators dealing with testing procedures for automobile parts must be
careful to produce L2 material which is intelligible to native English speakers.
This will not be the case if they overlook or confuse important parametric
distinctions discussed in Chapters 1–2: power/performance, torque/moment,
stress/strain/tension, impulse/momentum, voltage/tension/emf, resistivity/resistance, capacity/capacitance. Other relevant terminology appears in later chapters. Chapter 9 deals with Machine Technology (Ge. Maschinenbau) and takes
65
66
Automotive engineering
a closer look at areas such as engines, drive systems, bolts. Chapter 13 concerns
Construction Engineering (Ge. Bautechnik), but involves concepts like stress,
deformation, fatigue, creep which relate to certain aspects of motor vehicles too:
vehicle suspension, steering joints, engine mountings. Chapter 15 contains a
section headed Auto-Electrics (15.4), which illustrates the conceptions underlying alternators, dynamos, generators, starter motors and batteries within the
general framework of Electrical Engineering. And motor vehicles employ the
full range of electronic devices (Chapters 6–7), especially in ignition, fuelinjection, air-conditioning and lighting systems.
8.3
Main Field
Chapter 8 discusses the main field of automotive engineering, which divides
naturally into sections and subsections according to the engineering areas that
have evolved around the motor vehicle itself: engine, transmission, steering,
suspension, cooling, ignition, fuel and brake systems. Terminology is discussed
either for its own sake, cam, rocker shaft, valve tappet, or to illustrate problems
likely in translation: pipe, tube, hose (Ge. Schlauch); connection, union (Ge.
Anschluß). A number of technical verbs occur in context, choke, throttle, bleed,
encouraging the user to consult collocations in the TCD; terms belonging to
special grammatical categories (NCN, PN, etc.) appear in context too: paintwork, rubberwork, pliers. The chapter is complemented by a selection of illustrations covering the main units or components of the various systems, cylinder
head, fuel pump, carburettor, wheel cylinder, etc., and displaying their individual
terminologies in both languages. Figures 8B–E present detailed microglossaries
of the areas discussed.
In addition to describing the various component parts of the motor vehicle,
the chapter draws attention to potential translation problems resulting from
misnomers, possible misinterpretations and gradual diachronic alterations in
meaning over the decades for which the automobile industry has existed. The
reader’s attention is also drawn to small variations in terminology among
vehicle manufacturers, as well as to jargon expressions which have existed for
many years and become fossilised within the field, tension, condenser, water
pump. Rather than describe, for instance, engine or brake parts in detail, this
unit highlights the additional features, with a small case study of three areas:
ignition, fuel and brake systems.
8.4Misnomers
8.4
Misnomers
The topic of ignition systems reveals examples of the surprising reluctancy of
certain engineering disciplines to accept changes in terminology thrust upon
them by other disciplines. Several generations have passed since the terms low
tension and high tension (Ge. Hoch-, Niederspannung) were tantamount to
normal technical English expressions, yet terms like HT-lead, LT-lead, LT
system still linger in automobile literature like descendants of ancient dinosaurs.
Moreover, the device capacitor is still frequently termed condenser in this field,
and the misleading designation capacity from the viewpoint of the electrical or
electronic engineer has not been entirely ousted by capacitance. But there is an
even stranger misnomer.
For historical reasons, practical electronics enthusiasts employ the layman
expression coil to denote the electrical device, more correctly designated as
inductor (Chapter 2). An inductor consists of a coil of wire wound around an
iron core and accessed via two terminals, leads or electrodes, mounted outside or
on opposite sides of an insulated casing surrounding the device. A slightly more
elaborate device involving two coils of wire (two windings) and with four
external connections constitutes a transformer, one special case of which is the
so-called ignition coil. The designation should be ignition transformer, yet this
imminently more appropriate expression occurs nowhere in the literature.
Thus, in a poor translation or a sloppily constructed English source text, the
term coil can refer to three related but quite different concepts: winding,
inductor, transformer. But what is even more amazing is that the German
expression Spule exhibits the same parallel polysemy.
The extension of the basic meaning of coil to inductor is understandable, but
there seems to be no reason why automobile technologists should use the same
term to denote the concept transformer, in violation of every other field of
Engineering. One can only hazard a guess as to the reason. In the nineteentwenties, there was another type of ignition system, which is now completely
obsolete (i.e. magneto ignition), where the demagnetisation of a large coil (now
described as an inductor) created the ignition spark directly. If this is the true
origin, the misnomer ignition coil may constitute one of the most ancient relics
in the entire terminology of engineering.
67
68
Automotive engineering
8.5
Misinterpretations
Another area described in detail in the chapter is the hydraulic brake system, the
system whereby pressure applied to the footbrake pedal in a motor vehicle is
conveyed to the roadwheels. Provided that the brake system is air-tight and the
presence of dust or grit is excluded, it should in theory require no maintenance
at all. In practice, however, microscopic bubbles of air do eventually penetrate
into the fluid after a few years. When this happens, or if the fluid level in the
master cylinder begins to fall as the result of a leak somewhere, the fluid has to
be drained and carefully replaced, a process termed brake bleeding.
Fluid is bled (Ge. entlüften) from each wheel cylinder in turn by attaching
a device known as a bleeder (Ge. Entlüftungsgerät) to each of the bleed valves (cs:
bleed nipple, bleed screw; Ge. Entlüftungsschraube) in turn and unscrewing the
valves so that fluid runs out. The bleeder is merely a plastic bottle with a suitable
tube which is then attached to the bleed nipple. The fluid level in the master
cylinder must be continually topped up and the system re-bled until all air bubbles
are removed. Air bubbles are compressible and adversely affect braking efficiency.
Terminology does not present a serious problem in this area, but unfortunately the expressions bleeding and bleeder coincidentally correspond to mild
forms of abuse in Southern British colloquial English (both derive from bloody:
bloody hell, etc.). In the spoken language, no confusion occurs because the
stresses and intonation patterns in potentially ambiguous sentences are different.
In a written text, however, translated sentences containing accidental ambiguities like:
i. If air enters the system you have to repeat the whole bleeding process.
ii. Attach the bleeding tube to the nipple as firmly as possible.
iii. Be careful not to upset the bleeder.
can appear either humorous or, to some people, mildly offensive.
As translations of normal engineering directives, there is nothing at all
wrong with any of the three statements. This rare but interesting case reveals
just how much translators need to keep their wits about them at all times.
8.6
Hierarchic Organisation
Unit 4 demonstrates how sequences of hierarchic term lists can be transformed
into a single microthesaurus. Interested readers might care to experiment with
8.7Diachronic Change
the process in reverse, extrapolating large hierarchic term lists from the microthesaurus of Figure 8F. Section 8.1.4 illustrates the technique, showing how a
structured bilingual microglossary of some 30 terms or more is obtained for the
small field of carburettors/fuel pumps.
Hierarchic organisation provides valuable insight into the terminologies of
small well-defined areas, as well as a basis for discussion of how particular
terminologies, for instance particular automobile parts produced by specific
manufacturers, differ from the general model. This system of organisation is
very sensitive to global alterations in technical language, as well as to gradual
alterations in the course of time: diachronic change.
8.7
Diachronic Change
Figure 8D contains a list of terms centred on the concept drum brake. If the
book had been written in the nineteen-fifties this section of the glossary would
have been virtually the same. Drum brakes have reached an evolutionary deadend. No changes in their technology have taken place for many years; their
terminology has become fixed and will probably remain so until drum brakes
themselves are replaced by something else one day. Similar considerations apply
to the battery.
Other areas are in a constant state of change. In the nineteen-eighties many
cars still had two cables connected to the carburettor: the accelerator cable and
the choke cable. Nowadays most vehicles have an automatic choke system. Only
accelerator cable warrants inclusion in an up-to-date modern dictionary.
Similarly, what was once an optional extra for more expensive vehicles, a
tandem brake system (Ge. Zweikreis-Bremsanlage), which enables the front brakes
to continue working when the rear brakes fail (or vice versa), has now become
a standard fitting for all motor vehicles. There is no longer any need to distinguish between single and tandem systems. The terms are becoming obsolete and,
like choke cable, no longer warrant inclusion in glossaries, except as a footnote.
And there are cases where technology itself seems to regress and expressions
are rekindled which were thought to be vanishing. Throughout the history of
automobile engines the camschaft which operates the inlet and exhaust valves
was driven by a chain, the so-called timing chain, which never slipped, required
no maintenance and often lasted the full lifetime of the engine. The nineteennineties witnessed a transition to timing belts operated by timing pulleys (Ge.
Riemenscheibe), which slip or break perpetually and need to be changed at every
60,000 km service.
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70
Automotive engineering
Language is in a constant state of change and technical language alters too
in the course of time. One great advantage of the conceptual system of organisation is that obsolete terminology really stands out and can be removed or
shifted, together with all subordinate terms associated with the obsolete
concept, as a complete block. Updating a hierarchic glossary makes room for new
concepts to flower with new associated terminology. Translators who acquire
the intellectual expertise for handling conceptual arrangements and employ
them for their own terminology not only keep engineering concepts alive in
their own minds, they ensure that their data-bases never become dated.
8.8
Term Spotting
In view of the large volume of material covered, and the likelihood that the disk
user will be vaguely familiar with the most frequent terminology, Chapter 8
devotes less space to the detailed description of concepts than its predecessors.
The information is nevertheless there, but in concentrated form: within the
glossaries. Consider the following extract from the microthesaurus of Figure 8F:
capacitance
Kapazität f
m: capacitor; u: ignition system.
capacitor
Kondensator m
u: electronic ignition system (capacitative-discharge ignition system).
capacity
Füllmenge f
m: fuel tank; tu: litre; d: maximum amount of fuel which the tank can hold.
capacity
Kapazität f
m: condenser; tu: microfarad; ps: capacitance.
capacity
Ladekapazität f
m: car battery; tu: amp.hour (Ah).
condenser
Kondensator m
u: conventional ignition system; cs: capacitor.
engine performance
Motorleistung
d: how well the engine copes with fast driving, steep hills; ct: engine power.
engine power
Motorleistung
m: engine; tu: kW; ct: former concept horsepower.
engine speed
Drehzahl f
m: engine; tu: rpm (revolutions per minute); d: rotational speed.
pushrod
Stößel m
d: rod attached to brake pedal operating the master cylinder plunger.
pushrod
Stößel m
p: engine; d: rod lifted by a cam to push open one of the valves.
8.8Term Spotting
tappet rod
Stößel m
cs: pushrod; a: camshaft, valve tappets.
throttle rod
Drosselklappenwelle f
p: carburettor; d: rotatable shaft attached to the throttle.
tie-rod
Spurstange f
d: rod connecting one of the front wheels to the steering assembly.
Note the following observations:
i. capacitance, capacitor, capacity
There are at least three different interpretations of capacity within the field,
distinguished among other things, by their typical units (tu): litre, microfarad,
amp-hour (Ah). One interpretation is considered substandard by engineers
outside the field. The preferred synonym (ps) is capacitance, a parameter related
to two devices present in an ignition system, the capacitor and the condenser. The
devices themselves are not radically different. One term is used in connection
with electronic ignition systems, the other with conventional ones.
ii. power, performance, speed
The German expression Motorleistung has two meanings. On the one hand it
denotes engine power, a specific parameter measured in kilowatts (previously in
the unit horsepower), on the other engine performance, a vague conception
applicable more to the intuitive feeling of the driver of how well the engine
performs on steep hills, motorways, etc. A related entry shows that speed is not
translated by Tempo or Geschwindigkeit in this context, but Drehzahl.
iii. rod
The terms pushrod and tappet rod are near synonyms in the context of engines,
but there is a different concept pushrod in the area of brake systems, for which
there is no alternative expression. By chance, German employs Stößel for both
concepts, but not for throttle rod, tie-rod. Their German equivalents Welle,
Stange reappear many times in the same glossary too, with other interpretations:
shaft, spindle, bar.
Virtually every chapter of the disk ends with one or more detailed thesauri, each
containing a multitude of examples like the above. The large, main Technical
Thesaurus of Volume 2 includes many additional, often more complex engineering conceptions. Ideally, not only the chapters of the e-book should be read
like a true book, from cover to cover, but also the thesauri. Translators who
wish to improve their proficiency should conduct regular term-spotting or
rather polyseme-spotting exercises of this nature.
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Unit 9
Mechanical Engineering
Many of the younger generation of translators spend their lives glued to
a monitor screen, clicking L2 substitutions from electronic dictionaries
directly into their translations almost without bothering to read them.
Speed is essential; quality is neglected. The reader is free to use (or
rather misuse) the e-book in the same way, but valuable information is
lost and, with a little prior preparation, there is no need for this sacrifice.
Now that the reader is becoming familiar with the thesaurus technique,
it is convenient to take another giant leap forward, to Chapter 14, and
examine other approaches to the disk. This time instead of presenting a
contents list of the chapter sections, the unit begins with a glossary,
Figure 14, the Microthesaurus of Nautical, Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering Terminology:
aerofoil
(–)
u: aircraft; p: body or wings; ex: fin, aileron, wing flap.
airframe
Flugzeuggerippe n
d: structural unit of an aircraft or missile; ct: propulsion unit.
aileron
Querruder n
p: movable control surface of an aircraft wing.
anticyclone
Hochdruckgebiet n
u: meteorology; d: atmospheric region of high pressure; a: fine weather.
boosters
Trägerraketen pl
d: lateral rockets which take a spacecraft into a terrestrial orbit.
buoyancy
Auftrieb m
t: upward thrust; u: boat, ship or other floating body; ct: lift.
celestial body
Himmelskörper m
ex: star, planet, moon, asteroid, comet.
communication satellite
Nachrichtensatellit m
cs: comsat; u: telephone/radio links, broadcasting; ct: metsat.
cyclone
Tiefdruckgebiet n
d: atmospheric region of low pressure; a: cloudy weather; ct: anticyclone.
drag
Widerstand m
74
Mechanical engineering
t: force opposing motion; ex: magnetic drag, frictional drag;
drag
Luftwiderstand m
u: aircraft, balloon, helicopter; cs: atmospheric drag.
drag
Strömungswiderstand m
u: boat, ship, missile, submarine; cs: current drag.
fairing
Verkleidung; Verschalung
t: smooth structure intended to reduce drag; u: train, aircraft, etc.
fin
Flosse f
u: aircraft; d: vertical aerofoil providing directional stability.
fuselage
Flugzeugrumpf m
d: body of a plane; ct: hull (of a ship).
geostationary orbit
geostationäre Bahn
d: orbit where satellite motion is synchronised to the earth’s rotation.
ground control
Bodenstation f
u: rocket launching, satellite control, space probe communication.
helm
Ruder n, Steuer n
u: ship; d: position of control.
helm
Ruderspinne f
d: wheel controlling the steering of a ship.
hull
Schi¬srumpf m
d: body of a ship or submarine; ct: fuselage.
landing module
Landekapsel f
p: spacecraft, space probe; d: section landing on a celestial body.
launch pad
Startrampe f
u: rocket or missile launching.
lift
Auftrieb m
t: upward thrust; u: aircraft, helicopter, balloon; ct: buoyancy.
meteorology
Wetterkunde f
d: study of the earth’s weather a: metsats (meteorological satellites).
oar
Ruder n
u: rowing boat (Ge. Ruderboot); ct: rudder, helm.
orbit
Umlaufbahn f
d: constant elliptical path of one celestial body around another.
pitch
neigen
u: aircraft; d: turning about a lateral axis (e.g. nose down).
pitch
Neigung
d: degree of turning about a lateral axis; ct: yaw, roll;
precipitation
Niederschlag m
u: meteorology; d: rain, snow, hail, sleet.
roll
schlingern
u: ship, aircraft; d: side to side movement; ct: pitch, yaw.
rudder
Ruder n
u: ship; d: component at the stern used for controlling direction.
rudder
Ruder n
Mechanical Engineering
u: aircraft; d: movable auxiliary aerofoil attached to the fin.
satellite
Satellit m
t: man-made celestial body; ex: comsat, metsat, spysat.
satellite
Trabant m
u: moon orbiting a planet, planet orbiting a star, etc.
space probe
Raumsonde f
t: spacecraft or satellite for direct research on celestial bodies.
space shuttle
Raumfähre f
t: reusable passenger stage of a spacecraft; a: space station.
space station
Raumstation f
d: manned research satellite in a terrestrial orbit; ex: Mir.
stern
Heck n
d: rear area of a ship, submarine or other sea-going vessel.
tail
Heck n
p: aeroplane.
thrust
Schubkraft f, Schub m
d: force providing motion in the required direction; tu: newton.
upward thrust
Auftrieb m
t: force; a: material displacement; ct: weight; u: aircraft, ship, etc.
wing
Tragfläche f, Tragflügel m
p: aircraft; ct: fuselage, tail, rudder, fin, aileron.
yaw
gieren
u: aircraft, spacecraft; d: deviating from a straight course.
The glossary immediately reveals terms with several distinct conceptual
interpretations, drag, helm, pitch, rudder, thrust, and likely pitfalls for
inexperienced translators from German: Auftrieb (buoyancy, upward
thrust, lift). The reader will find these and other related thesaurus entries in the chapter. They are discussed briefly in the extracts below.
The layout of the early disk chapters encourages the reader to first
examine the text and later the glossaries. This unit tests the opposite
approach as a viable alternative. It then extends this technique to relevant
sections of another area of the book, Chapter 13: Construction Engineering.
Note: Chapter 14 is headed Mechanical Engineering, but really all it does is
to tie up some loose ends from earlier chapters involving this field. The
broad terminology of mechanical engineering occurs in Chapters 1, 8, 9, 12,
13 in other contexts. Chapter 14 deals with the heavy mechanical engineering aspects of railway/railroad technology, nautical, aeronautical, aerospace engineering.
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Mechanical engineering
9.1
Streamlining
Mechanical engineers design the engines of ships, submarines, aircraft and
rockets; the control systems are the domain of electrical and electronics experts;
the structures for assembling and stabilising large ships, heavy planes and multistage space rockets are the responsibility of construction engineers. Nautical
and aeronautical engineers deal primarily with the design of hydrodynamic hulls
(ships) and aerodynamic air-frames (aircraft). Aerodynamic design is important
in the automobile industry too and certain other areas, such as railway vehicles.
The term covering both aero- and hydrodynamic design is streamlining.
Nautical, aeronautical and aerospace engineers design sea-, air- or spacecraft which move as efficiently as possible in the respective medium. Streamlined craft disturb the streams of air or water as little as possible and consequently create the minimum turbulence and minimum air/water resistance, socalled drag. The design of such craft requires extensive computer simulation
and employs complex mathematical models. Only for equipment designed for
use outside the earth’s atmosphere, does streamlining lose its relevance, giving
way to other crucial engineering factors: the effects of temperature extremes,
high velocities, bombardment with ionised particles, etc.
The engines of planes, helicopters, rockets, submarines and ships develop
thrust (Ge. Schubkraft), namely they expel accelerated particles which propel the
craft forwards. The engines (or turbines) themselves and the type of fuel (steam,
diesel, nuclear, chemical) differ greatly but the method of propulsion is the
same in each case: Newton’s Principle of Action/Reaction. The force with which
particles are expelled creates an equal and opposite force, a so-called reaction,
that propels the craft forwards. It functions even in vacuum (outer space).
In view of superficial similarities between Nautical and Aeronautical
Technology from the viewpoint of the physicist or engineer, some German
expressions (e.g. Auftrieb, Heck, Ruder, Rumpf) have different meanings within
the two fields and radically different English equivalents. These terms are
discussed in the sections below.
9.2
Drag, Lift, Thrust, Buoyancy
Four forces act upon a moving aircraft, such as a passenger plane: thrust, drag,
lift, gravity (Ge. Schub, Luftwiderstand, Auftrieb, Gewicht). The force of gravity
results from the weight of the plane and is counterbalanced by the upward thrust
9.3Fuselage, Hull, Helm, Rudder
due to the weight of the atmosphere above this altitude, a force denoted by the
term lift. The same forces act on a submerged submarine and the same terminology applies. Thrust, in other words the forward or reverse thrust developed by
the engines of the plane/submarine, is opposed by drag, the friction forces
resulting from the surrounding atmosphere/water. The forces acting on a ship
or other floating vessel are the same, but as the vessel remains at the surface the
terminology differs slightly: thrust, drag, buoyancy, weight. Certain sea-going
vessels, such as hovercraft, move above the water surface. They depend on lift as
well as buoyancy and are designed and operated by aeronautical rather than
nautical engineers. German tends to employ the same expression Auftriebskraft
for lift, buoyancy and upward thrust, and Gewichtskraft for both gravity and
weight.
9.3
Fuselage, Hull, Helm, Rudder
Other terminology is common to both Nautical and Aeronautical Engineering
though semantic connotations obviously differ. Boats have rudders to assist in
steering. One of the tail components of a plane is also called a rudder and helps
the plane to respond when entering or leaving a turn. The other tail components are: the elevator, which enables the plane to ascend or descend; the
horizontal/vertical stabilisers, fixed attachments to the air frame. The wing
components, the so-called ailerons and flaps, enable the plane to tilt to the right
or left, a movement known as banking. Streamlining considerations for aircraft
centre mainly on the angle and design of the wing struts in relation to the
fuselage, and the facilities for raising the landing gear. For sea-going vessels, the
shape of the hull determines the streamlining efficiency. Once again, analogies
appear in German terminology: the same term Rumpf corresponds to hull or
fuselage.
The German expression Ruder denotes both the rudder of a ship and that of
an aircraft. It can also refer to helm, the place where the ship’s direction is
controlled, or, in another context, to the oar of a small boat or dinghy. Helm in
English has a more basic meaning too. It refers to the ship’s wheel (cs: tiller)
which enables the captain or helmsman to steer the vessel. This well-known
device with numerous spider-like handles corresponds to the German Ruderspinne. A third polyseme to mention in passing is the German Heck, corresponding to the tail of a plane or the stern of a sea-going vessel.
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Mechanical engineering
9.4
Pitch, Roll, Yaw
Just as locomotives are restricted to railways so planes moving in the same
direction are channeled onto airways. These flight lanes are specified by altitude
and help prevent collisions. For instance, certain eastbound flights are at 15,500
feet, westbound 1000 feet above them. Intercontinental flights take place mainly
above 35,000 feet (10,000m) where use can be made of jet streams, fast moving
air currents which help conserve fuel and shorten the flight time.
The pilot has three control axes: the yaw, a measure of the deviation from a
straight course; the pitch, the amount by which the nose rises or falls with
respect to the tail; the roll, the rocking movement of the wings. The same terms
are used in connection with rockets, missiles and spacecraft, and yaw is used in
nautical navigation. The expressions yaw, pitch, roll occur mainly as verbs (Ge.
gieren, neigen, schlingern) and are equally common in Nautical and Aeronautical
Engineering.
Note: Pitch occurs again and again in technology. It can imply: the distance
between adjacent grooves of a screwthread; the distance between adjacent atoms
in a stable solid; the frequency or acoustic level of a particular note, sound or
noise; the flying and sailing terms described above. These are extensions of a
common basic meaning but only remotely related. Hence, their German
equivalents are entirely different: Gewindeabstand, Atomabstand, Tonhöhe,
Neigung. As well as the polysemes pitch, an unrelated constructional-engineering homonym occurs too: pitch, a material used in road surfacing (Ge. Pech).
9.5
Construction Terminology
The approach demonstrated above employs examples taken directly from just
a small extract of Chapter 14. The technique is also applicable to Chapter 13,
which deals with Construction Engineering. The unit continues with a few
extracts from this chapter, that are also relevant to Mechanical Engineering.
This time the thesaurus (Figure 13) is not reproduced, but a lot of the information discussed in the rest of this unit can be deduced directly from it. The
examples demonstrate another aspect of technical translation too: the fact that
identical terminology occurs in different fields. Many of the terms reappear in
earlier chapters and some have been mentioned already in this handbook.
The basic terminology of construction design derives from Physics and
contains expressions like tension, compression, stress, strain, moment, torque,
9.6Stress, Strain, Deformation
torsion described in Chapter 1. Forces applied to bridges, winches or crane jibs
produce stresses in the materials concerned, which result in strain; different
stresses, such as tensile, bending or torsional stress, cause materials to fail (to
fracture or rupture) in different ways. Texts dealing with material strengths
involve translators in terminologies derived from Metallurgy and Materials
Science. Those concerning structural design require most of all a sound knowledge of Solid-Body Mechanics, the scientific basis of Construction Engineering.
9.6
Stress, Strain, Deformation
Chapter 1 discusses the broad engineering considerations of bars, rods, girders,
columns and other rigid members used for structural applications, and it outlines
the distinction tie/strut. This section returns to this topic, taking a closer look at
the concepts stress/strain (Ge. Spannung/Dehnung).
The amount of stress occuring in any member of a construction, for instance
a bar, depends on the position of the member relative to other members in the
structure, as well as on the position and magnitude of the load. Simple structures involve two main varieties of stress: tensile, compressive. These lead to
corresponding strains. Tensile strain occuring in a metal bar is often expressed
as a percentage. It denotes the ratio of the minute increase in the length of the
bar to its length when no load is applied and the bar is unstressed. In the same
way, compressive strain refers to the proportional or percentage reduction in the
length of a bar subjected to compressive stress, for example when the load is
applied from above. The ratio of stress to strain is constant for the material
concerned over a range of loading. The constant itself is termed Young’s
Modulus of Elasticity (symbol E) and has the same physical dimensions as stress.
Materials used in constructional applications, such as steel or aluminium,
are said to exhibit elastic stress-strain behaviour, implying that deformations are
temporary and that members made of such materials return to their original
shapes immediately the stress is removed. Beyond a certain point however, the
so-called yield point of the stress–strain diagram, permanent deformation (Ge.
bleibende Verformung) does take place. The material stretches and strainhardening is said to occur as the region of plastic stress-strain behaviour is
entered. The above considerations concern rigid members (bars, girders, etc.)
but are equally applicable to wires, cable suspensions and other non-metallic
construction materials, such as plastics themselves (Ge. Kunststoffe).
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Mechanical engineering
9.7
Fatigue, Creep, Dislocation
Engineers dealing with composite structures have to analyse not just the tensile
and compressive stress aspect but also the effects of bending and torsion. These
lead to a three-dimensional system of stresses, the analysis of which requires
complex mathematics involving the use of stress vectors to depict linear and
rotational forces at incremental regions of the material. Combinations of these
forces result in shear stresses which occur at an angle to the axis of the member
concerned and can cause material fracture or rupture when the normal breaking
strength (i.e. ultimate rupture strength) of the material is exceeded.
Perfectly elastic materials resume their shape when the stress is removed.
Perfectly plastic ones adopt the new shape. Ductile materials can be permanently
stretched, whereas brittle ones rupture immediately. Most materials exhibit all
these properties somewhere along the stress/strain curve. When a material is
subjected to repeated stress, this leads to fatigue (Ge. Ermüdung), a process
whereby fractures occur at points of high stress (e.g. sharp corners, riveted
holes) which then spread throughout the material.
The term creep (Ge. Dehnung, Ausdehnung) denotes the gradual increase in
length or distortion in shape which occurs when a material is subjected to long
periods of constant stress. This is a problem in the turbine blades of jet aircraft,
especially due to the high temperatures involved. Soft metals (e.g. lead) and
many plastics show considerable creep even at room temperature.
From the viewpoint of the materials scientist, elastic deformation involves an
increase in molecular separation (the distances between molecules), whereas
plastic deformation concerns whole rows of molecules slipping across one
another to new locations. Gaps occur in the material leading to dislocations (Ge.
Störstelle). Materials can be strengthened by introducing foreign atoms into the
lattice which hinder the movement of dislocations, for example carbon diffused
into steel. Materials without dislocations are very strong. But, so far, perfect
metallic crystals have only been achieved for tiny pieces of material a few
microns in length, so-called whiskers.
9.8
Gap, Hole, Foreign Atom, Impurity
The German terminology of this field, with expressions like Lücke, Fremdatom
(E. gap, foreign atom), sometimes leads inexperienced translators and careless
lexicographers to imagine they are dealing with the same terms in the field of
9.8Gap, Hole, Foreign Atom, Impurity
Semiconductor Materials (Chap. 5). But here the English equivalents are hole,
impurity atom. The purity standards imposed on semiconductor materials are
much more stringent than those to which metals are normally subjected; thus
the science of construction materials employs expressions like foreign atom,
foreign substance, strengthening substance. The contextual synonym impurity,
when used, has very different connotations from the carefully injected individual atoms of phosphorus, arsenic, etc. employed in the semiconductor industry.
Moreover, though the engineering concepts Loch/Lücke are not always as
carefully distinguished in German, their English counterparts hole/gap have very
different significances: holes imply missing electrons, whereas gaps are missing
atoms.
81
Unit 10
Technical Polyseme Dictionary
By now, the reader has acquired a superficial command of the terminology described in six of the sixteen engineering chapters. It is time to
introduce the dictionary sections of the second volume, the first of
which is the Technical Polyseme Dictionary (TPD). This unit reorganises the
fields covered by the dictionary, and discusses them collectively, so that
their codes, the mnemonic labels attached to terminology, can be memorised in order of importance rather than at random. It then discusses
the main features of the TPD itself.
The TPD supplies a basic engineering terminology for all linguists
embarking on careers as German-English technical translators. It provides terminology in both languages corresponding to the key concepts
discussed in Volume 1 and takes the reader beyond this initial basis to
other fields of engineering. Synonymy, hyponymy, contrast and other
semantic relations among engineering terms are revealed by a variety of
organisational techniques involving entry blocks, indentation, field codes
and thesaurus descriptors, and the dictionary provides information on
concept specification and polyseme recognition for use in conjunction with the
Technical Thesaurus. The TPD achieves a substantial increase in lexicological information compared to a conventional dictionary (an ordinary
bilingual alphabetic glossary), with virtually no increase in size.
10.1 Subject Fields
The set of field codes below are the most frequent ones. They denote global
engineering fields and correspond to major sections of Volume 1.
auto Automobile Technology
aero
chem Chemical Engineering
hyd
cons Construction Engineering naut
Aeronautics
Hydraulic Engineering
Nautical Engineering
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Technical polyseme dictionary
dps
elec
elnc
emat
mach
mech
nucl
semi
Data-Processing Systems pow
Electrical Engineering
rail
Electronics
rock
Engineering Materials
stea
Machine Technology
wast
Mechanical Engineering
Nuclear Technology
Semiconductor Technology
Power Transmission
Railway Engineering
Rockets & Missiles
Steam Engines
Waste Disposal
Terms on the left cover the contents of one or more entire engineering chapters.
Those on the right, e.g. Hydraulic Engineering (supply systems, waste-water
flow), Steam Engines (locomotives, steamships), are associated with broader
areas, such as Mechanical Engineering, but have specific terminologies of their
own. The dictionaries also contain names of subject fields themselves, such as
Chemie, Dynamik, Schallehre (Chemistry, Dynamics, Acoustics). These are
entered with the field code: subj (Subject Field).
The book employs the following field codes for Physics branches:
acu
astr
elec
elsc
flud
gas
Acoustics
Astronomy
Electricity
Electrostatics
Fluid Dynamics
Gases and Vapours
magn
mech
opt
oscn
wave
Magnetism
Mechanics
Optics
Oscillations
Waves
Observant readers will notice that the codes mech, elec (Mechanics, Electricity) reappear but designate apparently different fields to those listed above
(Mechanical, Electrical Engineering). This is because the engineering fields stem
directly from the Physics branches and employ all the terminology of the latter.
It is true that a physicist would not be familiar with the complete terminologies
of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, but the difficulties of differentiating
Mechanics and Electricity from their engineering counterparts, and the absence
of any real advantage to the translator in doing so, mean that the same dictionary symbol is employed for both the engineering field and its smaller scientific
subfield. There are Physics terms which appear throughout the subject, and
throughout engineering (e.g. energy, power, work), but are not restricted to any
of the branches above. These are labelled phys (Physics).
Just as there is no clear dividing line between certain engineering fields and
their original scientific basis in Physics, so terms from Mathematics and other
10.1Subject Fields
areas of Science occur in translation assignments too. The book provides
terminology from the following areas:
atom
chem
geom
graf
lab
math
mats
Atomic Physics
Chemistry
Geometry
Graphs & Charts
Laboratory Apparatus
Mathematics
Materials Science
meas
met
nucl
phot
radn
subs
Precision Measurement
Meters & Gauges
Nucleonics
Photography
Radiation
Chemical Substances
Two small remarks are appropriate:
i.
The fields Geometry (geom) and Graphs (graf) are distinguished from
their main field Mathematics (math) in the hope that, in the dictionaries,
translators may recognise certain concepts from their early schooldays.
Terminology from areas of Mathematics less familiar to linguists, such as
Matrix Algebra, Differential Calculus, Vector Analysis, Trigonometry is not
distinguished in this manner.
ii. The codes chem and nucl denote the scientific fields Chemistry and
Nucleonics. They reappear earlier in the section, where they designate
Chemical/Nuclear Engineering. The situation is analogous to that of mech/
elec above.
The remaining codes correspond to small subfields and related fields subsidiary
to the mainstream of engineering. They happen to have fairly large terminologies.
1. Automobile Engineering (auto)
brak Braking Systems
ign
engn Engines
runn
fuel Fuel Systems
2. Electrical and Electronic Engineering (elec/elnc)
batt Batteries
sdev
eent Electronic Entertainment tran
lamp Lamps & Fittings
tv
rem
Remote Control Systems
3. General Equipment (gen)
bike Bicycles
hous
clok Clocks & Watches
off
frig Refrigerators, Freezers
tool
Ignition Systems
Running Gear
Semiconductor Devices
Transformers
Televisions, Monitors
Household
Office Equipment
Tools
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Technical polyseme dictionary
Though it would be possible in some cases to replace the field code by a broader
subject designation (e.g. auto, elec, mech), important information might be
lost. Moreover, it is often difficult to decide whether for instance the terminology of Batteries (batt) belongs under Electrical or Chemical Engineering, and
whether Clocks & Watches (clok) is part of Mechanical Engineering. The codes
remain, but as the terminology is needed less frequently these codes are the last
ones the reader needs to memorise.
10.2 Variation, Gender
The TPD adopts the following convention regarding the two main variants of
technical English: expressions used only in British English, but not in American,
are marked Br; those appearing in American but not in British are designated Am.
There are not many engineering areas where discrepancies occur and even
where they do exist (automobiles, railways, household plumbing) subject
specialists on both sides of the Atlantic are generally familiar with both variants.
To enable the translator to achieve consistency, however, especially in work
involving technical advertising, the above symbols are also used when a
particular expression is the preferred form in either one of the two variants.
The usual gender symbols are employed, but as unnecessary genders occupy
valuable space, the TPD adopts simplifications. These are defined explicitly in
the dictionary introduction and may be evident in the examples following.
10.3 Polysemy
Entries derived from polysemous root terms such as Fläche (area, surface, space,
face, interface) are organised as follows:
Fläche f:
Fläche
Fläche
bearbeitete Fläche
Bodenfläche
Grenzfläche
Kontaktfläche
Kristallfläche
math
phys
mach
hous
sdev
ign
mats
area
surface
machined surface
floor space
junction interface
contact face
crystal face
10.4Hyponymy
Oberfläche
Querschnittsfläche
Reibungsfläche
Flächeninhalt m
gen
math
mech
math
surface
cross-sectional area
friction surface
surface area
The main entry is complete with gender but without an English translation of
the lexeme itself. Compound expressions are indented and appear as a block in
alphabetic order, without duplication of gender. Basic interpretations of the
polyseme (e.g. Fläche — area, Fläche — surface) precede the set of compounds
and may modify them in specific contexts, for example surface area, floor area,
machined area are unlisted possible interpretations of Fläche, Bodenfläche,
bearbeitete Fläche. Terms containing the main entry in initial position (e.g.
Flächeninhalt) follow the main entry block, provided that they are adjacent
alphabetically.
10.4 Hyponymy
Not all entry blocks concern polysemes. Some involve hyponyms which are
grouped together for convenience and appear as follows:
Bewegung f
Drehbewegung
gleichförmige Bewegung
Schwingbewegung
Wärmebewegung
phys
astr
phys
acu
atom
motion, movement
rotary motion
uniform motion
oscillatory motion
thermal motion
Hyponym entry blocks are easily distinguishable from those containing
polysemes, as the main entry or common root of the hyponyms (e.g. Bewegung)
is provided with an English equivalent itself. Any alternatives cover the compounds too. Thus Drehbewegung is listed as rotary motion, but rotary movement
can be inferred as an non-preferable alternative from the structure of the group.
10.5 Homonymy
Obvious homonyms such as Scheibe (disc, pulley, washer) as opposed to Scheibe
(window, windscreen, pane) are listed as separate entry blocks in order to
distinguish the two sets of meanings:
87
88
Technical polyseme dictionary
Scheibe f:
Bremsscheibe
Mattscheibe
Riemenscheibe
Schleifscheibe
Unterlegscheibe
brak
phot
mech
mach
mech
brake disc
focussing screen
pulley
grind wheel
plain washer
Scheibe f(2):
Fensterscheibe
getönte Scheibe
Seitenscheibe
Windschutzscheibe
hous
auto
auto
auto
window pane
tinted window
side window
windscreen (Am. windschield)
Other examples are: Welle (shaft, spindle), Welle (wave, waveform); Stärke
(strength, intensity), Stärke (starch); Lehre (gauge, meter), Lehre (e.g. Gruppenlehre — group theory). A few homonyms are distinguished by gender, such as
Messer,-m (gauge, meter), Messer,-n (knife, cutting tool) or Leiter,-m (conductor, waveguide), Leiter,-f (ladder). These too are listed separately.
10.6 Entry Blocks
The above approach, namely the splitting of lexically similar terminology into
separate entry blocks is also employed for related expressions (i.e. polysemes as
opposed to homonyms) when the number of compounds happens to be very
large. For example, those entered at Stoff (substance), Stoff2 (material):
Stoff m:
Stoff (cs: Substanz)
gefährlicher Stoff
giftiger Stoff
gelöster Stoff
Schadstoff
strahlender Stoff
Trägerstoff
chem
chem
chem
chem
chem
radn
chem
substance
hazardous substance
toxic substance
solute
harmful substance
radio-substance
substrate
Stoff(2):
Stoff (cs: Werkstoff)
Baustoff
Dotierstoff
gen
cons
semi
material
building material
dopant
10.6Entry Blocks
Halbleiterwerkstoff
Isolierstoff
Klebstoff
Kunststoff
Rohstoff
semi
elec
mach
mat
gen
semiconductor material
insulation
adhesive
plastic
raw material
The structures of the blocks concerned enable the reader to infer the correct
superordinate engineering concept, for instance that gelöster Stoff (solute)
concerns a “substance”, whereas for Dotierstoff (dopant) the global term is
“material”. Double entry blocks for polysemes are distinguished from those for
homonyms by the fact that the gender is not repeated in the second or subsequent blocks. Moreover, the first term may be accompanied by a small thesaurus statement which helps to narrow the global concept and identify the criteria
for the blocks. The statements “cs: Werkstoff” and “cs: Substanz” reveal that the
German expressions Werkstoff, Substanz are contextual synonyms of Stoff in the
areas indicated.
After dividing terminology the blocks may still be large. Indeed, the above
examples are merely extracts from the TPD at the entry Stoff. The advantages of
further subdivision must be weighed against the accessibility. Thus the wide
variety of interpretations of the German term Kraft (force, lift, thrust, tension,
power, etc.) are presented according to the following structure:
Kraft f:
Kraft
Abstoßungskraft
Antriebskraft
…
Gewichtskraft
Hebelkraft
Kernbindungskräfte
…
Reibungskraft
Saitenspannkraft
Schubkraft
Stoßkraft
Verbiegungskräfte
Kraft(2):
Bremskraft
Kernkraft
phys
elsc
mech
force
repulsive force
propulsive force
phys
phys
nucl
(force of) gravity
leverage
nuclear (binding) forces
phys
acu
aero
phys
mech
friction
string tension
thrust
force of impact
bending forces
brak
nucl
braking power
nuclear power
89
90
Technical polyseme dictionary
Spannkraft
Wärmekraft
mat
pow
elasticity
heat
There is a large block of alphabetic terms, all of which concern the physical
quantity force (Chapter 1), followed by a small block of mixed terms none of
which have anything to do with the concept force. The entries below Kraft(1) are
related hyponyms stemming from the basic engineering concept force, whereas
those grouped under Kraft(2) involve unrelated polysemes from entirely
different technical fields.
Such decisions may seem arbitrary at first, but as the reader progresses and
begins to understand the content of Volume 1 the relevant lexicographical
criteria become apparent, by close comparison of the entries themselves.
10.7 Indentation
It is conceivable that terminology relating to the concepts motor/engine (Ge.
Motor) could be arranged in the TPD as follows:
Elektromotor
Drehstrommotor
Gleichstrommotor
Hilfsmotor
Hilfsmotor
Synchronmotor
Wechselstrommotor
…
Motor
Dieselmotor
leistungsstarker Motor
Magermotor
schadstoffarmer Motor
Ottomotor
elec
elec
elec
auto
elnc
elec
elec
motor, electric motor
three-phase motor
dc motor
auxiliary motor
servomotor
synchronous motor
ac motor
auto
auto
auto
auto
auto
auto
engine; motor (Am.)
diesel engine
high-performance engine
lean engine, lean runner
clean-exhaust engine
petrol engine
The separate entry blocks reveal that for the terms listed below Motor (engine)
the substitution motor is common in American (diesel motor, etc.), whereas for
expressions below Elektromotor the substitution engine is not possible under any
circumstances. “Three-phase engine”, “dc engine”, “servoengine” … are serious
translation errors.
10.9Concept Specification, Target Language
Nonetheless, if a separate entry block is incorporated for Elektromotor at a
different point in the dictionary (where words begin Elek- rather than Motor-)
the user needs to know that for instance Drehstrommotor is to be found there
and not at Motor. The lexicological dilemma is resolved by indenting the blocks
and placing them together as a joint entry “Motor”.
Motor m:
Motor
Dieselmotor
leistungsstarker Motor
Magermotor
schadstoffarmer Motor
Ottomotor
Elektromotor
Drehstrommotor
Gleichstrommotor
Hilfsmotor
Hilfsmotor
Synchronmotor
Wechselstrommotor
auto
auto
auto
auto
auto
auto
elec
elec
elec
auto
elnc
elec
elec
engine; motor (Am.)
diesel engine
high-performance engine
lean engine, lean runner
clean-exhaust engine
petrol engine
motor, electric motor
three-phase motor
dc motor
auxiliary motor
servomotor
synchronous motor
ac motor
Indentation provides a convenient alternative to entry block separation when
important semantic features are not evident from the terms themselves. Here
for instance, the features of Elektromotor relate to Synchronmotor but not to
Magermotor.
10.8 Secondary Indentation
When the number of compounds belonging to a certain block is not too great,
indentation provides a way of separating different lexicological aspects of the
terminology, especially polysemy from hyponymy. For example:
Träger m:
Dachgepäckträger
Eisenträger
Flugzeugträger
Ladungsträger
frei beweglicher L.
auto
cons
naut
semi
mats
roof rack
steel girder
aircraft carrier
charge carrier
mobile charge carrier
91
92
Technical polyseme dictionary
Majoritätsträger
Minoritätsträger
Nadelträger
Radträger
semi
semi
ster
auto
majority carrier
minority carrier
stylus holder
hub carrier
Here, the English translation of the hyponym Majoritätsträger (majority carrier)
is located below the polysemous entry Träger (unspecified), indented beneath
its generic superordinate Ladungsträger (charge carrier). Its antonym Minoritätsträger (minority carrier) is also evident from the structure of the entry block,
and so is a related concept: frei beweglicher Ladungsträger (mobile carrier).
Consider another example:
Bahn f:
Bahn
Flugbahn
Hyperbelbahn
Kreisbahn
Kurvenbahn
Spiralbahn
Eisenbahn
Fahrbahn
Führungsbahn
Straßenbahn
Umlaufbahn
Ellipsenbahn
Kreisbahn
phys
rock
nucl
nucl
rock
nucl
rail
auto
mech
gen
phys
astr
astr
path
trajectory
hyperbolic path
circular path
curved path
spiral path
railway, railroad (Am.)
lane
guide track
tram, streetcar (Am.)
orbit
elliptical orbit
circular orbit
The example demonstrates that the English term trajectory is a hyponym of
path, and that the German expressions Ellipsenbahn, Kreisbahn are possible
hyponyms of Umlaufbahn (orbit). The hyponym information is separate from
that relating to the polyseme Bahn (railway, lane, track, etc.).
Compromises are necessary though, as for the separate entry blocks of the
previous sections. The advantages of secondary indentation must be weighed
against the increased access time. Moreover, the limited space of the printed
page or monitor screen makes further indentation difficult. Decisions such as
whether to place the sub-block Umlaufbahn below Bahn and thus indicate that
orbit is a hyponym of path depend not on semantic criteria but merely on the
number of letters in the terms involved.
Entry block divisions and indentations provide valuable intuitive insights
into polysemy, homonymy, hyponymy, synonymy, antonymy and other
10.9Concept Specification, Target Language
lexicological aspects of technical terminology. Terms mentioned in Volume 1
often reappear in compounds throughout the TPD where the structural
arrangements reinforce the reader’s understanding of engineering concepts
once again. In a few cases, however, structural organisation alone does not
specify terminology adequately enough for the purposes of translation. The
remaining sections indicate how such problems are overcome by combining
structural arrangements with thesaurus definitions.
10.9 Concept Specification, Target Language
For a word like Wechselstromwiderstand the given field code (i.e. elec) and the
English translation (impedance) are not sufficient to distinguish it from
Scheinwiderstand, which is listed with the same field code and the same English
equivalent, even though the German terms are not interchangeable. Rather than
ignore such problems, the Polyseme Dictionary attempts to resolve them. It
does so, by using thesaurus descriptors. The entries mentioned are differentiated as follows:
Wechselstromwiderstand
Scheinwiderstand
elec
elec
impedance (t: device)
impedance (t: parameter)
which indicates that one term concerns an electrical device, the other a measurable parameter of such devices. The technique can be extended for small
indented blocks. If space is limited the definition may appear on the left:
Leistung (u: power generation)
Blindleistung
Scheinleistung
Wirkleistung
Leistung (u: circuit design)
Blindleistung
Scheinleistung
Wirkleistung
elec
elec
elec
elec
elnc
elnc
elnc
elnc
volt-amperage
reactive volt-amperage
volt-amperage
effective power
power
reactive power
apparent power
power, real power
This entry reveals that the terms Blind-, Schein-, Wirkleistung in the heavy
electrical engineering context of power generation are translated quite differently
to their counterparts in the distantly related electronics field of circuit design.
Different terminology has arisen for slightly different concepts in one language
but not in the other.
93
94
Technical polyseme dictionary
This method of dictionary organisation is a powerful one for technical
polysemes which are easily overlooked. Consider the Mechanical Engineering
concept Antrieb:
Antrieb m:
Antrieb (u: motor vehicle)
Allradantrieb
Heckantrieb
Vorderradantrieb
Antrieb (u: force transfer)
Kettenantrieb
Riemenantrieb
Zahnradantrieb
Antrieb (u: plane, ship)
Dampfantrieb
Düsenantrieb
Raketenantrieb
Antrieb (tu: newton)
Antrieb (tu: newton)
mech
auto
auto
auto
mech
mech
mech
mech
phys
naut
aero
rock
phys
mech
drive, drive system
four-wheel drive
rear-wheel drive
front-wheel drive
drive, drive mechanism
chain drive
belt drive
gear drive
propulsion system
steam propulsion
jet propulsion
rocket propulsion
propulsive force
driving force, drive
By avoiding the temptation to list the various compounds alphabetically this
entry provides clues to the semantic distinction between drive and propulsion:
one term is used in connection with motor vehicles, the other is associated more
with planes, ships, rockets. Moreover, it differentiates the meanings drive system
and drive mechanism, and reveals that four-wheel, front-wheel, rear-wheel drive
are hyponyms of drive in reference to automobiles whereas the hyponyms chain,
belt, gear drive denote alternative mechanisms for the transfer of a driving force.
The fundamental meanings of Antrieb, both as a physical quantity (i.e. propulsive force, typical unit: newton) and as a parameter in Mechanical Engineering
calculations (driving force), are included separately and the reader might deduce
that propulsion and drive are possible substitutions here too.
10.10 Concept Specification, Source Language
The Thesaurus technique is applicable to the German entry terms as well as the
English translations. Thus the two entry blocks appearing at Bohrer are differentiated by:
10.10Concept Specification, Source Language
Bohrer (p: Bohrmaschine)
Bohrer (t: Bohrmaschine)
mach
mach
drill bit
drill
indicating that one meaning is part of a drill (Ge. Bohrmaschine), the other a
type of drill itself. Another example is the set of acids entered under Säure, for
instance:
Ameisensäure (cs: Methansaüre)
Äthansäure
Carbonsäure (ex: CH3COOH)
Essigsäure (cs: Äthansäure)
Kohlensäure (d: HCO3)
Methansäure
chem
chem
chem
chem
chem
chem
formic acid
ethanoic acid
carbon-based acid
acetic acid, vinegar
carbonic acid
methanoic acid
These entries reveal the additional information that Methansäure, Äthansäure
are contextual synonyms (cs) of Ameisensäure, Essigsäure, thus providing links
to the entries methanoic, ethanoic acid; the distinction between Carbonsäure and
Kohlensäure is that one term designates a class of acids (for example
CH3COOH), the other a particular acid (HCO3).
Entries in the TPD are arranged into subgroups when the advantage in
revealing polysemy, homonymy, hyponymy, synonymy or contrast outweighs
the lexicographical advantage of a simple alphabetic arrangement. Large distinct
subgroups tend to become separate dictionary entries regardless of the attribute
responsible for the size of the group. The reader recognises polysemes immediately, by virtue of the field codes or the dictionary structure itself, thereby
avoiding elementary mistakes in translation even if the desired compound is not
in the dictionary. Thus the TPD is not intended as a global dictionary of all
engineering conceptions. It is a didactic model involving samples of basic
terminology used repeatedly throughout engineering.
95
Unit 11
Chemical Engineering
The approach to the terminology of an engineering discipline varies
according to the field itself. Electrical Engineering involves di~cult
concepts, reactance, phasor, commutator, etc., which can only be described
in context, while Mechanical Engineering concerns entities that are
easier to visualise, so that often translators merely need clearly constructed glossaries and large thesauri of the type given (Figures 8A–F,
etc.). Chemical Engineering (Chapter 10) occupies a midway position.
The Contents List indicates a di¬erent approach too:
10.1
10.2
10.3
10.4
10.5
Metal, Non-Metal
10.1.1
Inert Element, Noble Gas
10.1.2
Precious Metal, Noble Metal, Base Metal
10.1.3
Light Metal, Heavy Metal
Solid, Liquid, Gas, Vapour
10.2.1
Allotrope, Polymorphic Substance
10.2.2
Fluid, Emulsion, Colloid, Gel
10.2.3
Solute, Solvent, Solution
10.2.4
Bond, Radical
Acid, Alkali, Base
10.3.1
Halogen, Salt
10.3.2
Acidity, Basicity, Alkalinity
Oxidation, Reduction, Anion, Cation
10.4.1
Reagent, Catalyst, Inhibitor
10.4.2
Endothermic/Exothermic Reaction
Isomer, Polymer, Hydrocarbon, Carbohydrate
10.5.1
Plastics, Polymers
10.5.2
Alkane, Alkene, Alkyne
10.5.3
Aliphatic/Aromatic Compounds
10.5.4
Sucrose, Glucose, Fructose
10.5.5
Inorganic Compounds
98
Chemical engineering
10.6 Chemical Waste Disposal
10.6.1
Recycling, Reprocessing
10.6.2
Soil Decontamination
10.6.3
Incineration
10.7 Terminology
Figure 10A:
Figure 10B:
Figure 10C:
Figure 10D:
Chemical Compounds
Laboratory Terms
Organic Compounds
Microthesaurus of Chemical Terminology
The chapter is divided into sections whose headings relate, almost
entirely, to contrasting terminology: precious/base metal, solute/solvent, anion/
cation, catalyst/inhibitor, aliphatic/aromatic compound. There are several
glossaries and a lengthy Microthesaurus of Chemical Terminology.
This field has a device for distinguishing related concepts, as powerful as the technique of Chapters 1–2 for di¬erentiating parameters, namely the chemical formula. This is demonstrated by an extract from
Figure 10A, that also illustrates another lexicological arrangement, the
reverse-sorted alphabetic dictionary, or simply reverse dictionary:
carbonic acid
nitric acid
phosphoric acid
chloric acid
hydrochloric acid
sulphuric acid
nitrous acid
sulphurous acid
H2CO3
HNO3
H3PO4
HClO3
HCl
H2SO4
HNO2
H2SO3
Kohlensäure
Saltpetersäure
Phosphorsäure
Chlorsäure
Salzsäure
Schwefelsäure
saltpetrige Säure
schweflige Säure
calcium carbide
zinc iodide
hydrogen sulphide
carbon disulphide
sodium chloride
hydrogen chloride
sodium fluoride
hydrogen fluoride
carbon dioxide
sulphur dioxide
sodium hydroxide
hydrogen peroxide
CaC2
ZnJ2
H2S
CS2
NaCl
HCl
NaF
HF
CO2
SO2
NaOH
H2O2
Calciumcarbid
Zinkjodid
Schwefelwassersto¬
Schwefelkohlensto¬
Natriumchlorid
Chlorwassersto¬
Natriumfluorid
Fluorwassersto¬
Kohlendioxid
Schwefeldioxid
Natriumhydroxid
Wassersto¬peroxid
potassium sulphate
calcium phosphate
K2SO4
Ca3(PO4)2
Kaliumsulfat
Calciumphosphat
11.1Chemical Terminology
potassium permanganate
calcium carbonate
sodium chlorate
potassium nitrate
sodium sulphite
potassium nitrite
KMnO4
CaCO3
NaClO3
KNO3
Na2SO3
KNO2
Kaliumpermanganat
Kalziumcarbonat
Natriumchlorat
Kaliumnitrat
Natriumsulfit
Kaliumnitrit
The glossaries do not cover a wide area, but there is a lot of terminology.
As so often in technical literature, contrasts occur which create problems for translators. The sections below examine some of these contrasts and discuss recent terminological alterations.
11.1
Chemical Terminology
Although new materials are devised every year, especially in the polymer and
plastics industries, the basic terminology of chemical engineering remained
reasonably constant, until recently. In the nineteen-seventies, chemists were
using non-systematic but long-established expressions like *“nitrous oxide”,
*“nitric oxide”, to denote gases with chemical formulas NO, N2O, without
feeling bothered by the denotational contradiction with substances like carbon
monoxide (CO). This situation has changed. The gases NO, N2O, NO2 now have
the more respectable designations nitrogen monoxide, dinitrogen monoxide,
nitrogen dioxide, and the obsolete expressions nitric/nitrous oxide (still found in
some dictionaries and antiquated data bases) are free to acquire new significances. Some young chemists already use these expressions as synonyms for the
collective term covering the entire group of gaseous substances whose molecules consist entirely of nitrogen and oxygen, the nitrogen oxides (Ge. Stickoxide). Their general chemical formula NOx has led to a third colloquial
synonym: noxies.
New labels have appeared for other laboratory substances too, for instance
ethanoic acid (acetic acid), tri-oxygen (ozone), sodium hydrogensulphate (sodium
bisulphate). The new names correspond better to the respective chemical
compositions than the old ones. The new terminology is settling down in the
English-speaking world, and the German equivalents will probably be adjusted
accordingly.
The situation is similar to that of the early semiconductor electronics industry
when terms like *“condenser”, *“capacity”, *“cycles per second (cps)” were
replaced by the more appropriate expressions capacitor, capacitance, hertz (Hz).
99
100 Chemical engineering
German did not respond as rapidly then and still uses the original, established
terminology Kondensator, Kapazität. But the degree of international collaboration and cooperation in the chemical industry today is much better than that of
the early, highly competitive electronics industry. The real impetus towards
standardisation of chemical nomenclature, however, has come about as a result
of the vast numbers of new substances and materials, discovered or designed by
the chemical industries each year. These require appropriate names, in a well
organised systematic terminological framework, to prevent confusion with
other unrelated substances. Just as biologists rename different species of
animals according to where they fit within the conceptual classification systems,
or paleontologists reclassify early homonids, so chemists are renaming their
substances and materials too. Translators need to be aware of this problem and
the extent to which the new terminology encroaches upon industries outside
chemical engineering itself.
The rest of the unit selects a small sample of terminology from the chapter
to clarify some of the conceptions mentioned.
11.2
Metal, Non-Metal, Inert Element
The distinction between metallic and non-metallic elements, so-called metals and
non-metals, is made by drawing a diagonal line through the Periodic Table
(Figure 3A). All elements above or on the line joining the elements boron to
astatine are classed by the chemist as non-metals. The rest are metals. Thus
carbon, chlorine, sulphur are regarded as non-metals, whereas aluminium,
copper, tin are metals. Elements of other substances less familiar in everyday life
are classed as metals too, antimony, cadmium, germanium, manganese, as are
indeed the overall majority of elements, including two which are rarely (if ever)
solid: mercury, hydrogen. The chemical expression metal co-exists alongside the
normal engineering conception metal, that mostly refers to alloys of metallic
elements (Ge. Legierung), terms like: iron, copper, bronze, zinc-plate, sheet metal.
Metals are distinguished by their densities. Those below 5g/cm3 (e.g.
magnesium, aluminium) are referred to by chemists as light metals; those above
this value (iron, copper, lead, gold, cadmium) are heavy metals. As certain heavy
metals tend to remain in the human body with harmful consequences (especially lead and cadmium), the expression heavy metal sometimes has the negative
connotation of an industrial pollutant (Ge. Schadstoff) in texts relating to
environments or environmental hazards.
11.3Lexical Gap, Multiple Meaning 101
Elements of Group VIII of the Periodic Table, those of valency zero, namely
neon, argon, krypton, etc., constitute a third class alongside metals and nonmetals. These are known as inert elements or sometimes by the earlier expression
noble gases (Ge. Edelelement, Edelgas) because of their reluctance to participate
in any form of chemical reaction. Molecules of inert elements consist of single
atoms and remain (in a terrestrial environment) as gases, unchanged throughout time, never forming chemical compounds with any other element. These
gases occur in minute concentrations in the atmosphere, though mainly in the
upper regions towards the troposphere; argon may appear in volcanic ash. Both
neon and argon have widespread applications in lighting systems involving
discharges of electricity in gases (neon lights, etc.), as well as in vacuum tubes
employed in televisions, monitors, and certain laboratory equipment. Krypton
is expensive to produce and has no large-scale industrial applications.
11.3
Lexical Gap, Multiple Meaning
Though the German expression edel has an opposite unedel, there is no diametrically opposite concept, and English has a lexical gap. Chemists do not use
expressions like *“non-inert element”, *“non-noble gas” to denote elements not
belonging to Group VIII unless, in rare cases, they themselves define them as
such. Translators beware. Moreover, the expressions edel/unedel can have other
connotations.
The morpheme edel is applied to metals but with a very different significance, as metals belong to a different area of the Periodic Table to the inert
elements. It refers to their oxidation tendency. For a well-known group of metals
which do not rust, the expressions precious metal (gold, platinum) and semiprecious metal (silver, mercury, copper) are acceptable translations of Edelmetall, halbedles Metall.
Edel can also apply to the reactivity of metals with acids: metals which do
not react vigorously are called non-reactive or noble metals (Ge. Edelmetall). For
the opposite extreme unedles Metall (lead, iron, zinc, magnesium) the expression base metal is used. The same term contrasts with precious metal.
Confusion between the multiple implications of the morpheme edel (inert,
noble, precious, non-reactive), especially when the connotations are not clear
or there is an area of overlap between the meanings precious, non-reactive, is one
difficulty translators have to face. Other translation problems can occur when
the adjectives edel, halbedel, unedel appear without a respective noun. Simple
102 Chemical engineering
expressions with base, noble, precious produce violations of normal technical
English, *“more base”, *“semi-noble”, *“half precious”. Such problems must be
resolved by intelligent paraphrasing:
11.4
unedel
1. highly reactive
2. tending to oxidise
halbedel
1. moderately reactive
2. with a moderate tendency towards oxidation
Solid, Liquid, Gas, Vapour
The three states of matter gas, liquid, solid are differentiated according to
whether the molecules of the substance are able to move in three dimensions,
two dimensions or not at all. The terms are used by chemists quite strictly, and
lead to certain surprises. For instance glass is not a solid substance but a highly
viscous liquid. As far as elements are concerned, most metals are solid at normal
room temperature, whereas non-metals may exist in any of the three states.
Some solids have a tendency to form crystals, particularly carbon (diamond),
silicon and germanium. A few substances can pass from a solid to a gaseous state
without the intermediate transition to liquid, for example carbon dioxide (socalled dry ice). This process is called sublimation (Ge. Sublimation) and is
employed in refrigerators. Iodine and ammonium chloride also sublime on heating.
The term fluid is used by certain chemists to cover both liquids and gases.
There is no direct German equivalent, and the translation *“Flüssigkeit” is likely
to be very misleading. Furthermore, there is a distinction in English between
vapour and gas. Substances normally in the liquid state which are induced to
form suspensions of tiny particles in air or other gas mixtures are termed
vapours. The air we breathe is a mixture of gases (oxygen, nitrogen, carbon
dioxide) together with water vapour. German has expressions for the general
term vapour (e.g. Dampf, Dunst) but seems to lack a true equivalent for the
technical concept as in sulphur dioxide vapour, chlorine vapour, ammonia
vapour. It tends to employ the expression Gas. Thus this is not a case of a lexical
gap, simply that the terms gas, vapour do not coincide exactly with the German
expressions Gas, Dampf, Dunst.
11.5Solute, Solvent, Solution 103
11.5
Solute, Solvent, Solution
In chemical processes where a solid is dissolved in liquid, the terms solute,
solvent, solution are employed. An example is common salt, sodium chloride
(solute) dissolved in water (solvent) which results in salt water or brine (solution). Pepper does not dissolve in water but forms a fine suspension. Similarly
smoke fumes are a suspension of solid particles in gas (air) whereas mist is a
suspension of liquid in gas. Mixtures of liquids (e.g. alcohol in water) are also
solutions.
Again German has no 100%-direct equivalents for the terms solute, solvent,
solution. In many cases the translations gelöste Substanz, Lösungsmittel, Lösung
are appropriate, but English-speaking chemists tend to use the expression solute
for a dissolvable substance, as well as one which has actually been dissolved, and
German chemists normally restrict the meaning of Lösung to solutions involving just solids and liquids.
11.6
Bond, Radical
It is evident from the earlier list of chemical compounds that certain groups of
atoms OH, SO4, CO3 appear in different substances. These combinations are
called radicals (hydroxide, sulphate, carbonate, etc.) and reflect the structure of
the compound. For substances with simple structures this has conceptual
advantages, even though the chemical formulas themselves appear complex.
Thus ethylene glycol (the main component of antifreeze in automobile radiators)
now has the formula HO-CH2-CH2-OH because the simple “C2H6O2” does not
indicate the symmetrical links between the radicals CH2 and OH. There are also
formulas of the type C6H5CH=CH2 (styrene: as in polystyrene) where the symbol
“=” indicates a double bond between the radicals concerned. But this denotation has its limitations, especially where the atoms form a ring — as in benzene
(C6H6), the spirit used for removing clothing stains.
Certain chemical reactions can be generalised: metals dissolve in acids and
liberate hydrogen; acids mixed with alkalis lead to salt solutions. In such cases,
radicals move unchanged from one molecule to another.
104 Chemical engineering
11.7
Oxidation, Reduction
When copper is heated in air it turns black. It combines with oxygen to form
copper oxide. The oxidising agent is oxygen itself. Copper is said to be the
reducing agent. A similar reaction occurs with copper and chlorine, where
chlorine is the oxidising agent. Oxidation has nothing to do with oxygen in this
sense, but concerns the loss or acquisition of electrons. In both cases copper is
responsible for reduction: copper atoms lose an electron to the oxidising agent
and become negative ions, cations. The oxidising agent gains an electron and
becomes positively ionised, resulting in anions. The terms oxidation and
reduction also apply to reactions involving metals and acids, such as iron and
hydrochloric acid, HCl. In such reactions the reducing agent is generally the
metal, the oxidising agent (chlorine in HCl) a non-metal.
It often bothers translators that the terms oxidation, oxidising agent (Ge.
Oxidation, Oxidationsmittel) occur in contexts involving not oxygen itself but
substances whose chemical behaviour reflects one small aspect of the behaviour
of oxygen. Chemists in both English- and German-speaking industrial environments seem unperturbed by this unusual extension of technical meaning.
11.8
Reagent, Catalyst, Inhibitor
Those substances inducing a chemical reaction itself are termed reagents,
whereas those present simply to speed up the process and which do not
themselves undergo any change are termed catalysts. For example, the chemical
process for the manufacture of ammonia employs iron as a catalyst. Substances
which slow down a chemical reaction are termed inhibitors. One of their main
applications lies in the rust protection (Ge. Korrosionsschutz) of metallic surfaces.
The distinction between reagent and catalyst is minimal. German chemists
generally use the term Katalysator for both. They seem to manage, by and large,
without the general concept inhibitor too, but where it does occur the usual
translation is Passivator. Other possibilities are Antikatalysator, Inhibitor,
Hemmstoff according to how drastic the inhibition process is intended to be.
There are catalysts which take part in metabolic processes, so-called bio-catalysts,
a group which includes enzymes, vitamins and hormones.
Most reactions are exothermic. They generate heat. Even a rusty nail, which
results from slow combustion in moist air, loses heat. In the normal engineering
sense, combustion implies what a chemist calls fast combustion, for example the
11.10Recycling, Reprocessing 105
oxidation of phosphorus on a burning match. Combustion in the broad sense is
defined as exothermic oxidation. There are also endothermic reactions, such as
nitrogen with oxygen in the formation of nitrogen monoxide (NO). These
absorb heat.
11.9
Organic/Inorganic Chemistry
Organic chemistry concerns carbon compounds (the substance of living matter)
which occur abundantly in nature and technology alike. One broad class of
organic compounds is the hydrocarbons, whose molecules consist of just
hydrogen and carbon. They mainly result from industrial processes, especially in
the petrochemical industry, which provides chemicals from fuels such as
petroleum or natural gas. The hydrocarbons constitute a homologous series of
substances whose chemical formulas conform to an algebraic sequence. The
most frequent examples are the alkanes (methane, ethane, etc.) with the general
chemical formula CnH2n+2, the alkenes (ethene, propene, …) CnH2n and the
alkynes (ethyne, propyne, …) CnH2n−2.
Figure 10C lists a variety of organic compounds (see next page).
One group of organic compounds, the polymers, centres on industrial
materials produced by linking the atoms of hydrocarbons into long chains, rings
and other molecular configurations. Polymerisation is a major industrial branch
of organic chemistry. Just as large silicon monocrystals (Chapter 5) are grown for
the electronics industry, so it is possible to produce giant molecules, so-called
macromolecules, from the alkanes, alkenes and other hydrocarbons. An example
is polythene (originally polyethene). Such materials are termed polymers, where
a mer or rather monomer corresponds to the smallest constituent, e.g. ethene
C2H4. These materials form the basis of what is commonly known as the plastics
industry. Plastics and synthetic rubbers account for half the world production of
organic chemicals. Plastics are broadly divided into thermoplastics and thermosetting plastics. Thermoplastics soften on gentle heating but harden again; their
uses include pipes, bottles and bowls. Thermosetting plastics become progressively harder on heating; an example is bakelite which is used in light switches
and other electrical fittings.
Organic compounds are classed according to their molecular arrangement:
aliphatic compounds contain carbon atoms linked in chains, whereas aromatic
compounds (so-called because of their characteristic aromas) contain a ring of
carbon atoms. Benzene (C6H6), the white spirit used for cleaning purposes or
106 Chemical engineering
Figure 10C.Extract
Group
Chemical Term
Alkanes
methane
CH4
C2H6
ethane
C3H8
propane
C4H10
butane
C5H12
pentane
Alkenes
ethene
C2H4
C3H6
propene
C4H8
butene
Alkynes
ethyne
C2H2
C3H4
propyne
C4H6
butyne
Alcohols
ethanol
C2H5OH
C3H7OH
propanol
phenol
C6H5OH
Acids
benzoic acid
C6H5COOH
CH3COOH
ethanoic acid
Other Hydrocarbon Compounds
benzene
C6H6
C6H5NO2
nitrobenzene
C6H5NH2
phenylamine
CH2CHCl
chloroethane
CH3COOC2H5
ethyl ethanoate
Monomer
Formula
ethene
C2H4
C6H5CH=CH2
styrene
CH2CHCl
chloroethane
C2F4
tetrafluoroethene
General Term
German
methane
Methan
Äthan, Ethan
Propan
Butan
Pentan
propane
butane
ethylene
Äthen, Ethen
Propen
Buten
acetylene
Äthin, Ethin
Propin
Butin
ethyl alcohol
carbolic acid
Äthanol, Ethanol
Propanol
Phenol
vinegar
Benzolsäure
Äthansäure
spirit
aniline
vinyl chloride
ester
Polymer
polythene
polystyrene
PVC
teflon
Benzol, Benzen
Nitrobenzol
Anilin
Vinylchlorid
Ester
Polymer, German
Polyethen
Polystyrol
PVC
Teflon
removing stains, is an aromatic hydrocarbon, whereas the paraffins, the group
now more correctly known as the alkanes, are aliphatic. Terms such as chlorinated or fluorinated hydrocarbons describe materials where one hydrogen atom has
been replaced by a chlorine or fluorine atom. Such materials (e.g. PVC, Teflon)
are difficult to dispose of and are seriously detrimental to the environment. A
term denoting the general combined group chloro-fluoro-hydrocarbons recently
11.10Recycling, Reprocessing 107
entered general language too: CFC’s (chlorofluorocarbons, Ge. Fluorchlorkohlenwasserstoffe, FCKWs).
The main branch of inorganic chemistry, which is currently attractive to
industry, centres on compounds involving silicon (Ge. Silicium), the so-called
silicones (Ge. Silicon). These are used in lubricants, raincoats, shock absorbers,
and a wide variety of unrelated applications. Silicones are composed of molecular chains of alternate silicon and oxygen atoms. Other inorganic compounds
produced on a large scale include ammonia (NH3), the various acids (HCl,
H2SO4, H3PO4, etc.) used in the fertiliser industry, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)
used in washing powders and bleaching agents, and calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)2,
which is employed in disinfectants as well as for neutralising waste acids in
industrial effluent.
11.10 Recycling, Reprocessing
Whereas governments impose strict controls on nuclear materials, they are
notoriously lax when it comes to supervising the disposal of chemical wastes.
Just as chronic air pollution and murderous smogs led to higher and higher
factory chimneys, so the pollution of soil, ground water, rivers and estuaries
now leads to chemical dumping farther and farther out to sea. The gradual
destruction of the complete biosphere of our planet by chemical pollutants
means that much of current technical literature is concerned with minimising
the dangers, particularly where the substances concerned are banned in many
countries. The alternative is to store the chemicals in a safe place for reprocessing
at some time in the future when industry has acquired the necessary expertise.
Thus, terminological distinctions introduced in Chapter 4 in connection with
nuclear waste apply in this field too: landfill, disposal site, dump; reprocessing
plant, storage site, repository; residual, transitional and terminal waste.
Many disposal sites (Ge. Deponie) from former periods urgently need to be
cleaned up, especially in Eastern Germany and various Eastern European
countries. Thus methods of soil decontamination (Ge. Bodensanierung) are
currently in great demand. Similar techniques are employed for separating
mixtures of dangerous chemicals at chemical reprocessing plants. One ingenious
method of collecting and removing heavy metals, such as cadmium, from the
soil is to sink gigantic electrodes into the contaminated area and apply an
electric field. By virtue of their positive charge, the heavy metal ions eventually
migrate towards the cathode, where they are collected and disposed of. Ions of
108 Chemical engineering
cyanide and other materials which bear a negative charge migrate to the anode.
Other methods of separation involve the use of chemical bonding agents which
prevent noxious or toxic substances from entering the biocycle and enable them
to be washed out of the soil as a separate sludge. Microbiology has applications
here too, as special bacteria or microbes can be bred which feed on hydrocarbon
compounds such as machine oil.
Some chemicals can only be broken down at special incineration plants
where the waste is ignited at temperatures of around 1500C. Filters are required
to deal with the flue gases (Ge. Rauchgas) and to remove heavy metals, acidic
and other harmful substances. Many different plastics resulting from household
waste collection are also disposed of in this manner. In view of the enormous
heat generated by the incineration furnaces, attempts are made to combine them
with steel works and other industries requiring vast heat sources or blast furnace
facilities.
Unit 12
Electronics
By the middle of the twentieth century, pioneering research in the field
of Materials Science was beginning to pay dividends. Revolutions in
technology were taking place in the textile industry due to the work of
chemists sponsored by large industrial manufacturing concerns, with
terms like rayon and nylon becoming household words. The plastics
industry was discovering its great potential, and by the sixties new metal
alloys with unprecedented material properties were in great demand by
the civil aviation and aerospace industries. Amidst this hive of research
activity, one important technique discovered by materials scientists and
one tiny innovation from 1948, neither of which received much acclaim
at the time, were to have ramifications later a¬ecting the whole of technology itself: the growing of semiconductor crystals (Ge. Halbleiterkristall)
and the manufacture of the first transistor.
This unit provides a broad summary of two very detailed chapters of
the book: Chapters 5 and 6. There is no room for lengthy contents lists, or
details of the relevant glossaries and thesauri. This time the reader is
plunged straight in.
12.1
Early Electronics
One general problem for translators in this area is that linguists react rather
slowly to the technological changes, and published dictionaries are inclined to
retain unnecessary terminology from earlier periods. There are still a few
electronics dictionaries (and data banks) which contain entries like:
Kondensator
Plattenspieler
Radio
Röhre
capacitor, condenser
gramophone, record player
radio (Am.), wireless (Br.)
tube (Am.), valve (Br.)
110 Electronics
with no indication that some target language expressions refer to objects that
are completely obsolete. This section examines terminology which has altered
or modified its significance during the gradual evolution of the electronics
industry. It spans the period from the time of the early circuit technology
centred on thermionic tube devices (Ge. Röhre) to the equivalent technology
involving semiconductor devices which has led to the microelectronics industry.
The nineteen-twenties to the fifties witnessed the first upsurges in the
electronics sector, especially in regard to the large-scale marketing of expensive
household gadgets known as wirelesses and gramophones, and eventually also
televisions. The sales push continued in the sixties, but the new electronic
components employed differed radically from those of the early years, due
mainly to the advent of cheaper, smaller, more flexible components produced
by the semiconductor industry, among which were transistors. Wirelesses
evolved into so-called transistor radios (known for a brief period in the sixties by
the misleading colloquial designation of “transistors”); bulky gramophones
evolved into record players.
Not only did the terminology of the finished market product change
(wireless to radio, gramophone to record player, etc.). So did the terminology of
the individual components, at least in the English-speaking areas of the world.
Clumsy metallic devices known as resistances and rheostats were replaced by
small elegant components known as resistors and potentiometers. Costly highprecision mechanical arrangements of parallel plates constituting the condensers
of early wirelesses were replaced by miniature versions operating along different
lines and known as capacitors. Germany experienced these same changes in
technology but retained its older terminology (i.e. Widerstand, Kondensator,
etc.), merely shifting the focus of meaning to the new devices.
The term diode underwent a complete semantic shift in both languages,
from the expensive, dangerous, high-voltage thermionic devices of the early
gramophone, so-called diode valves (Ge. Diodenröhre) to the tiny, silent,
harmless semiconductor equivalent (Ge. Halbleiterdiode). But triode has retained
its original meaning (Ge. Triodenröhre). This is partly because its nearest
semiconductor equivalent, the transistor operates in a very different manner,
and partly because unlike thermionic diodes, triodes have certain features and
properties which are still useful to the live-music industry and which cannot be
reproduced by semiconductor devices. Thus triodes are still manufactured. But
they are no longer referred to as valves; this former British expression has
largely been replaced by the competing American designation tube.
12.2Semiconductors, ICs
Circuit-design technology based on Tube Electronics has reached an
evolutionary dead-end. That of Semiconductor Electronics is continually
breaking new ground, as well as new records, in regard to micro-miniaturisation.
For most of the e-book (i.e. unless otherwise stated), the expression Electronics
implies Semiconductor Electronics.
12.2 Semiconductors, ICs
By the late nineteen-sixties the devices most frequently employed in circuits
were: transistors, diodes, resistors and capacitors. Extensive use was made of these
components, as opposed to inductors, thermionic tubes, and other devices which
had a longer history of development, because the former were much smaller,
more reliable and very much cheaper. Many standard circuits were redesigned
during this period to avoid the more expensive traditional components completely, in some cases regardless of the additional complexities involved.
Semiconductor materials were used to make transistors and diodes but it soon
became possible to manufacture resistors and capacitors from the same
materials as well. It was then just a small step to the manufacture of complete
integrated circuits (IC’s) on single minute pieces of semiconductor material
(chips); continued refinements in technology led to miniaturisation and microminiaturisation, and subsequently to the micro-chips of everyday life which
control our computers, the fuel consumption of our motor vehicles and, in later
years, the pacemakers (Ge. Herzschrittmacher) controlling our heartbeats.
Semiconductor materials have an electrical conductivity lying between that
of conductors and that of insulators. This is the suitable introductory definition
given in many engineering textbooks. In practice, however, the conductivity of
semiconductors is far more dependent on electrical and thermal environments
and on impurity concentrations than is the case for most other materials, and
this is what really distinguishes them from conductors and insulators. Impurity
atoms of specific elements are deliberately injected into pure monocrystals of
silicon or germanium in order to achieve particular conductivities, a process
known as doping (Ge. dotieren). Pure materials are termed intrinsic semiconductors and those which are doped extrinsic. A sample of extrinsic semiconductor
material which has a surplus of negative charge carriers due to doping is referred
to as n-type material (Ge. n-Halbleiter); extrinsic semiconductors with a surplus
of positive carriers are designated p-type. At this point, readers with no previous
translation experience in the field of Electronics may find it helpful to first
111
112 Electronics
browse through certain disk illustrations, those in the (thumbnail) sections Basic
Electrical Engineering and Materials Science/Semiconductors, with special
attention to the illustrations: Crystal Lattice, Semiconductor Material.
A region of a semiconductor where there is an abrupt transition from
p-type to n-type material is referred to as a junction region and the interface
itself as a pn-junction. The junction region is just a few microns (thousandths of
a millimetre) wide but consists of a smooth gradual transition from material
with a high acceptor concentration to that with high donor concentration. It is
a surprise to some people that the terms transition and junction are contextually
synonymous in this field: the abrupt junction in the physical sense constitutes at
the same time a smooth electrical transition. German employs the expression pnÜbergang for both shades of meaning.
It could be said that the entire electronics industry really originates from the
unique properties of the pn-junction, which provides a smooth silent mechanism for current control and can be used to block current completely. Semiconductor devices containing a single junction (two layers of material) are known
as diodes, and can be used to ensure that current flows in one direction only, socalled rectification (Ge. Gleichrichtung). Devices with two junctions constitute
transistors, and are used for switching applications or amplification purposes
(Ge. Verstärkung). A more elaborate type of electronic switch, the thyristor, has
three junctions.
12.3 Conduction, Bonding
The conductivity of a piece of semiconductor material depends a lot on the
degree of purity of the crystal, the perfection. Once a pure crystal is obtained the
conductivity can be closely controlled by one or more of the following means:
application of heat, incidence of light, impurity injection. Most semiconductor
devices (diodes, transistors, thyristors, IC’s, etc.) depend entirely on impurity
injection and are sold in light-proof metallic cases designed to dissipate any
internal heat produced. Exceptions to this are the class of devices used as sensors
in fire alarms, oven lamps, burglar alarms, etc. Thermistors (thermal resistors)
are the main heat-sensitive semiconductor device, and LDR’s (light-dependent
resistors) the main photo-sensitive component. Pressure-sensitive (piezoelectric) devices also exist and there are semiconductors which detect radioactivity.
The conductivity of pure silicon monocrystals, so-called intrinsic conductivity, arises mainly from the liberation of electrons by thermal agitation of the
12.4Impurity, Contaminant, Pollutant 113
lattice atoms. It is thus very dependent on temperature. Extrinsic conduction
(Ge. Störstellenleitung) differs from its counterpart intrinsic conduction (Ge.
Eigenleitung) in that the liberation of a fixed number of charge carriers is
effectively guaranteed by the impurity concentration (the donor/acceptor
concentration), though other factors are involved which depend on the material
itself. Extrinsic conductivity is relatively independent of ambient temperature.
Expressions like Atombindung, Bindungselektron, Bindungskräfte occuring
in this field are translated into English by atomic bonding, bonding electron,
bonding forces, rather than expressions involving a similar but unrelated concept
from Nuclear Physics: binding. The distinction appears in Chapters 3 and 4 too.
Bonding implies the physical process by means of which materials are held
together by virtue of electrons sharing the valence shells of their nearest neighbours. Binding concerns the forces of cohesion present among protons or
neutrons, which prevent nuclei from disrupting. There are other binding forces
which constrain electrons to remain within particular orbits around their nuclei.
Both bond (participle: bonded) and bind (participle: bound) correspond to the
German binden (gebunden). Translators beware.
12.4 Impurity, Contaminant, Pollutant
In chemical engineering the term impurity (Ge. Fremdstoff) implies a substance
which does not belong to the material involved and which may adversely affect
its properties. When the material is an alloy, polymer or liquid substance, a
stronger alternative expression is contaminant. If the context concerns air, water
or some other essential aspect of human, animal or plant life affected by a
contaminant the contaminating substance is usually called a pollutant (Ge.
Schadstoff). In the context of semiconductor engineering, however, the technical expression impurity has none of these negative connotations.
US-based semiconductor scientists, such as Van Vlack, Azaroff, Brophy,
who may have had direct access to German scientific literature, introduced the
term foreign substance in the sixties and seventies as an alternative to impurity.
But the expression seems to have died a natural death. Thus, terms like Fremdstoff, Fremdatom, Dotierungsgrad are rendered in English as impurity, impurity
atom, impurity concentration, whereas concoctions involving the expressions
foreign, contaminating, polluting are generally avoided unless they imply the
broader significance of an undesirable chemical impurity.
114 Electronics
12.5 Resistance, Capacitance
Faced with the German term Kondensator in a text describing the internal
components or configuration of devices present in an integrated circuit, it
would be quite ridiculous for the translator to substitute the ancient tubeelectronics expression condenser. The object concerned has the function of a
capacitor. Yet an expert on semiconductor engineering who specialises in IC
manufacture might refer to the minute area of silicon in question not as a
capacitor but as a capacitance. The engineer concerned regards the IC as
consisting of a multiplicity of differently doped regions or domains, rather than
discrete components; capacitative domains are dubbed capacitances. Likewise,
resistive domains are not necessarily called resistors; the terminology has gone
full cycle: resistances.
This does not mean to say that the substitutions capacitor, resistor are wrong
in the above case. They depend on the customer’s individual preference.
Understanding is not impaired, as it would be by totally false substitutions, such
as *capacity, *condenser, *impedance. These examples are mentioned merely as
an indication of how technical language, like natural language, adapts itself to
the situation at hand.
12.6 Reactance, Impedance
Not all electronics involves ICs. For many consumer applications, individual
resistors, capacitors, transistors, etc. have to be employed, so-called discrete
components — as distinct from modules, of which the IC is merely one variety.
Circuit components are termed passive if there is a linear relationship between
the current conducted by a particular device and the voltage applied across it.
The three main passive devices are: resistor, capacitor, inductor. Other components which do not behave in this manner are termed active. Tubes, diodes,
transistors, thyristors are examples of active components.
In passive components used under ac conditions the mean ratio of voltage
to current, the so-called impedance, is constant, that is to say it does not change
according to the voltage itself or to the current applied. The impedance of a
resistor is independent of frequency and equals the resistance of the device. For
other devices, the value varies according to the frequency of the ac signal, but
impedances of passive devices can be determined at a given frequency by a
relatively simple calculation.
12.7Transducer 115
For inductors and capacitors the parameter resistance is irrelevant except to
specify minimal side effects, such as coil resistance (inductor), dielectric resistance
(capacitor), which result in energy losses due to heat. Reactance can be calculated from the following simple formulas: inductive reactance = ωL; capacitative
reactance = 1/ωC. The symbols L and C correspond to the values of inductance
and capacitance; ω (omega) represents the angular frequency of the signal, a
quantity measured not in Hz but in the unit radian.sec−1.
Circuit designers can compensate for undesirable inductive effects by
inserting capacitors, and for capacitative effects by employing inductors. Hence,
despite their very different appearance and function, there is a term covering
both devices: reactances (Ge. Blindwiderstände). The impedance of a reactive
component (a capacitor or inductor) is obtained by a sophisticated calculation
involving vector addition of reactance with dielectric or coil resistance. The
parameter is specified in magnitude and phase.
12.7 Transducer
There is a small group of semiconductor devices whose resistance varies linearly
according to one feature of the external environment. These special semiconductor resistors may be heat-sensitive (thermistor), light-sensitive (LDR) or pressuresensitive (piezo-electric resistor). The devices have important industrial as well
as domestic applications: burglar alarms, fire alarms, oven warning lamps or
pick-ups (Ge. Tonabnehmer) for acoustic musical instruments; they convert
different forms of energy into electrical energy and are referred to collectively
as transducers.
There are transducers for sensing optical, acoustic, thermal, magnetic and
mechanical energy (light, sound, heat, magnetism and pressure) and semiconductor transducers exist which respond to radioactivity. Some devices operate
in the reverse direction, in that they convert electrical signals into optical ones.
The most famous is the LED (light-emitting diode) found in the digital displays
of calculators, digital watches, digital meters. Thus some transducers are sensors.
Others are not.
The basic meaning of transducer in engineering is a device that converts
energy from one form into another. The implication attached to the term in the
field of Electronics is a device that converts non-electrical signals, such as
pressure changes, fluctuations in light intensity, temperature variations, into
electrical ones, and vice versa. Thus the normal meaning of transducer covers the
116 Electronics
set of devices known as control devices (Ge. Steuerelement), for instance light
sensors, pressure sensors, thermistors and magnistors (Figure 6A), as well as the
counterparts light-emitting diode/transistor (LED/LET). Theoretically, the
definition should also cover light bulbs and loudspeakers but in practice it
usually does not.
German seems to lack a true equivalent for transducer. It has the term
Meßwertumformer as a roughly approximate translation, but this is too clumsy
and the concept is usually rendered as Umformer, Umwandler or Wandler,
despite the fact that these terms have other meanings in Electrical and Electronic Engineering: Spannungsumformer (dc/ac voltage converter), Bildwandler
(image converter), Phasenumformer (phase inverter). There is a term Transduktor but its usage has different connotations and is mainly restricted to the
field of Electromagnetism.
12.8 Bias, Operation, Mode, State
Normally, in technical English, devices are “operated”, whether electrical or not,
but there is a second electronics term with a more specific meaning, namely
bias, which has implications on the state of the device concerned and the mode
of operation. Ordinary dictionaries tend to suggest the German equivalent
Betrieb for the first two conceptions and Zustand for the other two, which is of
little use to translators confused by these terms. The examples below may
provide assistance.
A diode, a device that conducts current in one direction only, must be
biased in order to provide the desired effect, in other words there has to be an
appropriate difference in potential between the two electrodes. It can be
operated under forward bias (Ge. Polung in Flußrichtung), in which case the
diode is in the conducting mode, or under reverse bias (Ge. Sperrichtung), as in
the case of zener diodes, which are operated in the non-conducting mode.
Similarly, a switching transistor can be biased so that it is in the state of being
ON (Ge. EIN-Zustand). A sudden reduction or cessation of the base current
switches the transistor into the OFF-state. Thus, the same transistor is operated
in the ON- or the OFF-mode at different times. There is also an intermediate
stage (neither OFF nor ON) known as the amplification mode. Whether
expressions like “im Durchlaßbereich”, “in Flußrichtung” are to be rendered in
English as “in the forward mode”, “under forward bias” or “in the ON-state”
really depends entirely on the context concerned and on the device itself. A
12.8Bias, Operation, Mode, State 117
third device, the thyristor, employs a mixture of this terminology.
Translators come up against a brick wall when faced with such problems. In
the current absence of large-scale, systematically organised collocation dictionaries, the only solution is to study appropriate technical literature first-hand
in both languages before attempting translations.
Many engineering fields have developed from branches of Experimental Physics
which may have existed for decades or even centuries before practical or
technological applications emerged. Newton’s clear-sighted conception of
Mechanics no doubt seemed as abstract and esoteric to seventeenth century
scientists as Einstein’s theories of General and Special Relativity appear to many
people today. But not even Newton himself could not have envisaged the many
areas of Mechanical Engineering which were to arise two hundred years later,
encompassing steam locomotives, petrol engines and the construction of the Eiffel
Tower, all of which depended on practical applications of his three basic laws
and extensions of his pioneering mathematical skills in what is now known as
Newtonian Calculus (Ge. Integral/Differentialrechnung). Similarly, Faraday and
other pioneers in the field of Electricity could not have foreseen CD-players,
mobile phones, personal computers, internet libraries or electronic synthesizers.
The field of Electronics has a short history, but one of rapid development,
and it is definitely here to stay. Despite the complexities, translators must learn
to cope with it. The detailed sections, subsections, glossaries and thesauri of
Chapters 5–7 coax the inspired reader gradually through the initial stages.
Unit 13
Technical Grammar
The early chapters employ technical expressions like capacities, impedances, resistances, which seem to abide by di¬erent grammatical rules to
their natural language counterparts: capacity, impedance, resistance. Just
as NCNs like co¬ee, beer, cheese adopt properties of CNs when they imply
“cup of co¬ee”, “bottle of beer”, “type of cheese” so the meanings of technical
terms change slightly when their grammatical categories are altered. In
such cases, technical CNs often correspond semantically to measurable
parameters or mathematical values associated directly with scientific
concepts, the latter being NCNs. Native-speakers with literary rather
than technical backgrounds tend to frown upon this apparent misuse of
language, but it is perfectly natural and often, for translators, unavoidable. This unit takes a closer look at grammatical di¬erences between
technical and natural language.
13.1
Shades of Meaning
Consider the following statements, which could appear in fields such as Physics,
Electronics, Nucleonics or Chemical Engineering:
1. The total kinetic energy of the particles, i.e. the sum of their individual
kinetic energies, amounts to 150 MeV.
2. The total mass of the particles, in other words the sum of the masses of the
individual nucleons, amounts to 238.029 a.m.u.
3. The charge of the nucleus is balanced by the charges of the rotating electrons.
All are well-formed, perfectly natural statements in an engineering context. The
first could refer to ions in a vacuum tube, the second to the uranium atom, the
third to any non-ionised atom. They illustrate the same semantic contrast. In
this respect, technical language differs from general language, where statements
like:
120 Technical grammar
*“The weight of the building is determined by the weights of the individual
bricks.”
are considered non-grammatical.
It is difficult to say whether the meanings of kinetic energy, mass, charge are
different in the contexts concerned, or whether the contexts themselves impose
slight extensions upon the basic meanings. But there are cases where meaning
in context changes very radically. The following example illustrates this aspect
of specialised language and its implications on technical translation quite
vividly:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The wire itself has resistance.
The wire itself has some resistance.
The wire has a resistance of 0.05 ohms.
The wire is equivalent to a resistance connected in series.
The resistances of the increments of dielectric material can result in a fairly
substantial shunt resistance.
Statement 1 (NCN) implies that the resistance of the wire cannot be neglected,
and is tantamount to saying the wire will get (slightly) hot or some energy will be
lost in the wire itself. Statement 2 (NCN) implies that the wire resistance is small
relative to other resistances in the given context. Statement 3 (CN) implies the
parameter (physical quantity) resistance, whereas statement 4 (CN) refers to the
entity resistance itself, for which (with a slight shift in semantic emphasis) the
expression resistor could be substituted. In statement 5, the term shunt resistance
signifies an unspecified measurable parameter (as in 3) and resistances denotes
the entity itself (as in 4), though here the substitution resistor is impossible.
In the same way that familiarity with general language and attention to the
context enables the listener to distinguish the utterance some cheese from a
cheese and to determine whether the latter means a type of cheese, a piece of
cheese from a selection on a plate or one of a set of identical pre-wrapped cheese
samples in a supermarket package, so familiarity with the subject matter enables
engineers and hopefully also translators to distinguish different extensions of basic
engineering terms like resistance, charge, energy, mass, force, power, tension, etc.
13.2 Entity, Property, Parameter
The discussion above reveals five marginally different interpretations of the
technical term resistance, some being CNs others NCNs, but all of which
13.3Hyponymy, Countability 121
correspond to the German Widerstand. As Widerstand itself is a polyseme and
is translated by impedance, reactance, resistivity, etc. (Chapter 2), the result of
incorporating separate entries for separate sub-interpretations in the TPD could
look rather ugly and remain unrevealing. Furthermore, charge, current, voltage
and indeed the overwhelming majority of physical quantities discussed in the
opening chapters have secondary interpretations, which could make the
Thesaurus unnecessarily bulky. The dictionaries therefore employ certain
simplifications in this respect, and distinguish just three types of entry: CN,
NCN, CN/NCN.
The various implications of resistance in the examples mentioned are partly
due to the influence of articles or quantifiers: some, any, a/an, etc. The number
of different concepts is reducible to three: an entity (with implications comparable to those of resistor), a property characterising the entity, and a parameter
which characterises the property and is specified in terms of units (ohms). The
parameter is linked to a value such as “50 ohms”. Parallel semantic distinctions
occur for other electrical quantities too: inductance, reactance, impedance,
charge. In such cases: the entity is a CN, the property a NCN, the parameter also
a CN.
Some terms denoting physical quantities apply only to property and
parameter, e.g. energy, power, voltage. These are registered as parameters, i.e.
CNs, in the Thesaurus, whereas the TPD indicates their dual function by the
label CN/NCN. Other engineering terms denote parameters only, for instance
resistivity is a parameter relating to the property resistance. These are CNs.
Others denote only properties, for instance inertia, and are NCNs.
13.3
Hyponymy, Countability
Chapter 1 reveals that the concept force has many manifestations. These are
expressed by compound terms in German (mostly containing -kraft) but by
different terms in English: thrust, traction, tension, weight, etc. The reader might
logically deduce that these too are CNs, like the superordinate technical concept
force. Though this is true in many cases, it does not apply to all. Consider the
example gravity (Ge. Schwerkraft, Massenanziehungskraft, Gewichtskraft):
1.
2.
3.
4.
The meteor has gravity of its own.
(*)The meteors have gravities of their own.
*The meteors have gravity of their own.
The meteors exert gravitational forces of their own.
122 Technical grammar
Sentence 1 above might appear in a translation of a text on Astronomy. In
technical English, force is normally a CN but gravity is not, even though there is
a direct hyponymic relationship between the two concepts. Problems occur
when the translator is faced with a plural version of this sentence in the source
language.
A few physicists and engineering scientists working continually in this field
may feel intuitively that the transition of gravity from NCN to CN has taken
place. But most astronomers would hesitate to write “a gravity of its own” and
shudder at the use of “gravities”. Sentence 2 is therefore only marginally
acceptable. The third sentence is grammatically acceptable but not semantically:
it gives the mistaken impression that each meteor has the same gravitational
field. Sentence 4 resolves the problem by paraphrasing.
In the same manner, the concept friction, which has the dimensions of force
but denotes the resultant of the frictional forces acting between two surfaces,
remains a NCN: *“frictions” is quite wrong. Similarly, energy and work have the
same units and dimensions and are semantically very closely related in all fields
of science and technology. Yet the technical parameter energy is normally a CN,
work (like friction) is always a NCN: *“works” is impossible in this context. A
similar grammatical contrast concerning the closely related concepts power
(CN/NCN) and heat (NCN) exists in the field of Electronics.
Although translation problems involving countability considerations are
restricted to just a small set of lexemes, e.g. heat, inertia, resistance, tension, such
terms occur repeatedly throughout technology. Conventional technical dictionaries, including on-line facilities, currently provide little assistance in this
respect.
Unit 14
Technical Thesaurus
The Technical Thesaurus provides explanations for the scientific and
engineering expressions discussed in Volume One or listed in the TPD.
The set of descriptors used to indicate interrelationships among the
terminology of the Thesaurus appears in the disk section Dictionary
Symbols. For ease of reference, the abbreviations are:
a:
co:
ct:
cv:
d:
ex:
m:
p:
s:
t:
tu:
u:
associated with …
consist(s) of …
contrasted with …
covers the concept(s) …
defined as/designates …
(typical) example …
a (measurable) parameter characterising …
part of …
synonym for/abbreviation of …
a type of …
typical unit …
used in connection with/used for …
cs/ps/nps are subcategories of s, denoting contextual/preferred/non-preferred
synonym respectively.
The Thesaurus has the following objectives:
i. to specify concepts associated with the basic terminology of engineering;
ii. to indicate homonyms in English technical literature;
iii. to distinguish polysemes in technical English and clarify those of
technical German;
iv. to indicate hyponymous relationships among English terminology;
v. to provide access to German compounds in the TPD from English.
These objectives are demonstrated with examples in the sections below,
which also illustrate use of the descriptors.
124 Technical thesaurus
14.1
Concept Specification
Some moderately difficult terminology for inexperienced translators appears
right at the start of the book. Chapter 1 discusses different forces encountered in
engineering applications: thrust, tension, compression, traction, etc. Chapter 2
differentiates terms like impedance, resistance, reactance, resistivity, which in
German are interpreted by compounds involving Widerstand. It also mentions
charge, current, voltage, potential, emf (Ge. Ladung, Strom, Spannung). Basic
concepts such as these and many expressions from other chapters reappear with
appropriate definitions in the Thesaurus.
Once the reader has mastered the thesaurus technique, in the course of
reading and digesting Volume 1, the way is clear for the identification of terms
like caliper, pinion, tailstock and other concepts appearing only in the second
volume.
caliper
auto
Bremssattel,-m
u: disc brake.
pinion
mech
Ritzelrad,-n
t: small gear meshing with a larger gear or rack.
tailstock
mech
Reitstock,-m
p: lathe.
The examples reveal that the term caliper is used in connection with disc brakes
in the field of Automobile Technology (auto), that pinion is a type of small gear
and tailstock a part of a lathe, both terms occuring in Mechanical Engineering
(mech).
14.2 Homonymy
The second function of the Thesaurus is to distinguish technical homonyms in
English, such as:
pitch (u: road surfacing)
pitch (u: acoustic wave)
cons
acu
Pech,-n
Tonhöhe,-f
resolution (u: monitor, TV)
resolution (u: forces)
opt
phys
Bildauflösung
Zerlegung
Even the reduced definitions above indicate that the concept pitch used in
connection with road surfacing is quite different from that associated with the
14.3Polysemy 125
acoustics term pitch (i.e. voice pitch, etc.). Similarly the optical significance of
resolution is not the same as that of the Physics term resolution used in connection with forces.
It is easy to locate homonyms by virtue of the alphabetic arrangement but
the actual distinction homonym/polyseme is often blurred. For example:
quantity (u: number of items)
quantity (cs: physical quantity)
gen
phys
Menge,-f
Größe,-f
The above entries show that the general meaning (gen) of quantity differs
substantially from that of the Physics term (phys) used in Chapter 1. Nevertheless, the important thing for the translator is not to distinguish homonyms from
polysemes, but to select the appropriate target-language equivalents. The
Thesaurus provides the semantic clues needed for concept differentiation.
14.3 Polysemy
The Thesaurus differentiates polysemes of the English technical language in two
different ways. The first method is similar to that for homonyms and follows
from the alphabetic arrangement of the entries. For instance:
body
astr
Himmelskörper,-m
cs: celestial body; ex: planet, comet, asteroid, meteorite.
body
auto
Karosserie,-f
ct: chassis, engine; cs: bodywork.
body
naut
Boots-/Schiffskörper,-m
p: boat, ship, submarine; u: hull.
body
phys
Körper,-m
cs: object; ex: body at rest, moving body, celestial body.
The fact that the technical term body has various meanings is apparent, simply
because the four entry terms occur adjacently and have different German
equivalents. Perusal of the thesaurus helps the reader to understand the
polyseme.
Sometimes a contextual synonym warrants a separate entry itself, for
instance bodywork. The second entry extends the information of the first.
bodywork
auto
Karosserie,-f
ct: paintwork, woodwork, chromework, rubberwork; cs: body.
126 Technical thesaurus
The other method by which polysemes are distinguished in the Thesaurus is
used when the term itself is easily understood, but the English polyseme is
barely recognisable and might otherwise be overlooked. Rather than encumber
the Thesaurus with unnecessary definitions, there is a second type of Thesaurus
entry — one that looks more like those of the Polyseme Dictionary — which
lists “specimens” of the various interpretations. For example, the entry clip:
crocodile clip
spring clip
paper clip
elec
mech
off
Krokodilklemme
Federspange
Büroklammer
electrode gap
energy gap
contact breaker gap
ign
semi
ign
Funkenstrecke
Energielücke
Unterbrecherabstand
axial load
cargo load
payload
tensile load
auto
aero
rock
cons
Achslast,-f
Frachtladung,-f
Nutzlast,-f
Zugbelastung
Other examples are gap, load:
These entries provide access to other entries at Klemme, Abstand, Last, etc. in
the TPD which specify the root concept implied.
Different specialised terms, such as solution (u: mathematical equation) and
solution (a: chemical laboratory), warrant separate entries in the Thesaurus,
even if the polyseme happens to converge in German (i.e. Lösung). There are
also separate entries when the English concept is roughly the same but German
happens to express it differently, for instance rotational speed (Ge. Drehgeschwindigkeit) and engine speed (Ge. Drehzahl).
14.4 Hyponymy
Hyponymy is indicated in the Thesaurus in three ways:
i. directly — by including the hyponyms as separate entries;
ii. indirectly — by virtue of the relational descriptors employed;
iii. selectively — by providing access to the hyponymns in the TPD.
i. direct indication
For compounds whose exact meanings are difficult to establish from the
14.5Hierarchic Relations 127
constituents, for instance those derived from the electrical term circuit —
switching circuit, resonance circuit, open circuit, short circuit, closed circuit, full
thesaurus definitions are provided. These may be true hyponyms (switching
circuit, t: circuit) or derived meanings, only indirectly related to the root term
(short-circuit, a: circuitry, wiring, electronic device). German equivalents may
differ when different hyponymy is involved (Schaltkreis, Kurzschluß).
ii. indirect indication
The second method of hyponymy indication involves the descriptor cv (covers
the concepts), and is apparent in the example:
control
cv: knob, switch, button, key.
elec
Bedienungselement,-n
This entry provides the information that the terms knob, switch, button, key are
hyponyms of the electrical expression control, in other words each is a type of
control. The global term may be used collectively (i.e. controls) to cover the set
of hyponyms, it may appear in compounds (e.g. control knob, button control), or
under certain conditions it may occur as a substitute for one of the hyponyms.
iii. selective indication
Not all hyponyms warrant separate thesaurus entries, especially those whose
German equivalents appear adjacently in the TPD anyway. Rather than simply
reversing and repeating similar lists to those in the Polyseme Dictionary, the
Thesaurus economises. Compounds such as alphabetic character, numerical
character, volatile substance are not included, as their meanings are fairly selfevident once the root term is established and German equivalents are locatable
at the corresponding TPD entries.
14.5 Hierarchic Relations
It is useful, when using the Thesaurus, to have a piece of rough paper handy.
This enables the translator to jot down unfamiliar terms in the form of conceptual hierarchies which enable the concepts themselves to be memorised more
easily. This can either be done in the form of tree diagrams or, if the Thesaurus
deductions are to be stored in a notebook or data file, the representations
introduced in Volume 1 can be employed. The descriptors t (type of), p (part
of), co (consists of) and ex (examples) are particularly amenable to hierarchic
representations. This is demonstrated in the examples following:
128 Technical thesaurus
magnetic sensor
elnc
magnetfeldabhängiges Element
t: control device; ex: magnistor.
motor
elec
Motor,-m
co: field windings, armature, brushes
needle valve
auto
Schwimmnadelventil,-n
p: carburettor; u: float, float chamber.
The examples reveal that magnetic sensor is a generic hyponym of control device,
and that magnistor is a hyponym of magnetic sensor. Also that the concepts field
winding, armature, brush are parts of a motor, and needle valve of a carburettor
— information verifiable incidentally from the disk illustrations Starter Motor,
Carburettor.
This technique for denoting relationships among terminology is less explicit
but nevertheless analogous to hierarchic arrangements. The above examples
lead to the configurations:
1
11g
111g
control device
magnetic sensor
magnistor
3
31p
32a
33a
carburettor
needle valve
float
float chamber
2
21p
22p
23p
motor
field winding(s)
armature
brush(es)
where the symbols g, p, a denote the semantic relationships generic, partitive,
associative. The hierarchies can be extended in any direction (“upwards”,
“downwards” or “sideways”) simply by looking up related terms in the Thesaurus. This reveals for instance that a carburettor is part of the fuel system of a
motor vehicle and that other examples of control devices are light, heat and
pressure sensors.
14.6 Contrast
The descriptor ct corresponds to the semantic relation contrast. It is illustrated
by the entry:
conventional ignition
ct: electronic ignition.
auto
Standardzündung,-f
14.8Other Terminological Associations 129
which provides the information that the term conventional in connection with
automobile ignition systems contrasts with electronic. Subsequent reading (e.g.
Chapter 8) reveals the fundamental distinction that conventional ignition
systems employ inductive discharge (the spark energy derives from the ignition
coil) whereas electronic systems employ capacitative discharge (the energy
derives from a capacitor). This may or may not be not important to the
translator at this stage. The main thing is that the contrast is made and the
“key” provided for further access to other information sources.
To take a simpler example:
element
chem
t: substance; ct: mixture, compound.
chemisches Element
Here the entry shows that the chemical term element is used in relation to
substances and is contrasted with mixture, compound. Thus substitution of
compound in a context requiring mixture could lead to a disastrous translation.
Repeated use of the Thesaurus when dealing with translation assignments
soon reveals the advantages of this dictionary arrangement. The compact
structure may present an initial handicap to inexperienced translators, yet it
soon becomes an asset. Moreover, it is in some ways more convenient for
translators as it encourages systematic thinking, as opposed to blind scanning.
14.7 Synonymy
The Thesaurus employs descriptors for various types of synonym: s, cs, ps, nps.
These correspond to true, contextual, preferred and non-preferred synonym
respectively.
i. true synonym, acronym, abbreviation
In practice, the number of concepts occuring in technology is so vast and the
terminology available so restricted that “true” synonyms (terms which are
“100% interchangeable”) almost never occur. The Thesaurus uses the descriptor s mainly in cases where a short form of a technical expression is more
common than the full term, for instance:
accelerator
auto
Gaspedal
s: accelerator pedal; ct: clutch, brake pedal.
It is unnecessary to include accelerator pedal as a separate thesaurus entry as it
is easily locatable (via the browser command Find, etc.) and any additional
information could be redundant.
130 Technical thesaurus
The descriptor s is also used where the full form corresponds to the spoken
form yet has been virtually completely replaced in the literature by an abbreviation or acronym. For example:
root-mean-square value
s: RMS value.
elec
Effektivwert
Here the Thesaurus supplies the appropriate definition not at the entry for the
spoken form root-mean-square value but at the entry for the preferred form in
the engineering literature, in this case at RMS value.
RMS value
elec
Effektivwert
m: wave, oscillation, ac signal; t: mean value.
RMS value
math
Effektivwert
d: square root of the mean of a set of squared values.
Other examples are the computing terms ROM, RAM, CPU and the nomenclature of semiconductor devices fet, mosfet, ujt.
ii. contextual synonym
A more common category of synonym is the contextual synonym (cs), where
the alternative term can be substituted in the majority of contexts, but not in
every case. For instance:
V-belt
auto
Keilriemen,-m
cs: fan belt; u: pulley, engine, water pump, generator.
forward-bias mode
elnc
Durchlaßrichtung,-f
cs: conducting mode; u: diode.
In most motor vehicles the V-belt (so-called because of its V-shape cross
section) drives the generator and possibly the water pump to which a cooling fan
is attached. It is unlikely in practice but engines are conceivable that are cooled
entirely by electric as opposed to belt-driven fans. In the latter case, the substitution fan belt for Keilriemen would not be correct as the belt concerned would
have a different main function (e.g driving the generator).
iii. preferred/non-preferred synonym
The remaining categories ps (preferred synonym) and nps (non-preferred
synonym) are small ones and occur mainly in connection with layman expressions and nearly obsolete terms. Layman terms may occur in technical texts and
should be understood by the translator, but they should not be used in translation unless the context specifically requires it. Obsolete synonyms should not be
used in translation at all. Thus, the entries:
14.8Other Terminological Associations 131
coil lmn.
elec
ps: inductor.
collector obs.
elec
ps: commutator; u: electric motor.
spark plug
auto
nps: sparking plug.
Spule,-f
Kollektor,-m
Zündkerze,-f
indicate that coil is a common layman term for what the circuit designer calls an
inductor, and that the former term collector in the context of electric motor has
been replaced by commutator throughout the electrical engineering industry;
these terms are dying out and may not be understood in the sense intended by
the future generation of engineers. The third example lists an alternative term
sparking plug, which exists but whose usage is dwindling.
14.8 Other Terminological Associations
This section discusses the remaining descriptors: d (designates), m (measurable
parameter of), tu (typical unit), a (associated with).
i. designation, description, definition
Consider the entry below, taken from the field of semiconductor device
technology:
extrinsic material
semi
d: doped semiconductor material.
dotierter Halbleiter
The example implies that the term extrinsic material denotes a semiconductor
material that has been subjected to doping. The descriptor d does not indicate a
hierarchic or hyponymous relationship among terms. It refers to the concept
denoted by the entry expression, and designates semantic attributes that
distinguish the entry term from other related expressions, such as intrinsic
material.
ii. metric parameter, typical unit
Entries involving the descriptors m, tu concern engineering terms that correspond to parameters, or more specifically physical quantities (Chap. 1–2).
Consider the examples:
inductance
m: inductor; tu: henry.
elec
Induktivität,-f
132 Technical thesaurus
inductance
phys
Induktanz,-f
s: electromagnetic inductance; u: induced emf.
The first entry helps the translator overcome the common pitfall of imagining
that inductance is always expressed in German by Induktanz. It reveals that
inductance is also a measurable parameter (m) characterising the electrical
device inductor; if the context involves the typical unit (tu) henry then the
translation of inductance by Induktivität is likely to be the correct one. The
second entry provides the explanation for the translator’s initial problem:
namely that the term inductance has another meaning in English, associated
with the first but with a broader significance and not necessarily to do with the
electrical device inductor.
iii. general/contextual association
Finally attention is drawn to the thesaurus descriptor a (associated with)
corresponding to the semantic relation associative introduced in connection
with hierarchic organisation. Some readers may have observed that this category
is present already in the descriptor u (used in connection with). Why then should
a second descriptor be introduced? The answer is purely for convenience.
For a term like acid level which is entered in the Thesaurus as follows:
acid level
a: battery.
auto
Säurestand,-m
there is indeed no good reason why the definition must be associated with (a) as
opposed to used in connection with (u) a battery. In other cases, however, an
alternative descriptor helps to distinguish the type or degree of association:
rocker shaft
engn
Kipphebelbrücke,-f
u: cylinder head; a: valves.
induced emf
elec
Induktionsspannung,-f
u: winding; a: transformer, generator.
The entries above indicate that the term rocker shaft is used in connection with
the cylinder head of an automobile engine and is associated with the concept
valves (inlet valves, exhaust valves), whereas induced emf is an electrical term
used in connection with a winding and associated with a transformer or generator. The fact that two associative descriptors are employed makes the definition
easier to read.
14.9Morphology 133
14.9 Morphology
Thesauri of this type have an inbuilt tendency to become rather large. Consequently every attempt was made to avoid repetition of information which is
accessible in the TPD, especially where concepts are easily understandable and
the reader merely requires the German equivalent. Thanks to the morphological
properties of German it is possible to omit a few categories of terminology
altogether. These are listed below:
i.
Terms like acoustics, thermodynamics, ultrasonics which refer to broad
subject areas are not defined in the Thesaurus. German equivalents are
locatable in the Polyseme Dictionary at the entry “-lehre”: Schallehre,
Wärmelehre, etc.
ii. The same applies to terms like coolant, detergent, lubricant, everyday
concepts refering to materials used in the household, motor vehicle, etc.
whose German equivalents appear in the TPD under -mittel.
iii. And it applies to compounds involving cutters, pincers, pliers, tongs, strippers. These are located at the TPD entry Zange.
The Thesaurus attempts to clarify as many as possible of the engineering
concepts appearing in the TPD by singling out their fundamental constituent
terminology. Access to a large number of TPD compounds and to useful
structured definitions of associated concepts in the Thesaurus is possible too,
but detective skills and lexicological initiative are sometimes required, as so
often in technical translation work.
Unit 15
Electrical Sciences
This unit begins on an odd note. The term Electrical Sciences is not standard. It serves merely as a heading, enabling the contents of two further
chapters to be discussed and related to three earlier ones. It introduces
Chapters 7 and 15, dealing with Circuit Technology and Light/Heavy Electrical Engineering, and relates them to Chapters 2, 5 and 6 which concern
Basic Electricity, Semiconductors and Electronics. The unit thus ties up a few
remaining loose ends necessary for a wide-angle view of the gigantic
field of Electrical Engineering. Unit 16, headed Mechanical Sciences, serves a
similar objective for the Mechanical Engineering disciplines.
For readers who feel uncomfortable in the electrical fields there are a
number of disk illustrations to ease comprehension, in particular in the
thumbnail sections:
i. Basic Electrical Engineering — ac/dc, phase, RMS value, reactance
ii. Electronic Circuit Design — device characteristics, circuit diagrams
iii. Electrical Engineering — motor, generator (starter, dynamo, alternator)
The unit itself focusses on general description rather than specific information, drawing attention to a number of contrasts, electrics/electronics,
mmf/emf, coil/inductor, and subject-field inconsistencies, such as power
(Ge. Leistung, Energie, Strom).
15.1
Circuit Design
The full list of standard electronic circuits is immense and the degree of
complexity often bewildering for a non-technical person, but certain circuits
reappear in different electrical appliances again and again. Chapter 7 describes
those circuit types most frequently encountered in engineering applications, the
fundamental operating mechanisms involved and the main electronic components concerned.
136 Electrical sciences
Discrete electronic components, such as transistors, diodes, resistors,
capacitors, are interconnected in various configurations to form standard circuit
modules. Three types are considered here: amplifiers, multivibrators, oscillators.
Amplifiers increase the amplitude of small ac voltages, known as signals, without
changing their frequency. Oscillators either generate or filter out signals of a
particular frequency. Switching circuits respond to pulsed signals (i.e. sudden
voltage surges; Ge. Spannungsimpuls) as opposed to sinusoidal ones (smooth
regular voltage waveforms; Ge. sinusförmige Signalwelle) and involve elaborately
interconnected arrangements of more fundamental switching-circuit modules
known as multivibrators. Designs of amplifier and switching circuitry are
centred on transistor applications, whereas those of oscillator circuitry are often
based on parallel configurations of capacitors with inductors.
i. Multivibrator Circuitry
Electronic switching circuits (Ge. Schaltkreis) underlie the operation of flashing
light systems, such as the indicator lights, Am. tail lamps, of a motor vehicle. They
are also used in conjunction with sensors for triggering fire alarms, and for a
wide range of other everyday applications. Basic switching modules are known
in the trade as multivibrators or occasionally by the layman term flip-flop. There
are three types, monostable, bistable and astable multivibrators, distinguished
according to whether the switching circuit has one stable output state (monostable), two (bistable), or whether it continually switches itself from one state to
the other (astable).
Combinations of multivibrators lead to other modular units employed in
digital systems and constitute the next order of switching circuit complexity:
clock timer
logic gate
register
storage cell
digital reference
digital processing
digital counting
digital memory
Logic gates are subdivided into AND-, OR-, NAND-, NOR- and NOT-gates
according to the corresponding logic function. The other concepts may be
vaguely familiar to the reader already. They all relate to the hardware of computer systems.
ii. Oscillator Circuitry
Oscillator circuits (Ge. Schwingkreis) provide voltage signals of a predefined
constant frequency and at constant amplitude. An obvious intuitive application
of these circuits is the generation of the individual key-notes of an electronic
15.2Power Supply Unit 137
organ or other keyboard instrument. In the first electronic organs good results
were obtained by using so-called LC oscillators, different parallel arrangements
of a specific capacitor with the appropriate inductor, which resonate at the
frequencies required. The standard electronics symbols for inductance and
capacitance are “L” and “C” (Chap. 2).
In an LC oscillator, electrical energy is transferred at a constant rate between
the two devices, rather like the way the spark energy is transferred between the
condenser (the ignition capacitor) and the ignition coil of an ordinary motor
vehicle. Instead of the energy being suddenly released however, i.e. as a spark,
it is continually transferred back and forth between the inductor and capacitor,
thereby generating a sinusoidal voltage wave at a constant frequency which
produces a synthesised musical note (Ge. Ton) of a keyboard or other instrument.
Similar results can be obtained, on a large scale, more cheaply without
inductors by employing sophisticated electronic circuitry manufactured as
integrated circuits (IC’s). Waveforms can also be reproduced digitally, which is
another approach to electronic keyboard design these days. LC oscillators are
then used merely as filters in various applications.
iii. Amplifier Circuitry
This is discussed in detail in the chapter, where distinctions such as pre-amplifier/power amplifier, current/voltage amplifier, feedback system are elaborated.
There is also a detailed account of the devices employed, thermionic tubes,
diodes, transistors, thyristors, etc., in amplifiers themselves and other electronic
circuitry.
Other standard circuits, revealing international symbols relating to the range of
electronic devices employed, appear in the disk illustrations. Those headed
Voltage Regulator, AC/DC Conversion are directly relevant to the next section,
the power supply of an electronic appliance.
15.2 Power Supply Unit
Every electronic circuit requires a dc power supply of a certain fixed voltage in
order to operate or bias the respective components. The circuit bias may be
obtained from batteries but usually it originates from the ac mains. Thus an
electronic power supply does not really supply power at all. It simply converts
the ac mains voltage into a dc voltage suitable for operating circuitry. The power-
138 Electrical sciences
supply unit (Ge. Netzteil) of any electronic equipment, including simple radios,
cassette recorders and computers, is therefore itself a relatively sophisticated
piece of circuitry, employing transformers, diodes, capacitors, transistors, IC’s
and other electronic devices.
A power supply circuit involves the following operations: transformation,
rectification, smoothing and regulation:
i.
The voltage level is set in the first stage: transformation. This operation
implies the conversion of the ac mains voltage (220 V) into another ac
voltage of the required level (e.g. 25 V). It requires a single circuit component, a suitable transformer.
ii. Rectification concerns the conversion of the smaller sinusoidal ac voltage
into a rectified ac voltage, namely one in which the waveform varies sinusoidally but remains always positive (or always negative). Semiconductor
diodes (or diode combinations) are used for this purpose.
iii. After the rectifier stage follows the smoothing stage, where the rectified ac
voltage waveform is converted into dc by means of large capacitors.
iv. The result, however, is not a perfectly smooth constant voltage like that of
a battery. It contains a small ripple. Ripple voltages (Ge. Brummspannung)
are responsible for mains hum, a steady low-pitched whining sound (50 Hz)
characterising many cheap amplifiers, record-players and very old radios
from the thirties (so-called wirelesses).
A good power supply is one with a low ripple factor, that is to say one where the
ratio of the ripple voltage to the dc output voltage is as low as possible, preferably less than 0.1%. To achieve this, relatively sophisticated circuitry is required,
involving zener diodes and a transistor feedback system. A power supply providing a smooth, stable dc output regardless of load or temperature extremes is
said to be regulated (Ge. stabilisiert).
15.3
Hierarchic Arrangement
Like other chapters, Chapter 7 has its own bilingual microthesaurus and a
number of hierarchic glossaries defining relevant concepts discussed only
briefly or not at all in the chapter itself, such as tuner, suppressor, receiver. There
are many NCNs in the thesaurus, circuitry, interference, reception, rectification,
and occasionally in the hierarchic arrangements. Figure 7B contains terminology relevant to the previous section. It is reproduced below:
15.3Hierarchic Arrangement 139
1
11g
111m
112m
power supply
mains source
mains voltage
mains frequency
Stromversorgung f
Netz n
Netzspannung f
Netzfrequenz f
2
21a
22a
221m
222m
223m
dc power supply
mains input
dc output
output voltage
ripple voltage
internal resistance
Netzgerät n
(Netzspannung)
(Ausgangsspannung)
Ausgangsspannung
Brummspannung
Innenwiderstand m
3
31g
32g
33g
34g
35g
voltage conversion stage (ac to dc)
transformation NCN
Umspannung
rectification NCN
Gleichrichtung
smoothing NCN
Glättung
regulation NCN
Stabilisierung
output stage
Ausgangsstufe
Hopefully, most readers are by now conversant with this lexicological technique
(employed on the disk from Chapter 2 onwards). It is quite straightforward.
Terms on the right constitute either exact translations of those on the left, or
sensible translations (bracketed expressions) where an exact German description of the concept implied does not provide a sensible substitution:
mains input
dc output
(Netzspannung)
(Ausgangsspannung)
The relational descriptor g indicates types or subcategories of the superordinate
concept, a generic relationship. Thus mains source is one type of power supply (in
the broad sense), transformation is one stage involved in ac/dc voltage conversion. The descriptor m designates a metric relationship, indicating that output
voltage, ripple voltage, internal resistance are parameters relating to the concept
(dc) output.
Note: The orthographic conventions for abbreviations regarding the concepts
direct/alternating current (i.e. dc/ac, d.c./a.c., DC/AC, D. C./A. C.) vary within
technical language and differ from those of general language. The convention
employed in this handbook and (to avoid confusion) on most of the disk, dc/ac,
is that of electrical or electronic circuit design, but there is no need for translators to adopt the same convention automatically.
140 Electrical sciences
15.4 Light/Heavy Electrical Engineering
Chapter 15 begins with a brief description of the above disciplines, and draws
attention to slight variations in terminology encountered by translators when
moving from one electrical subfield to another (e.g. Spannung: voltage, tension,
emf; Kondensator: capacitor, condenser; Widerstand: resistor, rheostat). These
variations are not necessarily apparent in both languages simultaneously and
may have important consequences on an individual linguist’s translation
proficiency. Later sections continue with the topic of Light Electrical Engineering (Ge. Schwachstromtechnik), and demonstrate distinctions between ac and dc
machines. The final section extends to Heavy Electrical Engineering (Ge.
Starkstromtechnik) with illustrations of the significance of phasing in connection
with power transmission, and descriptions of motors, generators and other
electrical machinery which operate from a three-phase as opposed to a singlephase supply.
This unit discusses an extract from these fields. But first, for demonstration
purposes, a brief look at Figure 15A, a terminology of electric motors:
1
11g
12g
13p
14p
15p
16p
161m
motor
dc motor
ac motor
field winding(s)
commutator
carbon brushes
armature
armature speed
Elektromotor m
Gleichstrommotor
Wechselstrommotor
Feldspule f
Kommutator m
Kohlebürsten pl
Anker m
Drehzahl f
2
21g
211g
22a
ac motor
three-phase motor
synchronous motor
three-phase mains
Wechselstrommotor
Drehstrommotor
Synchronmotor
Dreiphasennetz n
3
31a
311m
312m
313m
field winding
magnetic flux
flux density
induced emf
rate of change
Feldspule f
magnetischer Fluß
Flußdichte f
Induktionsspannung f
Änderungsgeschwindigkeit
The hierarchic list reveals the usual generic relationships:
15.5Electrical/Electronic/Magnetic 141
three-phase motor is a type of ac motor
synchronous motor is a type of three-phase motor
and also partitive ones:
commutator, field windings, brushes are parts of a motor
as well as metric relations:
flux density, induced emf are parameters relating to magnetic flux
The necessary mental substitution processes are similar to those employed for
other hierarchic term lists or thesauri. The intellectual investment pays off,
however, when the reader is faced with an urgent translation assignment and is
desperately using the disk merely as a dictionary. In this case, a number of visual
aids are available for comparison. They appear in the subsection Electrical
Engineering of the disk illustrations.
15.5
Electrical/Electronic/Magnetic
Electrical Engineering is such a vast field that not even specialists themselves are
familiar with the full range of associated terminology. Moreover, certain
concepts have designations which differ slightly according to the connotations
involved. For instance, the German concept elektrische Spannung — voltage, emf
(electromotive force). Chapter 15 clears up a number of potential misunderstandings.
Electrical engineers work with electrical machinery involving powers up to
the megawatt range, while electronic engineers deal with applications ranging
from assembly-line robotics to spacecraft control, working mostly at the milli- or
microwatt level. Electrical engineers work closely with magnetic devices, such as
inductors, transformers, field windings. Electronics experts tend to avoid such
devices as far as possible and have no need for expressions like emf, mmf
(electromotive and magnetomotive force) which derive from analogies and
parallels within the fields of Electricity and Magnetism.
Resistors used in Light Electrical Engineering often consist of flat strips of
metal (copper, etc.) or wire coils, and look very different to their counterparts in
Electronics, the latter being tiny solid devices manufactured from semiconductor materials, or substances other than metallic alloys. Electrical terminology
tends to be older than that of Electronics: capacitors are still called condensers in
142 Electrical sciences
a few areas; inductors are referred to as chokes; certain wire-wound potentiometers are termed rheostats. Translators are frequently confused where German
uses the same terminology for both electrical and electronic devices: Spule
(choke, inductor), Kondensator (condenser, capacitor), Schiebewiderstand
(rheostat, sliding resistor).
On the point of grammar, non-native speakers should note that the
adjectives electric and electrical are both possible in certain compounds, for
example in combination with power, energy, field, charge, but in other compounds there is only one alternative: electrical machinery; electric motor, electric
dish-washer, electric guitar. In the case of electronic or magnetic, however, the
choice is much simpler. Alternatives with -al do not exist.
15.6 Electrics, Electronics
The terms electrics and electronics have little in common. Electronics is an
engineering discipline, whereas electrics is a pragmatic abbreviation for electrical
equipment and appears in compound terms where the full expression is a little
clumsy: auto-electrics, lathe electrics, household electrics. Occasionally, however,
this distinction is blurred. For example, a distinction between auto-electrics
(dashboard, wipers, lighting, window winders) and auto-electronics (electronic
ignition, electronic fuel injection) is now emerging.
The expression household electrics refers to the system of insulated cables,
mains sockets, mains switches, light switches, junctions, etc., installed by an
electrician in a household, office, school or factory, the so-called wiring system
(Ge. Verkabelung). Each household electrical appliance has a mains lead (Ge.
Netzkabel) to which a mains plug (Ge. Stecker) is attached. When the appliance
is operated, the lead is inserted (plugged) into a mains socket (Ge. Steckdose).
American English employs the terminology power cord, power plug, power
socket; rather misleadingly for non-native speakers though, power sockets
themselves are colloquially referred to as plugs, so that plugs are effectively
plugged into plugs!
15.7 Plugs, Fuses, Cut-Outs
Household mains plugs may have just two pins which provide the connection
to the live and neutral mains, the in-coming cables leading to the power grid (Ge.
15.8Power, Performance, Energy 143
Stromnetz) and eventually right back to the local power station (Ge. Kraftwerk).
But most British plugs have three pins, the third being at earth potential (Am.
ground potential). German plugs are often earthed (Am. grounded) but instead
of a third pin a metallic spring clip at the sides of the plug provides the necessary contact.
British 3-pin plugs are fused, that is they contain fuses (Ge. Schmelzsicherung) designed to blow when a certain current is exceeded, the most
common being 3-amp fuses (for the lighting systems) and 13-amp fuses for the
mains sockets. British mains sockets themselves are also fused, namely wired to
fuses in the fuse-box adjacent to the electricity meter.
The basic meaning of fuse is a tiny section of delicate wire designed to break
when the temperature of the wire due to the current conducted becomes
excessive, but there are a number of extended meanings. The adjective fused can
mean containing or attached to a fuse, as in fused plug, fused socket, but the
participle fused implies that a fuse has blown, for instance: “The lights have
fused”. Thus expressions like fused plug, fused socket acquire a second interpretation. Small interchangeable fuses, consisting of fuse wire inside a transparent
casing attached to convenient lateral metallic terminals, are employed in
televisions, video recorders, hi-fi systems, etc. to avoid destruction of delicate
circuitry. These fuses generally blow between 1 mA and 1 A.
German and American household wiring systems are not fused but employ
instead a system of cut-outs (Ge. Ausschalt-Sicherung), small automatic switches
operated electrically by relays or other electrical devices which flip the switch in
the event of an overload. Cut-outs are employed in household appliances, when
the appliance itself is less delicate or the possibility of death by electrocution is
more remote. In such cases push-button cut-outs are common, which are
depressed when the overload has been removed.
15.8 Power, Performance, Energy
Chapter 15 goes a long way beyond simple household applications of electricity.
There are detailed sections on aspects of Auto-Electrics revealing the underlying
features and constituents of batteries, starters, generators, dynamos, alternators.
It also deals with electrical machinery, revealing new terminological contrasts,
emf/mmf, resistance/reluctance, as well as the first magnetic/electromagnetic
parameters and units: flux, ampere-turns, weber. The chapter ends with a study
of high-voltage power generation/transmission, discussing single/three-phase
144 Electrical sciences
power systems, power transmission lines, grid voltage and other specialised
concepts which demonstrate features unique to this area. This section looks at
one frequent translation error in this field. It involves the simple German
expression Energie.
A complete beginner in technical translation, on encountering the German
term Leistung, picks up a technical dictionary, finds the possible substitutions
performance, output, capacity, and selects one at random. Probably the most
frequent English equivalent is none of these. In this handbook, on most of the
disk, and indeed throughout engineering, the German concept Leistung mainly
corresponds to power, a physical quantity measured in the SI unit watt.
Heavy electrical or power systems engineering constitutes no exception but
the German terminology is less systematic and the nearest translational equivalent of power in the reverse direction is sometimes Energie, for example: power
transmission, power supply (Ge. Energieübertragung, Energieversorgung). In other
cases, German employs Strom as in Stromversorgung, Stromleitung, Stromkabel
(E. power supply, power line, power cable). English, on the other hand, uses the
expression power supply in a number of slightly different ways, and these can
have different German equivalents.
Similar considerations apply to the global expression Leitung (lead, cable,
power line). The lengthy microthesaurus of Figure 15B casts some light upon
these distinctions, but like with so many other aspects of technical translation,
a proficient translator must remain on continual alert.
Unit 16
Mechanical Sciences
Mechanical engineers design and construct engines, turbines, drive
systems, lifting gear and lots of other equipment for application in specific
branches of technology or industry. Mechanical Engineering in the broad
sense of the term covers a vast field, with the result that engineering
students specialise early and those opting for Aeronautical or Construction Engineering generally switch to separate courses. The e-book too
divides the subject into many separate domains.
Despite this, certain terminology is common throughout the field.
The basis of Mechanical Engineering lies in the branch of Physics known
as Newtonian Mechanics and employs the terminology of Chapter 1. Other
aspects are to be found in the chapter on Automotive Engineering
(Chapter 8), in Chapter 13 focussing on Construction Engineering and in
Chapter 14, headed Mechanical Engineering, where the latter deals with
railway vehicles, aircraft, shipping and other aspects of the field not covered
elsewhere.
This unit introduces Machine Technology, a subfield of Mechanical
Engineering responsible for the manufacture of machine parts and the
construction of machinery. It goes on to describe various sciences which
developed mainly in the twentieth century under the collective heading
of Mechanics. Detailed information appears in two separate areas of the
disk: Chapters 9 and 12. The heading Mechanical Sciences is introduced for
the author’s convenience; it is not a standard engineering term. It
merely serves to give the Unit a name, and enables it to combine two
chapters and two di¬erent aspects of Mechanical Engineering, not
mentioned so far.
146 Mechanical sciences
16.1
Machine Tools
Machine technology includes the design of workshop machines used as tools to
manufacture components of other machines: lathes, drills, grinding, broaching,
planing and milling machines, and so on. These should perhaps be called “tool
machines” (cf. Ge. Werkzeugmaschinen) but the standard term is machine tool.
The use of machine tools to manufacture intricate components of machinery,
engines, gear assemblies, linkages, individually is termed metal-working. The
metal worker begins with a piece of metal of the appropriate material and can
produce cogs, gears, screws, bolts, sleeves, carburettor jets and indeed any precision
component required in Mechanical Engineering with the aid of machine tools
installed at various benches (Ge. Werkbank) in the workshop. Repeated identical
manufacturing and assembly processes are now carried out by industrial robots,
especially in the Automobile Industry.
Metal workers and indeed all mechanical engineers need to be familiar with
material properties and require an exact knowledge of the appropriate parameters, such as melting point, fatigue strength, maximum shear stress. They require
a number of practical skills too, including brazing, welding, forging, joining,
using hand tools as well as machine tools. Figure 9A lists nouns describing the
properties of engineering materials and Figure 9B contains some verbs summarising the various operations involved in metal-working. The names of
machine tools often consist of simple compounds involving these terms, such
as broaching/slotting/grinding/reaming machine, which are abbreviated to
broacher, slotter, grinder, reamer in the layman language.
The term machining covers all cutting operations using machine tools. But
there are many other technical verbs in this area, some no doubt familiar to the
reader, bore, drill, grind, plane, punch, others less familiar: broach, finish, groove,
mill, seam, slot, square. These appear together with their German equivalents in
Figure 9B alongside other useful terminology from related areas, bond, braze,
cast, forge, rivet, weld.
16.2 Machines, Engines
Mechanical engineers are employed to install engines and other machinery in
ships, submarines, cranes, elevators, escalators, factories and factory workshops.
The terminology of Automobile Engineering applies to engine systems in
general, and Mechanics terms, such as energy, power, work, torsion, momentum,
16.2Machines, Engines 147
appear repeatedly in texts concerning the design of such systems. Translators
encounter three main types of engine:
i. petrol engines (as in motor vehicles)
ii. steam engines (in power stations, or the early railway industry)
iii. jet engines (in air- and spacecraft)
Petrol engines are found in many different forms. The smaller variety appearing
in chain saws, lawn mowers, mopeds, with just a single spark plug, tend to be
called motors in British as well as American English. Diesel engines and the
motors of certain oil-fired heating systems operate along similar lines but
require ignition systems only for starting the engine, if at all. The same applies to
engines fired by gaseous fuel, such as methane. Most engines involve reciprocating motion, in other words pistons moving along cylinders requiring inlet valves,
exhaust valves, etc. The wankel engine employs rotary motion at the inlet and
exhaust stages and dispenses with some of the above components. Another class
of rotary machine of an entirely different kind are turbines, large rotating wheels
fitted with vanes (Ge. Schaufel) turned by fluid pressure (water, steam, etc.).
These are important in power stations. The steam engines of ocean liners or
railway locomotives, and the jet engines of the aircraft and the aerospace
industry (Chap. 14) also require the talents of skilled machine technologists.
Discrepancies between British and American English in the area of Machine
Technology itself are minimal. But the distinctions between engine and motor
vary however, and present occasional terminological problems for translators,
though rarely conceptual misunderstandings. Usually in British English the
term motor implies electric motor, and engine covers everything else — diesel
engine, steam engine, rocket engine, etc. But exceptions exist, usually introduced
via American English, such as motorboat.
In contrast to the electronics and computing industries, attempts to
standardise terminologies in the various mechanical engineering disciplines
have not been entirely successful. Discrepancies between British and American
nomenclature exist in the automobile industry — anti-roll bar/sway bar,
antifreeze/defreezer, float chamber/float bowl, oil sump/oil pan (Figure 8A); in the
terminology of railway vehicles — goods truck/freight wagon (Ge. Güterwagon);
in the area of household water systems — pipe/tube, tap/faucet (Ge. Wasserleitung, Wasserhahn); in the names of objects such as: adaptor/adapter, mould/
mold, vice/vise, socket wrench/box spanner, circlip/snap ring (Ge. Paßstück,
Gießform, Schraubstock, Steckschlüssel, Sicherungsring).
148 Mechanical sciences
Note: The terms machine and machinery are applicable to gearing, lever arrangements, rotating shafts and drive systems but normally exclude engines and
turbines themselves. There is also the extended meaning electrical machine
encountered in the previous unit, which includes motors.
16.3 Drive Systems
Three types of drive system are employed in mechanical engineering: belt drive,
chain drive and gear transmission. Belt drive normally implies open-belt drive
(Ge. offener Riementrieb), where the belt passes smoothly over two pulleys
rotating in the same direction, as opposed to crossed-belt drive (Ge. gekreuzter
Riementrieb), where the belt crosses over in the middle and reverses the direction of rotation of the second pulley. Crossed-belt drive is generally less efficient
(more slip) and is limited to applications where broken belts are easily accessible, for instance in weaving looms and other textile machinery. Belts themselves
can be flat, but some have a V-shape cross-section designed to fit into the
pulleys. Pulleys associated with V-belts (Ge. Keilriemen) are normally designated
Scheiben in German, whereas those designed for flat belts tend to be called
Rollen.
Chain drive is used where the shafts involved are too far apart for gear
transmission and too close for belt drive, or when access to broken belts is
difficult. The chain passes over two sprocket wheels (Ge. Kettenrad) as on a
bicycle. Gear transmission involves direct contact between interlocking gears
which always rotate in opposite directions. In the case of spur gears (Ge.
Stirnrad) the gear teeth are arranged on a narrow cylindrical surface and the two
shafts rotate at different speeds in the same plane. The teeth of bevel gears (Ge.
Kegelrad), however, are arranged on a conical surface and the shafts rotate at
right-angles to one another. Spur gears appear in the gearbox of a motor vehicle.
Bevel gears appear in the differential assembly and switch the drive from the
engine and propellor shaft to the plane necessary to turn the roadwheels.
16.4 Newtonian Mechanics
Newton himself had no conception of machinery and was by no means in any
sense of the word a mechanical engineer. His field of research concerned the
mechanical behaviour of objects in the world around him and in the skies above.
16.5Solid-Body Mechanics 149
But Newton was a great mathematician as well as a scientist. He developed
methods for computing forces in both static and dynamic systems and promoted
the basis of what later became known as infinitessimal calculus (Ge. Differentialbzw Integralrechnung). Theoretical Mechanics is therefore really a branch of
Mathematics dealing with the mechanical behaviour of certain idealised systems
where, for instance, energy losses due to friction, heat, sound, or small additional
considerations resulting from the respective weights of individual structural
components are neglected, in order to establish models for practical mechanical
systems. Newtonian Mechanics is the expression normally used when a contrast
is made with other explanations of mechanical behaviour, for instance Relativity, a science which focusses more upon the energies involved in mechanical
motion, or Quantum Mechanics, a subject based largely on probability theory
and statistics. Elsewhere the accepted jargon designation is Classical Mechanics,
where the expression classical refers to Newton and a few successful earlier
scientists dating back to Archimedes.
Classical Mechanics is divided into three subdisciplines discussed in
Chapter 1: Statics, Kinematics, Dynamics. Statics covers forces acting upon
bodies in a state of equilibrium (bridges, cables, support walls) and underlies
modern Construction Technology. Kinematics concerns the relative motions of
mechanical bodies, e.g. gears, cams, linkages, pulleys, and is directly relevant to
the design of production machinery, as well as bicycles, winches and clockwork
devices; it constitutes an important aspect of the modern Robotics industry too.
Dynamics deals with the production of rectilinear, circular and other motion by
the production and application of dynamic forces. It underlies the technologies
of both reciprocating engines (petrol or steam engines), with their associated
transmission systems, and the jet engines of Aeronautical or Aerospace Technology.
The division of Mechanics itself into subdisciplines is no longer as important to modern technologists as it was to 19th-century scientists when the field
was at an early stage; broadly speaking, Construction Engineering can be regarded as a practical extension of Statics, Machine Technology derives from Kinematics, and most other areas of Mechanical Engineering, e.g. Automobile Technology, Railway Systems, Nautical/Aeronautical Engineering, are based on Dynamics.
16.5 Solid-Body Mechanics
Solid-Body Mechanics is an extension of Newton’s Statics and supplies the
theoretical basis for Construction Engineering, the design of bridges, roofs,
150 Mechanical sciences
buildings and other frame structures. The objective is to compute bending,
twisting and shearing forces at different points in the structure so that stresses in
construction materials are known in advance and rupture is avoided. The field
relies a lot on geometric calculation employing force polygons (Ge. Krafteck) and
especially on a technique known as superposition, whereby problems concerning
strangely asymmetric structures are resolved by adding similar inverse asymmetric structures to the design drawing until a symmetrical structure is obtained. Force values calculated from the composite structural diagram then have
to be halved or divided by an appropriate amount to provide results for the
original asymmetric structure.
Having established a force model for the structure, the engineer or designer
examines the stress/strain behaviour at different critical points, and establishes
whether elastic or plastic deformation is taking place (temporary or permanent
alterations) when the structure is assembled and loaded, in other words when
tiles are placed on the roof or vehicles are crossing the bridge. Thermal strain
resulting from extreme temperature changes has to be considered as well.
Bending and shear stresses are then estimated and, if necessary, the structure is
either strengthened at weak points or completely redesigned. The effects of
twisting, so-called torsional stress are also investigated and appropriate precautions taken to avoid rupture or fracture due to this phenomenon. Finally, in
order to prevent the structure from vibrating uncontrollably under unfortunate
conditions, the engineer devises a model to analyse its resonance behaviour.
The terminology of Solid-Body Mechanics and the main conceptions
involved are discussed in Chapters 1 and 13: moment/torque, tension/compression, stress/strain, torsion/bending, etc.
16.6 Fluid Mechanics
Whereas Newtonian Mechanics provides correct answers to information
requested on the motion of objects through vacuum (Ge. materiefreier Raum)
it breaks down when the resistance or drag of the medium (air, water, etc.) has
to be taken into account. Newton could have told us how long it takes for a
brick to fall to the ground from the top of a cliff, but not a newspaper. Other
physicists such as Bernoulli, Stokes, Poiseuille provided the theoretical basis for
these calculations. Fluid Mechanics (Ge. Strömungsmechanik) concerns the
behaviour of solid objects moving through fluids, where the term fluid is
employed in the broad engineering sense and covers both liquids and gases. The
16.7Quantum Mechanics 151
field covers the flow of fluids through solid objects too, such as pipes, tubes, open
drains, canals.
Moving fluids are considered to be composed of lamina known as streams.
The mathematical or graphical representation of a stream of fluid particles
moving at the same velocity is referred to as a streamline. It provides velocity
vectors illustrating the motion of small objects within the stream, thereby
providing information on the rate of fluid flow (Ge. Strömungsgeschwindigkeit)
near solid surfaces (e.g. inside a pipe), and information for shaping objects to
move effectively and efficiently with or against the fluid flow, a science known
as streamlining.
Hence, some fluid engineers devise pipelines for petroleum or natural gas,
others develop weather balloons for specific destinations, and others design
bodies for cars or fuselages for aircraft. Such scientists estimate pressures at
different points in the fluid and take account of the effects of viscosity, a
phenomenon which results from the internal friction forces acting between the
molecules of the fluid.
16.7 Quantum Mechanics
Although Fluid Mechanics employs conceptions from other branches of Physics
and a level of Mathematics far beyond anything Newton could have coped with,
it is nevertheless distantly related to Newtonian Mechanics. Quantum Mechanics
bears no relationship whatsoever and employs an entirely different terminology.
Quantum Mechanics is branch of the mathematical discipline known as
Probability Theory and Statistics, and is responsible for describing the behaviour of tiny particles carrying minute amounts of energy, charge, momentum,
etc. It was realised in the nineteen-twenties that nature as it stands could not
exist if quantities such as these were indivisible indefinitely. There had to be a
fundamental unit: the quantum. For the basic unit of electric charge, the charge
quantum, the obvious value to take was the so-called electronic charge (Ge.
Elementarladung), the charge of the electron itself, which is numerically equal
to the proton charge. For other parameters such as the energy quantum it was
not so easy to determine the precise amount, but it became apparent that
certain phenomena at the level of Molecular Physics, such as the escape of an
electron from an atom with the emission of a photon (Ge. Lichtquant), could
only take place if the permissible levels of energy excitation of an electron or
similar particle conform to a particular model, the so-called energy band model.
152 Mechanical sciences
This leads indirectly to a measure of the fundamental energy quantum, that
carried by the smallest particle of luminous energy, the photon. But recent work
in the area of Sub-Atomic Physics dealing with constituents more fundamental
than even neutrons and protons themselves, so-called quarks (Chapter 4) may
lead to re-evaluations in this field.
Though hotly contested at the time, even by leading scientists such as
Einstein, Quantum Mechanics (like Newtonian Mechanics) nevertheless
provides many correct answers. Without it the whole field of Semiconductor
Electronics could not have existed, and this would have had enormous repercussions on the entertainment and computing industries.
16.8 Celestial Mechanics
Celestial Mechanics deals with the motions of asteroids, comets, moons, planets,
stars and even galaxies relative to one another. Though Newton did not realise
that stars also change their relative positions and was probably unaware that
other galaxies apart from our own exist, his description of the fundamental laws
underlying the motions of all celestial bodies (Ge. Himmelskörper) was one of the
first great successes of his new science Mechanics.
Newton provided the key to other terrestrial phenomena. For example,
secondary variations in the levels of high tides result from the fact that the
moon’s orbit is elliptical rather than circular, and that the gravitational attraction from the sun varies due to the earth’s non-circular orbit. The combination
of these forces led to catastrophic flooding in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century. Such events occur only very rarely, sometimes every few
centuries, but they are predictable. Moreover, it is interesting to note that
friction resulting from tidal movements retards the earth’s rotation about its
axis, making the terrestrial day progressively longer. There is evidence to suggest
that 370 million years ago, before the appearance of the first dinosaurs, the
earth’s day was less than 22 hours.
Newton’s ideas reflect the kind of relativistic thinking involved in the
analysis of complex structural or kinematic systems. Because the moon revolves
every 28 days instead of 24 hours the stars circle the lunar skies much more
slowly. So does the sun. Only the earth seems to be in a fixed position. This
observation led the American astronaut Alan Bean to remark: “If man had
evolved on the moon he would have worshipped the earth and thought of it as
a gigantic eye in the sky”. Since then, many more moons in our solar system
16.9Subject Fields 153
have been discovered, and the planets have been studied from many different
perspectives. Newton’s Laws account for their relative motions. They also still
provide the theoretical and practical basis for the gravitational propulsion of
spacecraft from one celestial body to another.
Two centuries after Newton, a brilliant young scientist working from first
principles established an entirely new theory of the conceptions underlying
gravitation and planetary motion. Albert Einstein’s General Relativity showed
that although Newtonian Mechanics provides a lot of correct answers, they are
for the wrong reasons. Einstein’s clear insight into the relationships between
matter and energy provided a new explanation of planetary motion and accounted for certain unexplained phenomena governing the orbital motion of
Mercury. At the present time, Stephen Hawking, a tiny crippled scientist barely
able to move and virtually unable to speak without the aid of computer keyset
is pushing the frontiers of knowledge even beyond Einstein’s grasp. Ironically,
the one area where Newtonian Mechanics could one day become redundant is
the one for which Newton first proposed it: Celestial Mechanics.
None of this would have surprised Newton, who regarded his new science
as a theoretical toy which accounted for the relationship between gravity and
gravitation, for the physical effects of friction between solid surfaces, and the
motions and turbulences in liquids. But the fact that Newtonian Mechanics
provides the intellectual basis of vast industries ranging from bicycles to motor
vehicles to aerospace technology would no doubt have surpassed even his wildest
expectations.
16.9 Subject Fields
Though many branches of science and technology originate from Newtonian
Mechanics the broad engineering conception Mechanics normally covers the
fields Classical and Solid-Body Mechanics only. Fluid Mechanics, in view of its
complexity, is felt to be a separate discipline; Celestial Mechanics employs the
doctrines of Einstein in preference to those of Newton; Quantum Mechanics is
entirely unrelated to Mechanical Engineering, its applications lying in Molecular Physics, Nucleonics, Materials Science and Semiconductor Technology.
Subject fields emerge gradually over the course of time, and the names
attached to them by technologists are often non-systematic. English itself is by
no means symmetrical in the use of labels for fields of the type Mechanics,
Electronics, Aeronautics, Nucleonics. There are many connotational inconsistencies:
154 Mechanical sciences
i.
Mechanics is a purely scientific/mathematical discipline with applications in
many technological areas, of which Mechanical Engineering is only one;
ii. Electronics concerns engineering fields like Circuit Design, Tube Design,
Semiconductor Development, the term being merely an abbreviation of
Electronic Engineering;
iii. Aeronautics is an applied practical and theoretical science providing
information needed for aircraft design and their safe construction, as well
as for guided missiles and other unmanned flying objects, whereas the
counterpart Aeronautical Engineering concerns chiefly pilot/passenger
aircraft;
iv. Nucleonics is a subfield of Nuclear Engineering concerned with interactions between nuclear, ionised and radioactive particles, as opposed to the
broad engineering field which includes the design of breeders and reactors.
Thus Mechanics is a science and not a branch of engineering, whereas Electronics
occupies the opposite role. Aeronautics and Nucleonics are either scientific fields
in their own right or subfields of engineering disciplines according to the
context. By the same token, Electrostatics, the study of charged bodies, is a
science only, whereas Optics, the design of telescopes, microscopes and other
optical equipment can be either a science or a technology.
One of the difficulties encountered by translators, even when they are using
good dictionaries with entries accurately distinguished by convenient field
labels, is that the labels themselves can be understood differently in different
languages. In Volume Two, a separate introductory section examines this
problem and its relevance to the large dictionaries of the e-book.
Unit 17
Technical Collocation Dictionary
Whereas the TPD and Thesaurus concentrate on specialised terminology
in isolation the Technical Collocation Dictionary (TCD) tries to illustrate
meaning by way of usage. It deals with general vocabulary in specialised
contexts, collocations of technical nouns with specific adjectives, concordances of nouns and verbs, mathematical expressions, prepositional
phrases and many other important aspects of translation. Used appropriately, the TCD can provide short-cuts to a wide range of expertise
unattainable from conventional lexicographical arrangements.
The collocations are accessible in a number of ways. The first part of
this unit deals with access, the other sections explain the content of the
TCD and distinguish a variety of its functions.
17.1
Access
Supposing a translator requires an English expression for senkrecht in connection with a Mechanical Engineering assignment. He looks up the term in the
TCD and discovers an example of the use of senkrecht complete with an
associated verb stehen and preposition auf:
senkrecht: phys
Die Zentripetalkraft muß auf der Kreisbahn senkrecht stehen.
The centripetal force must be perpendicular to the orbital path.
This is direct access.
The translator may wonder whether this particular rendering has anything
to do with terms Kreisbahn, Zentripetalkraft. He looks up first Bahn and then
Kraft which provide the following information:
Bahn: bringen, senkrecht, umlaufen
Kraft: angleichen, angreifen, anziehen, einwirken, ebenso …
156 Technical collocation dictionary
These entries indicate other entries in the TCD at which polysemes like Bahn
(path, orbit), Kraft (force, thrust, traction) reappear. This is indirect access and
this type of entry is called a cross-collocation to distinguish it from direct entries,
such as senkrecht.
Technical translation involves native speakers in a considerable amount of
problem-solving regarding terminology and semantics, but the difficulties of
non-native speakers are even more acute as they lack the same general awareness
of prepositions, adverbs, adjectives and their relationships with specific nouns
and verbs. The remaining sections demonstrate how a wide range of potential
translation problems are resolvable, with the help of the TCD, by using similar
accessing techniques.
17.2 Specialised Nouns in Context
Some of the polysemes occuring in Volume 1, the Thesaurus or the TPD, such
as Widerstand (drag, impedance, resistance, resistor), reappear in the TCD.
Readers can supplement their understanding of concepts listed elsewhere in the
book by observing terminology in context. The information is provided by
entries of the type:
Widerstand: acht, anschwingen, charakteristisch, durchfließen, gering, Größe,
Querschnitt, schalten, sprechen, Stärke, wärmeleitend
which point to other TCD entries (e.g. acht, anschwingen, charakteristisch) that
reveal collocations of Widerstand. The term may occur either in isolation or in
compounds such as:
Luftwiderstand
Vorwiderstand
Lastwiderstand
atmospheric drag
ballast resistor
load resistance
in contexts illustrating different interpretations of the root concept. Root terms
may appear in any position in the compound: initial, medial or final. Thus the
entries at Gitter, Last points to collocations of:
Belüftungsgitter
Gitteratom
Kristallgitter
ventilation grid
lattice atom
crystal lattice
belastbar
Lastgerade
capable of withstanding a load of …
load line
17.4Technical Verbs, Specialised Predicates 157
Lastwiderstand
Überlastung
load resistor
overload
and that for Leiter directs the reader to a second set of collocations at Halbleiter.
For frequent engineering terms, such as Strom (E. current), there are many
collocations with different connotations: Gleichstrom, Wechselstrom, Schwachstrom. Those involving the same basic meaning are accessible via cross-collocations, but direct entries are provided for any exceptions:
ein stetiger Strom von geladenen Teilchen
a continuous stream of charged particles
17.3 Long Technical Expressions
Important expressions which are too long for ordinary technical dictionaries, or
too difficult to define, nevertheless appear in the TCD. The collocations of Satz
reveal:
der Satz von der Erhaltung der Energie
the Law of Conservation of Energy
der Impulssatz
the Momentum Principle/the Law of Conservation of Momentum
der binomische Lehrsatz
the Binomial Theorem
and another entry accessed via Widerstand reveals the concept:
Temperaturbeiwert des elektrischen Widerstandes
thermal coefficient of resistance
17.4 Technical Verbs, Specialised Predicates
For a small number of technical verbs, a dictionary approach similar to that of
the Thesaurus is at least conceivable:
schalten
leerlaufen
umwandeln
to change gear (auto, u: driving)
to idle (auto, u: engine)
to transmutate (nucl, u: radioactive materials)
158 Technical collocation dictionary
But it is less appropriate when the expressions concern general verbs (e.g.
aushalten, aufnehmen, ausbessern) used in specific engineering contexts. In such
cases, it is better to provide an example of usage, either as a short phrase:
Wärme ableiten
Energie aufnehmen
hohe Spannungen aushalten
Lackabsplitterungen ausbessern
to dissipate heat (elnc)
to absorb energy (phys)
to withstand high stresses (mech)
touch up chipped paintwork (auto)
in Reihe geschaltet
parallel geschaltet
connected in series (elec)
connected in parallel (elec)
or as a complete sentence. Both models appear in the TCD.
The sentence approach is essential for verbs like durchbrennen, ausdehnen,
überschlagen whose interpretations are restricted to a small group of grammatical subjects:
The bulb might blow.
The gas expands.
Arcing occurs.
Die Glühbirne könnte durchbrennen.
Das Gas dehnt sich aus.
Ein Funke überschlägt.
and for homonymous or polysemous verbs:
eine Schraube anziehen
einen Körper anziehen
to tighten a bolt (auto)
to attract an object (phys)
einen Motor zerlegen
eine Kraft zerlegen
to dismantle an engine (auto)
to resolve a force (phys)
Hence, specialised verbs or general verbs with specific interpretations in
particular technical contexts constitute an important part of the TCD. Semantically contrasting entries appear adjacently, a feature which identifies polysemous verbs immediately.
17.5 Pragmatics
Some verb entries enable the dictionary user to avoid even tiny errors in
translation, such as the substitutions auffüllen (fill up), austauschen (exchange),
in contexts where these interpretations are not appropriate:
ein Loch im Kristallgitter auffüllen — to fill a hole in the crystal lattice
einen defekten Teil austauschen — to change a defective component
17.6Syntax, Prepositions 159
and the TCD draws attention to translations which would be wrong on pragmatic grounds, such as the substitution send for schicken in the example below:
Man schickt die Teilchen durch ein elektrisches Feld
The particles are passed through an electric field.
The word “sent” would be understood but does not occur in the above context
in normal technical literature.
17.6 Syntax, Prepositions
As well as enabling readers unfamiliar with the literature of technology to avoid
mis-translations, the TCD has another useful function. It encourages foreign
speakers to refrain from clumsy non-English expressions like *“to prevent that
a window mists up”, *“in the case of falling below a certain voltage”, and
acquire a feeling for essential syntactic transformations:
das Beschlagen einer Fensterscheibe verhindern
to prevent a window pane from misting up (fogging up)
beim Unterschreiten einer gewissen Spannung
when the voltage falls below a certain minimum level
In contrast to specialised nouns, which are accessible in the TCD only indirectly, technical verbs are accessed directly, and the entry terms, e.g. schicken,
beschlagen, unterschreiten, characterise the main translation difficulty.
It is sometimes convenient, however, to consult indirect collocations in
order to examine concordances between specialised nouns and specialised
verbs, and how this affects prepositions. The entry:
Kraft: angreifen, einwirken, richten
reveals that three verbs frequently occur in association with the noun Kraft.
Collocation sentences involving this noun are accessible at the entries angreifen,
einwirken, richten:
Die drei Kräfte greifen in einem Punkt an.
The three forces act at a point.
Eine Auftriebskraft wirkt auf den Körper ein.
An upward thrust acts on the body.
Die Kraft richtet sich gegen den Mittelpunkt.
The force acts towards the centre.
160 Technical collocation dictionary
It is evident here that the distinction in English between the three verbal
concepts focusses not on the verbs themselves but on the prepositions: act at,
act on, act towards. Close examination of verbs associated with basic engineering
concepts (e.g. Kraft, Spannung, Ladung) draws attention to aspects of the
engineering chapters which the reader may have absorbed only passively.
17.7 Specialised Adjectives/Adverbs
Just as certain verbs only appear in specific engineering areas (e.g. transmutate,
nucl) so there are technical adjectives which can be included in a thesaurus:
kurzschlußfest
able to withstand short-circuiting
spaltbar
fissile, fissionable
speicheraufwendig
using lots of memory
requiring large amounts of store
elnc, u: electronic device
nucl, u: radiosubstances
dps, u: computer program;
dps, u: data
But, although a thesaurus arrangement conveys the precise meaning, the
collocational approach gives a clearer indication of usage. Indeed, for some
adjectives, examples of usage are virtually obligatory:
leistungslos
leistungsgleich
lacklösend
without dissipating any power
having the same power rating
dissolving paintwork
The reason is that the English expressions only describe the meaning of the
German and are not intended as target-language translations at all. Convenient
dictionary equivalents for these terms simply do not exist. Grammatical,
syntactic and other adjustments are necessary in context since translations like:
leistungslos steuern
eine lacklösende Flüssigkeit
*“to control without dissipating power”
*“a dissolving paintwork fluid”
are totally unacceptable. The TCD confronts this problem by providing full
sentences illustrating possible translations of technical adjectives in narrowly
defined contexts.
As an additional bonus, the collocational approach provides information on
adjectives which have no real translational equivalent in isolation, such as
17.8Polysemous Adjectives/Adverbs 161
spanend, spanlos, unwesentlich, durchlässig, only in expressions like:
spanende Formung
spanlose Formung
unwesentliche Einflüße
elektrisch durchlässig
machining
shaping
second-order effects
allowing current to flow
The same applies to expressions, such as leitend (conducting), whose interpretations are modified by the context:
nicht leitend
wärmeleitend verbunden
leitend mit Masse verbunden
non-conducting; non-conductive;
providing good thermal conduction;
directly earthed.
Moreover, whereas conventional dictionaries provide neat translations like:
entgegengesetzte Kräfte
entgegengesetzte Ladungen
opposite forces
opposite charges
they often fail to differentiate subtle distinctions in the meanings of adjectives:
entgegengesetzte Kräfte
entgegengesetzte Ladungen
forces acting in opposite directions
charges of opposite polarity
The TCD overcomes the problem by providing location facilities for other
occurences of terms like entgegengesetzt and for other contexts involving the
associated nouns (e.g. Kraft, Ladung, Masse).
17.8 Polysemous Adjectives/Adverbs
In the same way that general verbs appear in technical situations, so there are
adjectives and adverbs which acquire different interpretations in specific
engineering contexts. German makes extensive use of words like groß, leicht,
stark which are a headache for translators:
eine große Wechselwirkung
zwei gleich große Kräfte
a vigorous interaction
two forces of equal magnitude
leicht aufeinander gleiten
leicht entflammbar
leicht spaltbar
slide easily over one another
highly flammable
extremely fissile
stark einschränken
eine starke Überlastung
greatly restrict
a serious overload
162 Technical collocation dictionary
The TCD contains numerous direct or indirect collocations of these and other
problematic adjectives frequently encountered in technology. There are
troublesome adverbs too, schwer, schwach:
schwer brennbar
schwach gebunden
virtually non-flammable
loosely bonded
where the substitutions lightly, heavily, weakly are not possible in the engineering context concerned (Materials Science). Expressions like gleich groß require
even closer attention to context:
of the same dimensions
of the same size
of equal amplitude
of equal magnitude
equal (in value)
machine components
objects, storage tanks
waveforms, oscillations
vector, phasor or tensor parameters
other parameters, mathematical quantities
Combinations of polysemous adverbs/adjectives, such as gleich groß, are sometimes exceptionally difficult to translate without background knowledge of the
subject matter.
17.9 General Nouns, Specific Interpretation
The main purpose of the TCD is to illustrate the usage of general vocabulary in
specific technical contexts. This largely implies verbs, adjectives, adverbs and
prepositions, but there are also German nouns with specific context-dependent
technical equivalents in English.
Den Strahl der Stroboskoplampe auf die Scheibe richten.
Shine the beam of the strobe lamp onto the pulley.
Das Auto mit einem Wasserstrahl klarspülen.
Rinse the vehicle using a jet of water.
Other examples are: Größe (amount, value, quantity, magnitude), Weg (path,
distance), Teil (part, proportion), Mittel (mean, average). Unlike the facilities
for specialised terms (e.g. Widerstand, Leitung, Strom) collocations of general
nouns are entered adjacently in the TCD and are accessible directly. Here the
indication of polysemy is the main object, illustration of usage a secondary one.
Strictly speaking, these nouns are neither general nor technical but some
category in between. They are not restricted to a specific field, but nonetheless
constitute a fundamental integral component of technical language itself.
17.10Opposites, Contrasts 163
17.10 Opposites, Contrasts
One feature of the TCD which has not yet been mentioned is contrast, namely
whether opposite meanings of particular verbs and adjectives (antonyms, etc.)
are listed in the dictionary and, if so, how they are located.
The existence of contrasting vocabulary is indicated by the thesaurus
descriptor “ct” (contrasted with):
nachlaufen: elec (ct: voreilen)
Der Strom läuft der Spannung um 90° nach.
The current lags the voltage by 90°.
voreilen: elec (ct: nachlaufen)
Der Strom eilt der Spannung um 90° vor.
The current leads the voltage by 90°.
The above entries occur at different places in the dictionary but are nevertheless
linked. The translator observes that the electrical terms nachlaufen (lag), voreilen
(lead) are opposites and notices at the same time the correct prepositions.
Occasionally, the contrasting expressions appear side by side:
vorklappen: auto
ohne vorgeklappte Rücksitze (ct: mit vorgeklappten Rücksitzen)
with the rear seats erect (ct: with the rear seats folded forward)
17.11 Mathematics Expressions
Non-native English speakers may have difficulties determining the correct
translation of mit, bis zu in expressions such as the following:
mit einer Geschwindigkeit bis zu 90% der Schallgeschwindigkeit
at a velocity approaching 90% of the speed of sound (90% Mach1)
But selection of the correct prepositional phrase is difficult for native speakers
too in contexts where the main terminology derives from a subfield which is
unfamiliar, such as Mathematics:
Leistung ist der Differentialquotient der Arbeit nach der Zeit.
Power is the differential coefficient of work with respect to time.
Arbeit ist das Wegintegral der Kraft.
Work is the integral of force with respect to distance.
164 Technical collocation dictionary
Terms like Differentialquotient, Integral may mean little to translators but they
are very common in engineering texts. Without suitable examples it takes a lot
of time for translators to determine the correct prepositional expression “with
respect to” associated with these terms. Special entry slots are reserved in the
TCD for mathematical expressions. They are accessed directly by mathematical
terms like Quotient, Quadrat, Potenz:
der Quotient aus der Spannung V und dem Strom I (d.h. V/I)
the ratio of the voltage V to the current I (i.e. V/I)
das Quadrat des elektrischen Stromes (I2)
the square of the current
die dritte Potenz der Kupfermenge (m3)
the mass of copper to the power 3
eine Zehnerpotenz niedriger als die Blindleistung
an order of magnitude lower than the reactive volt-amperage
Like the TPD and Thesaurus, the TCD is not a “dictionary” in the ordinary
sense at all, but an organised didactic guide covering a variety of linguistic
problems simultaneously. It reveals to both native and non-native Englishspeakers alike some of the most difficult aspects of technical translation. Other
books concentrate on the phenomenon of translation errors. This book helps
the reader to avoid them. Intelligent browsing of the TCD in conjunction with
the other dictionaries will provide readers with the competence necessary to
tackle professional technical translation assignments. Systematic organisation
of their own personal data bases (terminology collections and collocations) will
provide the necessary frame of mind.
Unit 18
Computer Engineering
Computer Engineering has a number of unique properties from the
translation aspect. No other technical field has ever grown at such a
phenomenal rate, but thanks to continual e¬orts from within the field
to standardise its terminology, it can safely be assumed that each term
corresponds to the same concept throughout the English-speaking
world. Di¬erences between British and American hardly exist. Many
years ago, leading technologists working on opposite sides of the
Atlantic agreed to adopt uniform nomenclature: program, disk, dialog box,
store device. Not even the spelling di¬ers. And there is a tendency for
British specialists to extend this unusual trend of conformity to relevant, everyday terminology, such as power connector, power cord, power
outlet, as opposed to mains connector, mains lead, power socket (Ge.
Netzanschluß, Netzkabel, Steckdose). Some terms are accepted into German
too, virtually without modification — Cursor, Debugging, Mausklick, Monitor, RAM, Shortcut, and the German layman language abounds with
jargon, such as ge-saved, booten, ausgelogged.
Translators are not likely to make too many terminological errors in
this field, except where dictionary entries are misleading because their
terms refer to obsolete equipment, or have acquired a new significance.
Chapter 11 provides a broad introduction to the field, outlining its
history and highlighting problem areas for translators. Figures 11A–H
provide a selection of microglossaries and thesauri for individual areas
of the main field.
18.1
Dictionary Compilation
In no other discipline are the short-comings of the conventional printed
dictionary more evident. The rate of change of technology in the area of
Computer Systems is so phenomenal that printed dictionaries can never hope
166 Computer engineering
to contain a complete up-to-the-minute terminology of the subject. Fortunately, computer manufacturers themselves have been aware of the problem for a
long time.
German institutions like the Bundessprachenamt and the translation
department of the Siemens enterprise led the way to term banks in the nineteenseventies, but even though these future-orientated institutions took the sensible
precaution of storing their terminology with appropriate “classification labels”
(Ge. Sachgebietsschlüssel), tantamount to the Field Codes of the dictionaries of
Volume 2, the labels proved to be inadequate for subsequent purposes of term
deletion. Complete terminologies from the nineteen-seventies, in areas such as
punch-card hoppers, magnetic core store, magnetic cards, magnetic tape decks,
paper-tape readers, are only of academic interest and should no longer be
present in any published dictionaries. The same applies to early home computers, with terms like tape drive, modulator, matrix printer.
To the lexicographer working in this area, the erasure of obsolete terminology constitutes just as much a problem as the specification and compilation of
new technical expressions. This applies to electronic as well as printed dictionaries. Hence, readers hoping to find large, elegantly structured, hierarchic term
lists and thesauri, similar to those of other chapters will be disappointed. The
terminology of Computer Engineering is too unstable to warrant this, except on
a small or temporary scale, as the field is in a perpetual state of transition.
Instead, the glossaries of the chapter focus upon:
i.
a few areas where terminology has remained stable for many years and
where German shows no current tendency to adopt English expressions
face-value: keyboards, character terminology, text-editing, circuit boards.
ii. hardware conceptions common to industries centred around the main
field, such as CD writers, scanners, photoprinters;
iii. the terminologies of certain common software systems, such as the document processor Word.
18.2 Logic Gates, Memory Modules
The terminology of hardware circuitry derives from Semiconductor Electronics,
an area responsible for both logic and memory modules. Elementary logic circuits
consist of gates, among which are AND-, OR-, NAND-, NOR- and NOT-gates
(negation). Logic gates carry out logic operations on the binary data of memory
cells. These operations are similar to those involved in the formal solution of
18.3Microminiaturisation 167
philosophical arguments, where logic manipulations are performed on simple
semantic propositions. The output states (true/false, on/off, 0/1) are functions
of the input states and equivalent to the philosopher’s truth table entries.
Logic gates consist of tiny electronic switching circuits, so-called astable
multivibrators, whose output corresponds to one of two stable states. The
layman term for this and other types of multivibrator, namely flipflop has also
made its way into German. Flipflops are combined to form the binary counters,
decoders, registers and adders required to carry out the fundamental logic and
arithmetic operations involved in electronic data-processing.
Memory modules consist of cells divided into bytes and ultimately bits. The
bit (derived from binary digit) is the smallest fragment of binary information
and corresponds to one of two states (0/1, ON/OFF, TRUE/FALSE, etc.) of an
element of digital hardware. It can be regarded as a single switch. A byte consists
of eight adjacent bits; since the latter can each have two states, one byte provides
256 different combinations (2 to the power 8). The series of adjacent bytes
constituting one memory cell is termed the machine word, or simply word. The
engineering concept has no direct relationship to the natural language word.
Early flipflops employed first relays and later transistors as the main switching devices. Subsequently logic gates were manufactured as IC’s, followed by
counters, decoders, registers and memory units in modular form. Complete
processors and memory units are now available as IC-modules, such as the CPU
and ROM units of the common PC. The gradual evolution of flipflops and other
devices led to the various different computer generations ranging from early tube
computers to the modern PC. The first advances were dependent on hardware
(electronics, etc.) but recent computer generations seem to be just as dependent
on software fields, particularly information processing and artificial intelligence.
18.3 Microminiaturisation
By virtue of the thousands or even millions of tiny identical units involved in
the design of logic circuits, registers, memory modules, Computer Engineering is
a field where microminiaturisation has been taken to extremes. Indeed, circuit
design using discrete components (Chap. 6–7) is only practicable at this level on
a limited scale. Circuit-testing on a large scale, involving multiple interconnection of different modules, is only possible by synthesis: using mathematical
models in computers themselves. As well as assisting in the design of their own
ICs, computers (robotic processors) also manufacture them. Repairs or
168 Computer engineering
amendments to computer systems, such as the insertion of a graphics card or a
sound board, merely involve slotting mass-produced ready-made units into an
existing structure. Skill is needed more for the software aspect, namely configuration of the system so that the computer knows that certain operations have
been carried out on its anatomy and can provide access to the units concerned.
Ordinary Electrical Engineering provides a section of the technical terminology. Most computers contain fans to prevent their intricate components
from overheating. They also have monitors with screens and the usual range of
knobs found on a TV set — brightness, contrast, horizontal/vertical hold, though
not in the same places. But these too are rapidly disappearing. Modern monitors contain a small central processor of their own, which enables screen
settings to be carried out via the mouse. A personal computer with separate disk
drive, monitor and printer has several mains leads and various connection cables
which slot into the appropriate sockets, though here translators may need to
readjust their terminology. A computer technologist would speak of power cords
and data cables that plug into the appropriate ports.
18.4 Processor, Calculator
A processor is a computational system which runs on a fixed program. The
instructions cannot be changed by the user, although normally the fixed
program itself can be substituted. Processors are used on production lines of
various industries, including the electronics industry itself. Industrial robots
found in car plants, etc. contain processors guided by optical sensors. A new
generation of robots is now emerging with limited amounts of intelligence
which enables them to memorise motions and in some cases to take decisions on
the basis of recorded data. Their limbs are guided through the motion of a
particular operation and the robot learns interactively, for instance, how to spotweld the chassis of vehicles moving along an assembly line, how to interconnect
cables, fit headlights, etc. Other robots can crawl along and inspect gas pipes,
defuse bombs, carry out dangerous maintenance work at nuclear power stations
or even bring meals to hospital patients. These are no longer processors in the
strict sense of the term, but receive continual instructions, often from a remote
operator. They relay back optical and other information (temperature, radiation
levels, etc.) registered by their various sensors. Among other applications, robots
have explored hidden tunnels in Egyptian pyramids and examined the surfaces
of planets.
18.5Disk, Memory, Store 169
Calculators are simple pocket devices for carrying out arithmetic or other
mathematical calculations. They too are processors but, unlike robots, the data is
provided via the keyset and not by sensors. Readers will frequently encounter the
expression Rechner in German computer manuals, journals, etc. To translate
this as calculator would of course be nonsense. The expression is merely a
stylistic or contextual equivalent of Computer.
Note: The term data-processing system (Ge. elektronische Datenverarbeitungsanlage, EDV) covers computers and processors and includes both hardware and
software. But it is too clumsy and too similar to data processor for repeated use.
It is generally avoided in English in favour of computer system or simply
computer.
18.5 Disk, Memory, Store
A recent shift in the semantic significance of the unqualified English term disk
has taken place. It corresponds to both Festplatte and Diskette in German.
English distinguishes the concepts by employing the expression hard disk for the
former. The original counterpart terms of previous decades, i.e. floppy disk,
diskette, seem to be dying out. But the amount of data stored on (floppy) disk
is minimal compared to that containable on compact disk (CD). Thus it is
possible that floppy disks themselves will disappear soon, and that the term disk
will shift its significance a stage further.
The expressions store and memory (Ge. Speicher) are not synonymous in the
field of Data Processing. Store is employed in the context of permanent storage,
storage on a medium outside the CPU, such as hard disk, disk, CD, whereas
memory implies storage within the central processing system itself, information
which is immediately lost when the computer is switched off. The distinction
only applies to the nouns store/memory and a few associated expressions such as
store/memory device, peripheral store/memory (Ge. Speichereinheit, Peripheriespeicher). It does not extend to the equivalent verbs. There is no technical verb
memorize, only store.
Note: At the time of writing, a new generation of software writers seem to be
reverting to the former British spelling disc, which until recently had virtually
disappeared. It is unlikely that these writers are British, as other anticipated
deviations, such as dialogue box, programme, do not occur. It could be that they
originate from India or another Asian country. Or perhaps the technical
170 Computer engineering
language of software engineering is simply making a small departure from that
of hardware and from that of previous years.
18.6 Card, Board, Slot, Bus
The very early domestic computers offered virtually zero compatibility. Monitors were restricted to single computers, as were printers, and even floppy disks
(diskettes) were formatted differently. But soon manufacturers were obliged to
conform to market forces. The company Amstrad began offering disk-formatting facilities which were “IBM-compatible”. Other producers followed suit, or
went bankrupt. With better facilities for data-interchange, the interfaces (Ge.
Schnittstelle) to the various peripherals (keyboard, mouse, monitor, joystick,
etc.) were standardised, and more consistent software conceptions began to
emerge. The situation has now gone full cycle. Expressions like SCSI (Small
Computer System Interface), AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) and ISA
(Industry Standard Architecture) are becoming household words, in German too.
The wide variety of modern peripheral equipment, ranging from scanners,
synthesizers, photoprinters and modems on the one hand, to back-up drives,
CD-writers, graphics/sound cards on the other, mean that only small sections of
a computer system need changing or updating at any one time. One recent
innovation in interface technology, the USB (Universal Serial Bus) enables a
phenomenal total of 127 peripheral devices to be interconnected and interlinked. They plug into one another in a kind of family tree structure. Despite
the higgledy piggledy appearance of such systems, there are advantages which,
until recently, to some engineers would have seemed astonishing. The various
peripherals not only share the same data links (Ge. Datenleitungen) but also the
same power input as the main drive and mainboard (Ge. Netzeingang, Laufwerk,
Hauptplatine). Furthermore, the USB provides a facility known as hot plug-in:
the peripherals can be plugged in and disconnected at will, while the computer
is running and without rebooting it.
The computer industry now offers an extensive variety of circuit modules,
boards and so-called cards (Ge. Steckkarte), which are easily installed by amateur
enthusiasts at vacant prearranged locations inside their PC, so-called expansion
slots (Ge. Steckplatz). The cards are connected to bus slots which direct data
automatically along special cables, known as a data lines or buses, to the
mainboard, peripheral boards (sound, graphics, etc.) and to the external ports
for other peripheral equipment. The housing of virtually every modern computer,
18.7Works, Windows, Word 171
the metallic box containing the bare slots for the mainboard, CPU, hard disk
and other electronic circuitry, conforms to a single universal design model (ISA
design), providing a skeletal arrangement which enables add-on boards/cards to
be slotted in and out almost at will.
Many companies are discovering that peripherals technology is a lucrative
business. Figure 11H contains a useful introductory thesaurus to the area.
18.7 Works, Windows, Word
Just as MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) enabled computers of the
1980s to achieve eventual compatibility, so one of the great innovations of the
closing decade of the last millennium was Microsoft Works, which evolved into
Microsoft Office and became familiar under the colloquial name of Microsoft
Windows. There is little work for freelance translators in this area (if any), the
various manuals and dialog facilities (dialog boxes, Help windows, etc.) being
translated internally by professional software employees. Yet, despite the fact
that translation is strictly controlled by a small number of individuals, 1:1
compatibility between languages has not been achieved by any means. The disk
chapter takes a superficial glance at translation anomalies that have already
occured in connection with various versions of the well-known program
Microsoft Word (Word 97 onwards). It compares the situation to other areas of
technology where similar anomalies occur and produce drastic repercussions
for technical translators.
Most readers are familiar with the terminology of this section in one
language already. It is summarised in Figures 11E–G. As a bonus, these glossaries provide rapid assistance to any reader suddenly forced to work with the
same Microsoft system in the opposite language. But, other than that, the
material can be taken lightly. It does not involve terminology that should be
permanently at the fingertips of all translators. Each Microsoft application tends
to be updated about every two years and, as the system changes, so too does the
official translated version, as well as the terminologies used in computer
manuals and by journals.
172 Computer engineering
18.8 Word Terms
Cut and Paste are among the first Word commands mastered by any user. They
are applicable to a variety of tasks. Photos or slides can be pasted into documents, as can musical or video arrangements, or information downloaded from
the Internet. There is a sharp distinction in English between the commands
Paste and Insert, the former implying data transferred via the so-called clipboard
(Ge. Zwischenablage) and the latter — data input by other means (keyboard,
etc.). German uses the expression Einfügen for both commands.
Similarly, there are technical verbs, such as select, click, toggle, that have
fairly literal German translations: auswählen, klicken, einschalten. Others involve
a slight semantic shift, e.g. activate (Ge. aufrufen). But a handful, for instance
scroll, align, justify, seem impossible for German-speakers to handle, and oblige
software translators to almost paraphrase. Consider, for example, the menu
options Decrease Indent, Justify, Align Left (Ge. linker Einzug, Blocksatz, linksbündig). One of the repercussions from this difficulty is that neat clusters of
English terminology, e.g. scroll bar, scroll arrow, scroll block, can become rather
unwieldy and seemingly less inter-related in German: Bildlaufleiste, Bildlaufpfeil,
Rollbalken. Verbs themselves are not the problem, as the opposite phenomenon
also occurs, where English nouns become German verbal commands: Bullets,
Case, Page Setup (Ge. Aufzählung, Gross/Kleinschreibung, Seite Einrichten).
And there are other inconsistencies. Terms like menu bar, status bar,
toolbar, taskbar, scroll bar are familiar to Microsoft Word users in Englishspeaking countries. German adapts some of these expressions directly, e.g.
Menüleiste, Statusleiste, Taskleiste, but has difficulty choosing a neat expression
for toolbar, possibly because the Tools menu in German is named Extras.
German employs a similar semantic shift in its choice of Feld as an equivalent
expression to box, as in list box, check box, dialog box (Ge. Listen-/Kontroll-/
Dialogfeld), which inadvertently destroys any possibility of overlap with the
closely related concept button. A broad variety of concepts, such as toolbar
button, option, option box, menu item, have therefore become subsumed under
a global German concept Schaltfläche, for which there is no exact English
equivalent. This in turn indirectly affects other expressions, e.g. icon (Ge.
Schaltflächensymbol), which, though rapidly reduced to Symbol, gives a slightly
different interpretation to Standard Toolbar (Ge. Standard-Symbolleiste). It is
possible that Microsoft translators will eventually coax German users to accept
expressions like Tools, Toolbar, Ikon, Box, Button into their language, just as
Menü, Option, Task have been assimilated. But it is also possible that the writers
18.9Polysemy, Polyonymy 173
will tighten up the English terminology so that fewer overlaps occur. The
terminology, like the software, is in a state of flux. Anything can happen.
Just as each generation of software writers builds upon the work of the
preceding one, so official translators are constrained by the terminologies of
earlier versions. They may endeavour to coax the foreign language into a state
of 1:1 translational equivalence, but they cannot impose it. It is not that the
early translators did not understand the subject matter. They were simply
hampered by the language itself and chose intelligent solutions at the time. It
seems that technical terminology in other fields too is subjectable to a permanent tug-of-war, which is aggravated by the shortage of linguists with competent professional expertise, but which exists even in the absence of this shortage.
18.9 Polysemy, Polyonymy
Chapter 11 begins with a discussion of the practical and didactic benefits of
Computing as a central topic for the training of translators, and compares it to
Automobile Engineering. Neither area is particularly suitable for translator
training, since they constitute opposite ends of the technical translation
spectrum. But they provide interesting contrasts.
Polyonymy is a serious problem for the translation of automobile texts.
There are major differences between British and American terminology,
variations between different automobile companies, and substantial terminological discrepancies between this field and other important areas of engineering, e.g. condenser, coil, high tension. Similar situations occur in other areas of
specialised translation too, such as Law, Economics, Politics, but it is very untypical
of Engineering in general. By contrast, in the context of Computer Engineering,
the problem of polyonymy is virtually absent. There are reasons for this.
Automobile Engineering is a market-orientated field which has arisen over
a long period from the activities of individual private companies with little or
no interest in terminology standardisation among themselves. Computer
engineers, on the other hand, have been obliged by market pressures to make
their products universally compatible, which has led indirectly to a rapidly
expanding but universally acceptable terminology associated with these
products. Most major engineering areas, such as Chemical, Mechanical, Nuclear
or Electrical Engineering lie somewhere in the middle of these two extremes.
Though the hardware aspect of Computer Engineering provides suitable
material for translator training, it seems that because of the way the industry
174 Computer engineering
itself has evolved, the software aspect provides useful practical experience only
from English into another language. Getting university students to translate
software instructions into English is rather like asking contemporaries of Martin
Luther to translate the Bible from German back into Latin.
Nonetheless, the vast quantities of new software emerging each year and the
ever-increasing variety of peripheral equipment and gadgets with digital
operation (cameras, DVD, etc.) has already persuaded some European universities to offer translation courses for the field of Data Systems (Ge. EDV) as an
alternative option separate from Engineering (Ge. Technik). In such courses,
translation practice into English is necessary to ensure consistency in the
university curricula, and to meet the demands of those software institutions
whose organisational language happens to be other than English.
Unit 19
Error Analysis
Most areas of knowledge, scientific, technological or otherwise, expand
along a broad front in many di¬erent directions simultaneously.
Linguistics tends to move in one direction at a time, behaviourism, transformational grammar, comparative linguistics, text typology, translation theory,
with university teachers switching their enthusiasm about once every
decade like flocks of birds. Any brilliant advance made nowadays in
areas like quantitative linguistics, case grammar, semantic syntax might well
be ignored because these areas no longer greatly interest those who rule
in the academic world. Indeed some translation theorists divorce their
area of specialisation from Linguistics altogether. By and large, general
semantics has withstood the test of time and this is one area drawn heavily upon in the lexicological sections of the book. But perhaps too heavily
for some theorists. This unit attempts to redress the balance and looks
at technical translation not from the viewpoint of the translator but
from that of the university language teacher.
19.1
Quality Assessment
Authorities on translator training differentiate between two extreme views
common in language teaching: the foreign language teacher’s view and the
professional translator’s view (Kussmaul, 1995). The first heavily penalises basic
errors resulting from the confusion of lexical items, ignorance of grammatical
rules, lack of basic vocabulary, etc. The second focusses on the communicative
function of the word, phrase or sentence in question, and makes intelligent
assessments of any lexical items that are best omitted or any essential information that needs to be added to the target version. Both models assume that the
translator understands the source text itself. When this is not the case, their
relevance is not so easily established. Nor are the two methods of translation
quality assessment so easily differentiated.
176 Error analysis
The disk unit Lexicography 7 selects examples where a different look at
translation proficiency is necessary, one that centres on the meaningful selection of terminology. It takes account of the fact that technical translation into
English is carried out in many countries by non-native English speakers, and
analyses typical mistakes made by German speakers alongside those of nontechnically minded, native English speakers. Examination of the disk glossaries
reveals the most difficult fundamental terminology translators have to cope with,
especially the large number of polysemes present in science and engineering. The
basis chosen for comparisons of fundamental technical translation proficiency
and the initial assessment of translation difficulty, in the unit concerned, is
therefore the book itself.
Normally in the business world it is cheaper in the long run to employ
experts to resolve one-off technical problems rather than try to make do with
the facilities at hand. But sometimes faulty translations by in-house employees
with a limited knowledge of the foreign language and no linguistic education
whatever are preferable to those of well educated external translation experts
simply because they appear to make more sense — at least at phrase level. The
disk unit restricts analysis of translation quality/difficulty to this level. The
section below summarises the techniques proposed.
19.2 Phrase-Level Assessment
The disk section analyses three types of typical translation error and proposes a
grading scheme involving penalty points. The first type discusses errors made
by truly abysmal technical translators involving translations of three common
fundamental German expressions from the fields of electrical, chemical and
computer engineering: Binärzeichen, Verbindung, elektrischer Spannungsimpuls.
The second type involves the more experienced translator who makes a reasonable guess, based on a valued judgement, as to the English equivalent of
Spulenwiderstand in a particular context. The guess may be wrong because the
expression selected does not correspond to the standard term employed by
technologists in the field concerned, but the customer is more likely to be
satisfied with work done by this person than with translators who persistently
make mistakes of the first type.
The third error type requires a more subtle technique of analysis as the
margin of error depends directly upon the translator’s choice of sentence
structure. The example concerns translations of the German semiconductor
19.2Phrase-Level Assessment 177
materials expression Leitfähigkeit in the sentence:
Ein Kristall, bei dem die Leitfähigkeit auf beweglichen Elektronen beruht,
nennt man einen n-Halbleiter.
There are several alternative ways of rendering Leitfähigkeit in the sentence
frame below:
The term n-type semiconductor denotes a crystal in which (the) conduction/
(the) conductance/(the) conductivity depends on mobile electrons.
all of which could be regarded by the translation customer as sensible and
correct. But a slight amendment to the sentence formulation reduces the
possibilities to two:
… a crystal whose conductance/conductivity depends on …
The substitution conduction is not possible here, nor are considerations of
relevance relating to the article the. A further minimal amendment reduces the
possible substitutions to just one:
… a crystalline material whose conductivity depends on …
In isolation, it is not clear whether the German sentence refers to a process, a
property or a parameter associated with the concept Leitfähigkeit. The first
translation is equally vague, the second restricts the interpretation to just
property or parameter, and the third to just the parameter.
In a student examination, great care is necessary to check whether the
candidate’s renderings of individual sentences, which may differ from those of
the translation assessor, nevertheless form a consistent interpretation as a
whole. The grading of student translators of the third type, some with a talent
for remaining vague, others with a more confident decisive approach, would
employ Kussmaul’s professional translator view, where penalty points should
differ radically from the penalties for totally ridiculous renderings of Leitfähigkeit such as *“power to conduct”, *“conducting ability”, *“conduction capacity”
copied blindly from the first dictionary at hand.
Some university teachers concentrate on style and expression and virtually
ignore terminological mistakes when the terminology “was not covered in
class”. In such cases, the student’s diploma provides no preparation for the real
world. It merely reflects his or her ability to pass an examination. Other teachers
deduct one point regardless of whether the expression chosen is a less preferable
alternative or whether it destroys the message of the source text completely. This
178 Error analysis
can also produce misleading examination results giving no true reflection of
translation ability. The disk suggests more accurate methods of assessing
translator competence from the viewpoint of the potential employer or customer, via a balanced scheme that provides accurately weighted results regardless of
the degree of difficulty of the source text.
19.3 Other Assessment Criteria
The examples of the previous section illustrate errors made by student or other
translators that result from dictionary substitutions and seriously impair the
quality of a translation. For less serious mistakes, those which may slightly
irritate or mislead the translation customer but not lead to a total breakdown in
understanding, other criteria of error assessment are employed. Rather than go
into depths at this stage, however, examples are discussed that highlight
additional considerations necessary for the accurate assessment of translation
proficiency among individuals who have moved beyond the stage of simple
foreign-language substitution errors.
The following extract appeared in a German student examination paper and
was translated as follows:
Öffnet man eine Flasche Sprudel, so entweicht ein Gas, das Kohlendioxid
(CO2). Es wird in der Umgangssprache oftmals als “Kohlensäure” bezeichnet.
Student A — When a bottle of mineral water is opened a gas escapes, carbon
dioxide. It is often referred to colloquially as carbonic acid.
Student B — … In the German colloquial language it is often designated
carbonic acid.
The first student has a good command of English but has overlooked one
essential aspect of translation, communicating the message of the source text.
The expression Kohlensäure involves what English speakers might loosely refer
to as gas bubbles or fizz and is certainly not translatable as carbonic acid. Student
B does not have such a fluent command of English but has at least realised the
problem. If the sentence were correctly formulated, for instance
… In German-speaking countries it is often referred to as “Kohlensäure”, a
chemical expression implying carbonic acid.
it could be argued that Student B is a better translator.
19.3Other Assessment Criteria 179
Student C left out the second sentence completely, which oddly enough is
an even better solution as it was clearly of no importance to the potential
translation customer how German speakers describe this phenomenon. A
fourth student came up with a more ingenious solution —
Student D — When a bottle of mineral water is opened it becomes fizzy and a
gas bubbles to the surface, carbon dioxide.
In conjunction with a grading system of points deducted for serious terminological errors, student A should certainly lose a point for this obvious blunder,
whereas student B’s language error might be cancelled by his or her perception
of the translation difficulty. Students C and D should receive one or more plus
points that help to balance out other deficiencies elsewhere in their translations.
This example illustrates a simple translation problem, but one which
frequently occurs in a variety of manifestations. Consider another sentence
from the same German source text:
Man bezeichnet die Lösung als Salzsäure, da Chlorwasserstoff früher ausschließlich aus Kochsalz hergestellt wurde.
The students translated the first part of the sentence correctly and offer different
solutions to the second part:
Student A — The solution is termed hydrochloric acid because it used to be
manufactured from cooking salt.
Student B — … It used to be manufactured from cooking salt.
Student C — … (second part omittted)
Student D — … It used to be manufactured from common salt, sodium
chloride.
Student A again fails to notice any problem. Though the translation might look
like perfect English at first sight, it does not really make any sense at all. Student
B realises the problem, omits the apparently offending word because and makes
two sentences. Student C omits the second part of the sentence completely but
this time loses a small component of the message. Student D follows B’s
approach but makes a small improvement, an attempt to link sodium chloride
with hydrochloric acid in a similar way to that of Salz/Salzsäure.
In a suggested marking scheme, student A should lose two or more points
for a serious blunder, whereas C perhaps loses only one, for the small information deficit which may have been important for the translation customer.
180 Error analysis
Student B remains level. Student D is the only winner with a plus point for
ingenuity.
The four students illustrate four distinct types. Student A is an excellent
linguist but a poor translator, B a less proficient linguist but potentially a better
translator (his or her English might improve). Student C has the motto — if in
doubt leave it out. This person is likely to be a successful professional translator,
as little time is wasted worrying about incidentals, but needs to check the end
result of each assignment quite closely. Student D is definitely the best linguist
and the best translator and should receive the appropriate academic credit. But
unless D is a true genius, speed could work against ingenuity. If D dithers too
much on incidentals, C may be the more successful translator in the real world.
Some university teachers feel that a distinctive line should be drawn
between language teaching and translator training, but in practice this rarely
happens. The disk is necessary for technical translator training and most of it
concentrates on technical language teaching as this is essential to native as well
as non-native English-speakers. It could be argued that the technical collocation
dictionary (TCD), which deals with technical verbs/adverbs/adjectives and general
vocabulary used in technical contexts, should employ more examples illustrating
general translation difficulties like those above. It could also provide longer
examples and specify different text types, customers, etc., with explicit distinctions between essential and non-essential meaning or contrasts given between
draft, high-speed and polished translations. Another improvement would be to
provide examples of all technical terminology used in context, instead of just
selected polysemes. But these improvements, though useful, would inevitably
entail another project and a second disk.
Unit 20
Concept Analysis
The di¬erent features of the organisational structures presented in the
two disk volumes can be summarised broadly as follows:
i. the TPD focusses the reader’s attention on polysemy or homonymy and
the potential translation problems resulting;
ii. the Thesaurus clarifies denotations and connotations of troublesome
polysemes by relating them to other terms in the same glossary;
iii. the TCD illustrates usage and reveals syntagmatic relationships among
terminology and general technical vocabulary;
iv. the hierarchic term lists focus on knowledge structures associated with
the microterminologies of individual engineering areas.
No single concise dictionary structure can fulfil all these objectives
simultaneously, but hierarchic organisation, whether implicit or explicit, is
a necessary keystone of any good technical dictionary.
This unit assesses the merits of various organisational structures,
individually and collectively, as translation tools. It illustrates intrinsic
limitations common to all dictionary structures and proceeds to a general discussion of the problems of concept di¬erentiation.
20.1 Hierarchic Organisation, Compactness
Translators using dictionaries like to obtain the correct target-language expressions for unfamiliar terms rapidly. Lexicographers therefore try to present as
much conceptual and contextual information as possible in the minimum
space. The glossaries of the book take this objective to different extremes.
The TPD provides rapid access to target-language terminology and occupies
roughly half the space of the Thesaurus (one line per entry on a printed page, as
opposed to two), but the conceptual information provided is less specific.
Access to terminology in the Thesaurus is still rapid, and it is conceptual
182 Concept analysis
information itself which helps the translator locate correct target-language
equivalents in cases involving polysemous source language terminology, rather
than didactically inspired morphological arrangements as in the TPD. The
process of obtaining micro-terminologies for specific areas like circuit components
or carburettor systems, however, requires a bit more effort on the part of the
dictionary user than looking at hierarchic glossaries. The hierarchic term-list
approach reduces the physical space of the thesaurus back to one line per entry,
and by providing ready information on semantically associated terminology, it
narrows the source concept almost as specifically as a lengthy written definition.
This approach even provides “slots” for concepts that exist in one language but
not in another, the phenomenon of lexical gaps discussed in earlier units.
The engineering chapters employ hierarchic lists to supplement the
conceptual information given. The dictionaries of Volume 2 have hierarchic
aspects too. The Thesaurus is an alphabetic listing of a multidimensional
polyhierarchic terminological structure covering the key concepts of the
engineering disciplines. The TPD overrides conceptual boundaries by grouping
morphologically similar but semantically unrelated terminology together as
entries, but where the entries contain large numbers of sub-entries (related
compound terms) the dictionary employs hierarchic organisation in the form
of secondary indentation. In addition to this, both the TPD and the TCD
employ thesaurus descriptors to indicate hierarchic associations, for particularly
troublesome entry concepts. Each of the dictionaries tries to concentrate the
maximum information within the smallest physical space. By providing crosslinks to the other dictionaries they avoid repetition of identical conceptual
information, reduce sets of entries to a manageable minimum and provide a
consistent, didactically organised, terminological data-base for fundamental
areas of science and technology.
All dictionaries have their limitations. The main problems encountered by
technical translators equipped only with conventional alphabetic glossaries of
scientific and engineering terminology are overcome by the inter-related,
structural lexicological approaches adopted in the book. The rest of this unit
discusses the limitations that remain.
20.2 Conceptual Incompatibilities
Occasionally in technical translation, a situation is encountered where slightly
different conceptual structures in the languages concerned result in different
20.2Conceptual Incompatibilities 183
terminological structures. For instance, the hierarchy below:
1 (railway vehicle)
11 truck, waggon
12 coach, carriage
Eisenbahnwagen
Güterwagen
(Wagen)
indicates to a native British-English speaker that the German term Eisenbahnwagen covers not just trucks, which are used for transporting goods or freight,
but also railway coaches that are for passenger conveyance. The superordinate
concept “railway vehicle” is an artificial one for the British translator, who
would normally consider the concept train as denoting “engine + trucks” or
“engine + coaches” as the case may be, without labelling the unspecified case.
Hence *“engine and vehicles” is not a normal expression in the British technical
language of railway trains. Likewise, German-speakers feel no urgent need to
distinguish the concept coach from truck in normal terminology. Terms like
*Passagierwagen, *Personenwagen are artificial constructs.
German labels the superordinate concept in the example above, whereas
English gives concise labels to the subordinate ones. The terminology structure
of American English is different again:
1 railroad car
11 freight car, freight wagon
12 passenger car
Eisenbahnwagen
Güterwagen
Wagen
The situation is complicated by the fact that German sometimes uses the
expression Wagen and sometimes Waggon. These expressions do not necessarily
relate directly either to the American terms wagon, car or to the British terms
truck, carriage:
Güterwaggon
Schlafwagen
Wagen 1.Klasse
goods truck (Br.), freight car (Am.)
sleeper, wagon-lit, sleeping car (Am.)
first-class coach
Furthermore, after analysing what seem to be the respective connotations of
wag(g)on, truck, coach, car, carriage the translator soon discovers exceptions:
Gepäckwagen
Güterwagen
Speisewagen
luggage van (Br.), baggage car (Am.)
goods van (Br., u: passenger train)
dining car (Br./Am.)
There is a final irritation for terminologists. The term sleeper is homonymous.
The same expression refers to part of the railway line (Ge. Eisenbahnschwelle).
184 Concept analysis
In cases like the above, even the most accurate conceptual dictionary
structure breaks down. The lack of morphological consistency is too great and
multidimensional representation of hierarchies becomes too difficult on the
printed page. Concepts are intertwined. Fortunately most cases of conceptual
incompatibility arising in technical language (Spannung, Widerstand, etc.) are
easier to resolve.
20.3 Contextual Equivalence
The fact that the technologies of railway systems grew independently over long
periods in Germany, Britain and the United States, with little interaction
between engineers in the various countries, leads to terminological inconsistencies and conceptual incompatibilities. Similar problems occur in texts dealing
with household electrical, heating or plumbing systems. In such cases, the same
German source text may require a different translation according to whether
the product concerned is to be marketed in Britain or North America. Chapter 8 reveals a third difficult area: Automobile Engineering.
Problems are of two distinct types. The first is easily resolved. Different
expressions for the same concept, for example:
Br.
1 generator
11 dynamo
12 alternator
Am.
generator
d.c. generator
a.c. generator
Ge.
Lichtmaschine, Generator
Gleichstromlichtmaschine
Drehstromlichtmaschine
merely leads to slightly bulkier dictionaries. In the Thesaurus, it leads to a few
double entries. The same applies to the TPD. The second problem, namely
where a labelled concept in one language has no label in the other, is more
difficult for translators to cope with. For instance, the electrical terms (Chapter 2):
1
11
12
13
(impedance)
resistance
reactance
impedance
Widerstand
Verlustwiderstand
Blindwiderstand
Scheinwiderstand
The English-speaking technologist regards resistance and reactance as special
limiting cases of the concept impedance. The term impedance is defined as a
combination of resistance and reactance. German defines the superordinate
20.4Concept Di¬erentiation 185
concept Widerstand and specifies three distinct types. The reluctance of German
electrical engineers to adopt the recommended, internationally understood
expressions Resistanz, Reaktanz, Impedanz results partly from their different
way of visualising the concepts concerned. Translators who study engineering
literature only in one language are not equipped to recognise such problems,
and translation errors involving expressions like Widerstand are virtually
inevitable.
Close examination of the above example reveals that, in the strict sense, it
is a mistake for lexicographers even to assume that the German concept
Widerstand is interpreted by three different English equivalents. Resistance,
reactance, impedance are not semantically but contextually equivalent to
Widerstand. An English equivalent to the true, superordinate, technical German
concept does not exist.
20.4 Concept Differentiation
The hierarchic term-list approach to glossary editing is more likely to guarantee
systematic coverage of subfield terminologies than other dictionary structures
but it is impracticable on a large scale. Apart from access difficulties, there are
the problems of incompatibility in knowledge structures between languages and
the multidimensionality of concept structures within language to be considered.
The thesaurus and polyseme dictionary approaches overcome some of these
obstacles but face the usual difficulties of terminology coverage. Conventional
alphabetic dictionaries provide the worst of both worlds and a poor dictionary
often reflects the lexicographers inability to think hierarchically when differentiating closely related concepts. But the ultimate hinderance to any dictionary
structure seems to stem from the limitations of conceptual organisation itself,
a problem dramatically illustrated above in the example:
Eisenbahnwagen, -waggon car, carriage, coach, truck, van, wag(g)on
This section takes a close look at hierarchic organisation and the resulting
lexicological implications.
Consider another example of purely contextual (i.e. non-semantic)
equivalence, the following extract from the Polyseme Dictionary:
Zange f:
Abisolierzange
tool
cable strippers
186 Concept analysis
Drahtzange
Flachzange
Kneifzange
Universal-Gripzange
tool
tool
tool
tool
wire cutters
flat-nose pliers
pincers
mole wrench
The morphological properties of German enable these terms to occur at the
same entry in the TPD, and at first sight they seem to be hierarchically related
to a common superordinate concept “Zange”. But this simple interpretation is
an illusion. First, the superordinate concept has no equivalent term (i.e. no
label) in English. Zange in isolation has no translation of its own and can only
be expressed by subordinate terms:
Zange cutters, pincers, pinchers, pliers, tongs, strippers, etc.
Secondly, even before major differences in language structure are considered,
the translator needs to realise that though pincers, pinchers, pliers, tongs occur in
isolation, cutters, strippers normally occur only in compounds: cable cutters,
barbed-wire cutters, steel-mesh cutters, insulation strippers. Thirdly, the concept
wrench does not seem to belong here at all. An English-speaking technologist
sees little or no correlation between wrench and concepts like pincers, pliers, wire
cutters. Grammatical considerations bear this out too. Wrench is an ordinary
countable noun (CN), whereas the other terms are pair nouns (PN). They have
no singular form and co-occur with the expression pair: “a pair of pliers”, etc.
Degrees of difference in the knowledge structures of English and German
reflect the seriousness of translation errors. An electronics enthusiast reading a
translation containing the incorrect expression *wire tongs would probably
smile to himself, make a mental substitution *wire grippers and immediately
infer the correct concept pliers. On the other hand, on seeing the expression
*grip tongs (instead of mole wrench) a household plumber, automobile mechanic or any other engineer would remain baffled.
Technologists faced with an arbitrary concoction of translation errors
involving expressions like resistance, reactance, impedance interspersed with
resistor, resistivity, reluctance, all of which could co-occur within short stretches
of an electrical engineering text, are equally baffled. The TPD highlights this
type of problem. The Thesaurus and the engineering chapters attempt to deal
with it. But they cannot cure it. In cases of doubt and especially for problems
not covered by the book, the only truly safe approach for the translator is to
acquire relevant literature in German and in both British and American English.
Good translation detectives examine all available evidence first-hand.
20.5Concept Recognition 187
20.5 Concept Recognition
On encountering so many technical polysemes in German the reader may get
the impression that the language is one big mess and draws upon a much
smaller vocabulary than English. But things should be kept in perspective. Areas
like Steam Turbine Engineering and Satellite Communication are so remote
from each other that engineers barely realise that similar expressions are used
for entirely different concepts (Impuls: momentum, pulse; Spannung: stress,
voltage; Leistung: power, performance). Moreover, Germans are generally aware
of international trends and happily incorporate anglicised or other expressions
into their language to avoid confusion. But “avoiding confusion” refers to
native-speaker technologists themselves, not to translators. An engineering
author or report writer who feels that the expression Widerstand in a particular
sentence may be misinterpreted by his colleagues might qualify this to Scheinwiderstand or Impedanz, but will not bother otherwise. Such substitutions can
confuse translators even more when they find the terms Impedanz and Widerstand used synonymously in one part of a report but differently elsewhere in the
same report. These problems occur in general translation too. It is not the
language that is responsible. They are simply more difficult to cope with in
engineering situations.
The lexicography units of the e-book deal with problem-solving strategies
based on the application of general linguistic principles. This unit takes the
reader into general semantics. Translators who, in the past, would not have
bothered to even consult a dictionary for terms like Impuls, Leistung, Widerstand now see the concepts in a different light. The objective of the unit,
however, is not just to extend the reader’s interest for semantics itself, but to
improve his or her translation abilities in regard to fundamental technical
terminology. The next section resolves one final example of translation difficulties that occur when knowledge structures differ radically, an example encountered frequently throughout the book, the various interpretations of the
German concept mechanische Spannung (compression, compressive stress,
compressive force, stress, tensile force, tensile stress, tension).
20.6 Concept Splitting
Construction engineers use the terms tension/compression in complex calculations and computer models of the load patterns relating to structures like
188 Concept analysis
scaffolds, bridges, roof support systems, greenhouses. The structures are
composed of individual members (Ge. Bauglied), where the terms tension/
compression denote the tensile/compressive forces present in the members under
particular loading conditions. These expressions relate to the stability of a given
structure (Chapters 1, 13). The same engineers use the terms stress, tensile stress,
compressive stress to denote the effects of particular loads or loading configurations (Ge. Belastungen) on the materials used in the structure. Stress produces
strain which results in elongation, compression, bending or twisting of the
members. The terms stress, strain, tension, compression also denote physical
quantities used as parameters for measuring stress, strain, etc.
An elaborate hierarchic arrangement could be proposed for the above
concepts and their respective parameters, but it would not help the translator,
as German uses the term Spannung for just about everything. Instead, it is
helpful to know that the parameters stress and tension correspond to different
physical quantities and therefore have different units: newton.m−2 as opposed to
newton. Close attention to context may resolve whether the stresses implied are
tensile or compressive. This is the method proposed in Chapter 1.
Another method is introduced here. It employs hierarchical thinking and
draws parallels with other examples in this unit: Eisenbahnwagen, Widerstand,
Zange. Consider the following lexical arrangements:
1 (…)
11 tension
12 compression
1
12
13
stress
tensile stress
compressive stress
1
12
13
Spannung
(Spannung)
Druckspannung
Technical English employs tension and compression as diametric opposites of the
type positive/negative charge. No term covers the general case as there is no
concept for this. German, on the other hand, designates the general case
Spannung and one specific type Druckspannung. No term covers the diametric
opposite. German-speaking engineers substitute Spannung to imply tension and
qualify this to Zugspannung, Zugkraft, Spannkraft only in specific cases when
they themselves anticipate confusion.
Tension and compression are forces. Where these concepts occur with a
plural meaning the terms tensile/compressive forces appear as alternatives.
German employs alternatives too — Spannungskräfte, Druckspannungskräfte,
but only in very specific circumstances. The normal expressions are again
Spannung/Druckspannung. As if adding to the translator’s nightmare, German
employs the same terms for a different concept with different units: stress.
20.6Concept Splitting 189
Unlike tension, the term stress relates to the superordinate concept and, in this
case, it is directly equivalent to its German counterpart Spannung.
Familiarity with the subject field is a tremendous advantage here. But, in
such cases, translators are well-advised to discuss the source text with the
customer first. Good translation is impossible unless the intentions of the
author and his visual conceptions of the realities concerned are properly
understood. If the customer is aware that the translator does not have a hope in
hell of rendering terms like Spannung correctly, a brief discussion or a few
words of guidance can vastly improve matters, provided that the translator
knows the right questions to ask.
Unit 21
Mathematics
Beginning with fundamental physics conceptions, the book gradually
develops the reader’s conceptual understanding and command of technical terminology to a point where it covers the underlying aspects of all
the main branches of science and engineering. By comparing and contrasting subject fields, it develops the reader’s awareness of the polysemy of
technical language. The final disk chapter, Chapter 16, adopts a similar
approach but concerns not an area of technology itself, but one whose
terminology is persistently borrowed by all scientific and engineering
fields, namely Mathematics.
The sections below take readers back to their early school days and
try to rekindle mathematical understanding. The chapter itself progresses to more advanced areas like probability distributions, vectors and
infinitessimal calculus, and provides details of where and how these fields
relate to engineering. Useful microterminologies of fundamental mathematical concepts like circle, graph, number, polygon appear in both languages in Figures 16A–G. For elementary fields, such as geometry, these
serve simultaneously as a basis for the discussion of hierarchic systems
of terminological organisation in general.
Mathematics is a di~cult area for readers to absorb merely by peering at a monitor screen. The initial sections of the disk chapter are
therefore reproduced in this unit.
21.1
Fraction, Proportion, Quotient, Ratio
The German mathematical expressions Anteil, Bruch, Quotient, Verhältnis are
frequently mistranslated. Examples taken from elementary mathematics
textbooks, such as:
Der Anteil der Schüler in Klasse 1b ist größer.
Schreibe als Bruch (kürze wenn möglich): 16% 35% 80%.
192 Mathematics
Berechne die Quotienten U:I.
Das Verhältnis zweier Zahlen entspricht einem Bruch.
reveal the basic correspondences Anteil (proportion), Bruch (fraction), Quotient
(ratio), Verhältnis (ratio). But other examples soon reveal exceptions:
Das Vergleichen von Anteilen wird erleichtert, wenn man die Zahlenangaben
auf eine gemeinsame Grundzahl bezieht.
Fractions are easier to compare when the numbers involved are referred to
a common denominator.
Strom und Spannung nehmen im gleichen Verhältnis zu.
The current and voltage increase proportionally.
The semantic connotations of the English technical term ratio overlap with
those of the German expressions Quotient, Verhältnis, but only partially.
Similarly, proportion overlaps partially with Anteil, Verhältnis, Proportion. And
there is an English term quotient, which does not have the same connotations as
the German Quotient. To avoid errors, the translator must pay close attention
to context and observe syntactic distinctions governing the usage of this terminology.
English employs expressions like: a fraction of 5/9 (“five ninths”); a proportion of 45 out of 81; a ratio of 5 to 9 (written “5:9”). It is interesting to note that
these three expressions are in fact mathematically equivalent. This does not
necessarily mean that they are translational equivalents, however. The translator’s decision would depend on the degree of mathematical sophistication of
the given source text, on the customer or reader intended, and above all on the
particular meaning implied.
The above examples, which involve target expressions revolving around the
German terms Anteil, Proportion, Verhältnis, indicate certain syntactic rules
imposed by translation:
fraction of …
proportion of … out of …
ratio of … to …
and a small semantic distinction that may not be immediately apparent to
translators:
a ratio of 5 to 9
the ratio of voltage to current
21.2Term, Variable, Expression, Function 193
The first expression involves numbers and the answer itself is a number; the
second involves variables, in this case physical quantities measured in specific
units, and the answer is itself a variable. This distinction can differentiate the
German expressions: Quotient, Verhältnis. Another point of confusion among
translators is the fact that, in science and technology, ratios of variables (e.g.
V:I) are often written like fractions (i.e. V/I) but nonetheless refered to as ratios.
Dictionaries containing entries like:
Anteil
Quotient
Verhältnis
fraction, proportion
quotient, ratio
proportion, ratio
are therefore not necessarily wrong. The information provided is simply
misleading.
Certain comments are appropriate, at this stage, on the mathematics terms
fraction and quotient. Fraction can imply proper fraction (Ge. Bruch), two
numbers which are divided (e.g. 17/22). It can also imply decimal fraction (Ge.
Bruchzahl, e.g. 0.451). There is an English term quotient with no exact German
equivalent and a very restricted mathematical meaning implying the result of
dividing two whole numbers, leaving a possible remainder. For instance, when 29
(the so-called dividend) is divided by 3 (the divisor) the result is the quotient 9
with remainder 2. This narrow, purely mathematical significance does not
justify the widespread inclusion of quotient in normal specialised dictionaries
for scientific and technical use.
As a summary of this section, translators might care to bear in mind the
following general guidelines:
i.
fraction is not used in association with variables (statements like *“the
fraction voltage/current” violate grammar rules of technical English);
ii. proportion is used in connection with percentages, decimal fractions and
unspecified amounts (e.g. “a proportion of the free electrons”);
iii. ratio has a broader significance in technology than in mathematics and
appears mainly in connection with variables;
iv. quotient is hardly used in science and technology at all.
21.2 Term, Variable, Expression, Function
Consider a simple formula such as 3x4 + yz. A mathematician, scientist or
technologist regards this as an algebraic expression (Ge. Term) involving two
194 Mathematics
terms (Ge. Summand) separated by a plus sign. Similarly 1 + x + x2 + x3 + … is a
series expression involving an infinite number of terms (Ge. Glied). German
mathematicians employ the word Term to mean not term but the mathematical
concept expression. Evidently, English mathematicians borrow a word directly
from the general everyday language whereas German adopts a false friend,
possibly from early French mathematics (Fr. terme).
Another simple series is 1+2x+3x3 +4x4 +…, which contains the coefficients
1, 2, 3, 4, etc. and involves the variable x. Taking a practical example, the
equation s = v0.t + (1/2)gt2 concerns the vertical distance s fallen by an object or
missile dropped or fired from a tower; it involves the variables v0 and t, the
initial velocity and the time elapsed. The coefficient of the term + (1/2)gt2
contains a constant g which denotes the acceleration due to gravity. Here
German employs similar terminology: Variable, Koeffizient, Konstante.
The words term, variable, coefficient, expression, sign (Ge. Vorzeichen)
reappear throughout mathematics, science and engineering. They are mainly
used in connection with formulas and equations, but also with so-called inequalities (Ge. Ungleichungen) involving symbols like >, <, ≥ (“greater than”, “less
than”, “greater than or equal to”). The word formula can be a contextual
synonym of equation, in which case it implies an algebraic result derived after
application of complex mathematics or profound scientific reasoning. Thus
E = mc2 (Einstein’s Equation), R = V/I (Ohm’s Law) are formulas used in
engineering. Or it can imply part of an equation, for instance mc2, V/I.
Algebraic expressions denote functions, which can be illustrated in the form
of a graph. Thus v0 + gt denotes the function v(t), the velocity of a free-falling
object with respect to time. Functions can also be series. The function denoting
a sinusoidal curve, representing for instance a sound wave, mechanical vibration
or a.c. voltage waveform, is expressed by mathematicians as sin(x), a function
equivalent to the infinite but convergent series:
x − x3/3! + x5/5! − x7/7!…
where the symbol 5! (etc) represents the value “factorial five”, the number
calculated by 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1, i.e. 120.
Figure 16A presents a hierarchic list illustrating the significances of the
concepts discussed above. The conceptual differences between the coincidental
homonyms term in English and Term in German are apparent here. Inter-relationships existing among the mathematical conceptions expression, function, variable,
coefficient are also indicated, and so are the semantic relationships (partitive
relationships) term/expression, term/series (Ge. Summand/Term, Glied/Reihe).
21.3Average, Mean, Variation, Deviation 195
21.3 Average, Mean, Variation, Deviation
Functions appear throughout science and engineering in many different forms.
But exact mathematical answers to technical problems are not always possible.
In areas such as Materials Science or Nucleonics, where predictions are required
of the behaviour of tiny particles (electron, photon, baryon, etc.), scientists can
only state respective locations, velocities or energies in connection with probabilities conforming to the particular event or outcome. Hence, technical documents
tend to contain not precisely measured values of physical quantities such as
energy but graphs of energy against probability, so-called probability distributions. Probabilities can be expressed as percentages but are normally given
values lying between one and zero. Thus an event with a probability of 0.001 is
extremely unlikely, one with probability 0 is completely impossible and, at the
other extreme, one with probability 1.0 is certain and definite. In documents
concerning probability distributions, certain terms are confused by translators:
average/mean, variation/deviation, relative frequency/probability, etc. The chapter
draws attention to areas of confusion.
Probability Theory and the related field Statistics try to predict the relative
frequencies (Ge. relative Häufigkeit) of particular events by analysis of the set of
outcomes (Ge. Ergebnismenge). The mean (Ge. Mittelwert) of a set of possible
velocities, energy levels, etc. is a kind of average value and represents the value
“expected” of the variable concerned, the expectation (Ge. Erwartungswert). The
mean can be calculated in different ways, which leads to expressions like
arithmetic mean, geometric mean, weighted mean, harmonic mean. The actual
velocities of electrons will of course vary about the mean and the assessment of
this variation involves a parameter corresponding to the mean deviation (Ge.
mittlere Abweichung). There are different ways of estimating deviation and
different parameters, the most common of which is the standard deviation.
A few simple rules of thumb may assist translators suddenly confronted
with this terminology in the middle of an engineering text. If the text involves
probability estimates rather than statistical ones, in other words complex
mathematical or scientific predictions as opposed to a summary of laboratory
or production-line results, the translation of Mittel is likely to be mean rather
than average. Similarly, if the term Abweichung obviously denotes some kind of
parameter the translation will involve deviation rather than variation. The
concepts relative frequency, probability, mean, deviation are mathematical
quantities, with units and dimensions analogous to the physical quantities of
science and engineering, parameters like strain, angle, efficiency (Chap. 1).
196 Mathematics
21.4 Geometric Construction
Civil engineers employ complex two-dimensional drawings to determine
tensions, compressions, load distributions, etc. in constructional members (beams,
girders, ties, struts). These drawings are akin to the force diagrams of Basic
Physics. Regrettably for translators, the drawings themselves are also referred to
as constructions. The term is associated with the method used to determine
answers to engineering problems, namely whether the problem is solved by
calculation, involving (formerly) logarithmic tables, slide rules, calculators and
computers, or whether it is solved by construction and involves mainly a drawing
board and various drawing instruments. Nowadays, of course, the engineer’s
main tool is the computer, that can also function as a drawing board (Ge.
Reißbrett). Consequently, the distinction between the two methods of problem
solution is less explicit now.
Technologists employ methods of geometric construction not just for forces
occuring in concrete visible objects, but for any physical quantities which behave
like vectors (Chap. 1). Navigators mapping out flight or shipping routes use
constructional techniques to determine velocities. And there are other, less
obvious applications. Electrical and electronic engineers working with alternating voltages employ phasor diagrams (Chap. 2) analogous to the force diagrams
of civil engineers. Voltages, currents and impedances can be determined by
construction as well as by calculation, and the former method is often much
quicker. Indeed, any area of technology that employs vectors to represent
parameters makes use of constructional methods to resolve problems or to obtain
rapid approximate answers at least. Clarification of the techniques of vector
analysis is provided by certain disk illustrations in the thumbnail sections Basic
Mechanics, Basic Electrical Engineering.
Technical literature concerning geometric constructions contains in addition
to subject-specific terminology (e.g. voltage, tension, load) the familiar preliminary-school terminology of Geometry which most readers will have encountered once, at least in their native language — the terminology of triangles,
parallelograms, circles, and so on. Geometry in the usual sense, as opposed to
relating to the solution of vector problems in engineering, is used by technical
draftsmen and architects designing buildings, and by design engineers concerned
with the final appearance of any marketed or manufactured product (bicycles,
cars, bridges, etc.).
Figure 16D lists instruments commonly employed by draftsmen. Figures
16E–G contain other common geometric terms in both languages.
21.5Real/Imaginary/Complex Number 197
21.5 Real/Imaginary/Complex Number
Mathematicians like working with natural numbers. This is the set of whole
numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, … 99 … 1024 …, etc.) together with zero and the full set of
negative numbers. For practical problems, however, they are obliged to work
with real numbers. The figure −8976 is a natural number whereas −8976.005 is
a real number. The mathematical rules for combining numbers (division,
subtraction, etc.) differ slightly according to the number system. Software
designers are well aware of this and programming languages generally stipulate
different types of variable for different systems of numbers. (Here, the term
variable implies the computing term (Chap. 11) not the mathematical concept).
Natural numbers in the field of Software are designated integers.
Mathematicians also work with what are known as complex numbers. These
are real numbers added together with so-called imaginary numbers, real numbers multiplied by a value “i” which represents the square-root of −1 (“minus
one”). The square root of 16 is 4, of 81 it is 9, and so on. No natural number
multiplied by itself can possibly give a negative answer, but introducing the
value i, defined by the equation i2 = −1, indirectly determines a whole new class
of numbers, the imaginary numbers:
i, 2i, 3i, …, −i, −2i, -3i, …, 0.321i, 234.005i, etc.
Thus 2i is the number which, when multiplied by itself, gives the result “minus
4”, i.e. “(2i)2=−4”. Note: “(−2i)2 gives the same result. Imaginary numbers can
be combined with real numbers to give so-called complex numbers:
“1+i”, “3+2i”, “15–84i”, “1.67–0.006i”
The four examples given (which, for clarity, are separated by quotation marks)
represent neither stages in a calculation nor in a mathematical derivation. To
the mathematician, scientist or engineer, they are numbers themselves.
Despite the apparent denotational complexities, this third class of numbers
provides a powerful tool for simplifying mathematical calculations. It enables
values relating to different dimensions to be combined and manipulated, as
easily as when multiplying or dividing natural numbers. Moreover, complex
numbers provide a convenient algebraic method of expressing coordinates in a
geometric system with, for instance, x and y-axes. Thus they can also represent
vectors and other associated mathematical entities, such as phasors and tensors.
198 Mathematics
21.6 Vector Models, Alternative Number Systems
Chapter 1 introduces the idea of vector quantities, and reminds readers of their
probable first encounter with the concept: as 13-year-old children, determining
the resultant of two forces applied to an object in different directions, such as
two strings trying to lift a heavy weight. Using a pencil and paper, vectors were
drawn to scale, in magnitude and direction, and combined to produce a force
triangle or force polygon (Ge. Krafteck). The resultant was measured using a ruler
and its angle read off using a protractor (Ge. Winkelmesser). This technique is
applicable to any vector quantities, and was employed for centuries by navigators responsible for guiding ships to their destinations, who applied it to
velocities, such as: ship speed, current speed, wind speed. Construction engineers,
even in pre-Roman times possibly used the same methods too. But for modern
engineering purposes, involving larger numbers of vectors and significant
variations in their properties, the solution of mathematical problems by
geometric construction is time-consuming and inaccurate.
Examples in the disk chapters indicate how civil engineers visualise and
portray tension or compression as vectors in construction beams, and how
electrical engineers employ similar models to represent voltage and current as
phasors. A small extension of complex number theory enables vectors to be
expressed not just in two dimensions, like a geometric diagram, but any
number. Three-dimensional vectors called tensors are used by materials
scientists to analyse stress patterns and strain distributions in beams and other
objects. Cosmologists invoke a fourth dimension, time, in calculations relating
to gravitational anomalies, black holes, etc. And mathematicians, who can cope
with vectors specified in any number of dimensions, have devised other models,
not only for engineers but also for economists and business analysts.
Mathematics is a universal tool for all engineers, as important to them as a
set of spanners or wrenches to a car mechanic. Technical translation assignments
devoid of any mathematical terminology are an exception. Translators should
bear in mind that the term imaginary number, which derives merely from the
fact that −1 has no square-root, is a misnomer. To scientists and engineers, the
numbers themselves are by no means “imaginary”. Nor do they regard complex
numbers as even remotely “complex”. Applied to vector models, these alternative number systems provide rapid accurate answers to what would otherwise
be very complex trigonometric or geometric calculations, and for many design
technologies they are indispensible.
21.7Geometric Configurations 199
21.7 Geometric Configurations
Design engineers work with circles, triangles, squares and other 2-dimensional
conceptions, but projects or individual engineering design tasks generally
involve 3-dimensional figures. Even when working with a pencil and paper,
technologists persistently think in terms of geometric configurations and employ
the terminology of their school-day geometry to describe these configurations.
Chapter 16 recalls this terminology.
Figure 16E reveals that triangle, quadrilateral, pentagon come under the
general category of polygons, geometrical objects which have sides and corners
termed vertices. A close look at the hierarchy containing the terminology of
triangles reveals a minor incompatibility in the nomenclature of the two
languages. German employs the expression Schenkel for each of the two equal
sides of an isosceles triangle (Ge. gleichschenkliges Dreieck). English has no
equivalent.
Selecting another example: German makes use of the term Kathete denoting
one of the sides of a right-angle triangle. The English equivalent cathetus is
barely used, and would be incomprehensible to most technologists. German
mathematicians evidently retain a name for a concept their English colleagues
have no further use for. By the same token, English has the neat terms median
and centroid for “the line joining a vertex to the opposite side” and “the point
where the medians intersect” (Ge. Seitenhalbierende, Schwerpunkt) but no term
for the intersection point of the altitudes (Ge. Höhenschnittpunkt). It would
seem that certain mathematical rules, e.g. the square of the hypotenuse equals the
sum of the squares of the other two sides (Pythagorus Theorem), are rendered
more neatly in German, but the price for this is that German schoolchildren
learning geometry may be obliged to concentrate more on terminology than
their English-speaking counterparts.
21.8 Other Areas of Mathematics
The chapter investigates other, more complex geometrical configurations
employed by scientists and engineers to visualise mathematical problems, such
as polyhedra. It outlines terminologies for areas which can suddenly appear in
any technical translation project: trigonometry, coordinate geometry, matrix
multiplication, and it discusses well-established solution techniques, so-called
calculuses, for instance differential calculus, integral calculus, vector calculus.
200 Mathematics
Linguists can venture to this point, though not many will venture beyond.
Some of the older readers may feel embarassed to realise how much
elementary mathematics they have forgotten. Yet the concepts covered in the
sections above are largely those which any university undergraduate embarking
on a course of study leading to an engineering career is familiar with. Mathematics really begins at this point. Fortunately for translators the topic rapidly
becomes so complex that scientists themselves stop talking to each other in
words and resort to an internationally recognisable code of symbols. The disk
chapter deals with the main areas of mathematics applicable in science and
engineering, in the hope that translators faced with unfamiliar or obscure
terminology in the middle of a technical document will at least have some idea
of where to look for L2 equivalents.
Unit 22
Specific Expression
Nouns do not necessarily constitute the main concern of the technical
translator when the source text involves expressions from a long-established area, such as Mathematics. Verbs, adjectives, adverbs and even
prepositions have a tendency to acquire quite specific meanings. The
sections below illustrate problems which cannot be resolved by the
normal hierarchical approaches of the TPD and Thesaurus to lexicography. Only sensibly organised collocational approaches provide the
information needed.
22.1 Special Interpretation
One frequent type of translation problem involves general expressions used
with specific technical implications. For instance, finding the correct expressions for aufrunden, Dezimal, geltend in the examples below:
Runde das Ergebnis auf 3 Dezimalen./… auf 4 geltende Ziffern.
Despite the immediate appeal of renderings like *“round the result up to 3
decimals”, *“… up to 4 valid digits” these translations are in fact meaningless.
The equivalent statements in English are as follows:
Round up the result to three decimal places.
… to 4 significant figures.
Similarly, the effort of concentration on complex technical terminology can
sometimes result in a careless approach to the rendering of simple words like
wieviel, welche, weit:
Wieviel Prozent Säure enthält die Mischung?
Welche Bogenlänge gehört zum Mittelpunktswinkel von 30 Grad?.
In einem gleichschenkligen Dreieck sind die Basiswinkel gleich weit.
202 Specific expression
Statements like *“how much percentage”, *“which arc length”, *“equally wide”
are completely misleading and quite wrong in the contexts given. The equivalent English statements are as follows:
What percentage of acid does the mixture contain?.
What is the length of the arc subtending an angle of 30 degrees at the centre
(of the circle).
The angles at the base of an isosceles triangle are equal.
Perhaps the most difficult translation problem above, however, involves the
verb gehören. Technical dictionaries are unlikely to provide the link gehören
(subtend) because lexicographers assume the German expression to be an item
of general vocabulary. And, even if such links are provided they are of no use
without carefully selected collocation examples. When such facilities are not
available, problems of this type can only be truly resolved by close attention to
first-hand mathematical literature in both languages.
22.2 Specialised Verbs
The last section ends with a difficult example. Subtend is technical verb and is
restricted to geometry and similar mathematical fields. Gehören is an item of
general vocabulary used with a special technical implication but, strictly speaking, it is not itself a technical term. German mathematics does make use of
technical verbs though, e.g. erweitern, kürzen, potenzieren, radizieren, many of
which have no direct English equivalent. Consider the statement:
Bruchterme kann man erweitern und kürzen, indem man Zähler und Nenner
mit demselben Term multipliziert bzw dividiert.
English has the term cancel (Ge. kürzen) for the mathematical operation of
dividing the numerator and denominator (top and bottom) of a fractional
expression by the same amount, but for the alternative operation of multiplying
top and bottom (Ge. erweitern) there is no term. A solution to the problem in
this case is to paraphrase and avoid the technical verbs completely:
The form of expressions consisting of fractions can be altered by multiplying or
dividing the numerator and denominator by the same identical expression.
In the case of potenzieren/radizieren, direct translations do exist:
22.3Symbol Conversion 203
Potenziere 7 mit 2.
Radiziere 64.
Raise 7 to the power of 2. (answer 49)
Obtain the root of 64. (answer 8)
but they are difficult to manipulate, especially when the verbs are used as nouns
(i.e. das Potenzieren/Radizieren) or without direct or indirect objects (numbers,
variables, etc.). Paraphrasing of related concepts is also difficult. Expressions
like Potenz, Potenzwert correspond to concepts which English mathematicians
clearly understand, but also have no labels for. They are translatable only in
context:
die Potenz xn
die Potenzwert von 210
x raised to the power n
the value of 210
Even paraphrasing is not easy. The variable n in the expression xn is called the
exponent (Ge. Exponent) when contrasted with x, the base (Ge. Basis, Grundzahl). But n is referred to as the power when used with the verb raise (above). In
isolation it is called the index (pl. indices).
Problems like the above are not unresolvable. Linguists realise that technical
verbs require particular care and that syntactic aspects may differ greatly in the
two languages. But translators currently receive little direct assistance from
lexicographers.
22.3 Symbol Conversion
Very few translators become truly bilingual in the area of Mathematics. The
subject has existed for hundreds of years and nomenclatures have developed
independently. Because of this, international agreement on symbolic systems for
formulating algebraic, trigonometric and other functional expressions and their
associated mathematical operations has existed for many years. Teachers of
technical translation often insist that students change symbols and convert units
in the final target version. For source texts involving mathematical derivations
this is possibly the worst advice they could receive. An intelligent scientist given
a poorly translated text can often reconstruct meaning by examining the
mathematic processes. If the mathematics is also tampered with, the translation
is doomed.
This section completes the reader’s initial introduction to the e-book,
except for one small area, the final Appendix of Volume 1, the point where the
two parallel streams of information begun in the early stages of the book, the
204 Specific expression
engineering chapters and lexicography units, converge. The disk Appendix looks
at general language and touches upon an area of specialised translation outside
engineering, which is then used as a vehicle to analyse the possible universal
applicability of lexicographical approaches adopted elsewhere in the book. The
area chosen is Business English.
Unit 23
Non-Technical
Specialised Language
Thanks to constant interaction between scientists and technologists on
both sides of the Atlantic the di¬erences between British and American
engineering terminology are minimal and concern mainly the di¬erent
spelling conventions. Apart from a few examples from fields like Railway or Automobile Engineering, the handbook barely mentions any
di¬erences. This approach to terminology specification is not appropriate for areas of specialised translation outside Engineering, for instance
Legal Translation, Economics, Politics, where translations intended for
one half of the English-speaking world are sometimes barely comprehensible to the opposite half. Indeed, German universities which o¬er
courses in Legal or Business Translation and provide two options British
and American-English invariably find that students are so confused, they
completely ignore one option.
This section takes a small break from Engineering and looks at
“technical translation” in the broader sense; to avoid confusion the
expression specialised translation is reserved for the superordinate concept
(Ge. fachsprachliche Übersetzung) and technical translation denotes the subordinate concept, the discipline relating to science and engineering
(Ge. technische Übersetzung). The section lists some relatively “non-technical” terminology which non-native English-speakers, and indeed nativespeakers unfamiliar with life across the Atlantic, often confuse. It then
takes a brief look at the applicability of the thesaurus and collocational
approaches to the arrangement of terminologies for other quite di¬erent areas of language. Illustrations are provided from general language
and from the field of Business Studies.
A more complete version of this unit appears in the Appendix of the ebook. The glossaries discussed are located in the following sections:
Figure A1:
Figure A2:
Figure A3:
Figure A4:
Transatlantic Lexicon
Transatlantic Thesaurus
Commercial Thesaurus
Commercial Collocation Dictionary
206 Non-Technical Specialised Language
23.1 Language Variants
Even native-speakers only become proficient in language forms other than their
vernacular by studying them individually. For the translator, this does not
necessarily mean that the German word See is rendered as lake for an English
customer, loch for a Scot, and billabong for an Australian, but an awareness of
the main differences between the two standard variants British and American
English is necessary.
A British translator working on an assignment for an American company
needs to pay constant attention to the spelling of words like:
colour, labour, odour, vigour (Br.)
color, labor, odor, vigor (Am.)
catalogue, cheque, instalment, guarantee
catalog, check, installment, garantee
dispatch, enquiry, endorsement
despatch, inquiry, indorsement
especially if these terms regularly appear in documents relating to company
policy. Spelling discrepancies are mastered by intelligent use of dictionaries.
More critical from the translation viewpoint is terminology.
Figure A1, the Transatlantic Lexicon, lists differences in the general terminology of the two types of English. The terms are arranged in subsections beginning
with potential engineering areas, such as buildings, roads, railways, and moving
on to more general areas like clothing, office and household terminology. A few
samples from the lexicon appear below:
Doppelhaus
öffentliche Toilette
öffentliche Schule
Rollo
Schulhof
semi-detached house
public convenience
state school
roller blind
playground
duplex house
restroom
public school
shade
schoolyard
Autobahn
doppelte Fahrbahn
Kreisverkehr
Parkplatz
Rastplatz
Sackgasse
Bürgersteig
motorway
dual carriageway
roundabout
car park
lay-by
cul-de-sac
pavement
highway
divided highway
traffic circle
parking lot
rest area
dead end
sidewalk
23.2Distinctive Feature Specification 207
U-Bahn
Unterführung
Verkehrsampel
Zebrastreifen
tube, underground
subway
traffic lights
zebra crossing
subway
underpass
stop light, traffic light
crosswalk
Motorrad
Mofa, Moped
Reisebus
Wohnmobil
Wohnwagen
motorbike
moped
coach
motor caravan
caravan
motorcycle
motorbike
bus
mobile home
trailer
The glossary enables German translators to adapt their English according to
whether the intended recipient is based in Europe or America, and provides a
useful crash course in British or American for native English speakers.
The next section illustrates a convenient shorthand technique for noting
semantic discrepancies among terminology and forestalling general translation
errors resulting from inappropriate mixtures of British and American English.
23.2 Distinctive Feature Specification
The book makes repeated use of a small set of thesaurus descriptors to denote
concepts associated with specific terminology. The same descriptors enable
terminology in a dictionary list to be defined in terms of known vocabulary or
of other entries in the same list. The subset below:
t: a type of
cs: contextual synonym of
ex: example of
a:
u:
ct:
associated with
used in connection with
contrasted with
is employed in the Transatlantic Thesaurus of Figure A2 to distinguish the
meanings of certain orthographically identical terms in Figure A1. Again, a
small representative sample:
Term
Implication, Br.Eng.
Implication, Am.Eng.
baton
cabinet
corporation
cupboard
cuffs
a: orchestra conductor;
u: lounge furniture;
u: municipal authority;
u: furniture;
a: shirt;
a: riot police;
u: household fittings;
t: joint-stock company;
u: kitchen furniture;
a: shirt, pants;
208 Non-Technical Specialised Language
motorbike
pants
pavement
pitcher
precinct
public school
purse
slacks
stock
subway
suspenders
tack
trailer
truck
vest
cs: motorcycle;
cs: underpants; u: vest;
a: pedestrians;
t: large earthenware jug;
t: shopping centre;
t: private school;
a: loose change;
t: womens’ trousers;
u: warehouse; t: goods;
t: pedestrian walkway;
a: womens’ stockings;
u: carpeting, panelling;
u: load being towed;
u: rail transport;
t: underwear;
t: motorised bicycle;
ex: slacks, jeans;
t: road surface;
ex: cream pitcher;
t: administrative district;
t: state school;
t: handbag;
t: pants; ex: dress slacks;
t: investment;
t: underground railway;
a: mens’ pants;
u: office stationary;
t: mobile home;
u: road transport;
t: garment;
Concepts are displayed as a neat list of primary implications in alphabetic order
of the lexeme likely to cause translation difficulties. In contrast to the Technical
Thesaurus, this glossary makes no attempt to provide more explicit information
on the concepts themselves. It assumes that the reader will have come across the
terms at some time or other anyway, and employs the thesaurus descriptors
either to indicate a distinctive feature separating the meanings of identical
lexemes or to provide an example which helps narrow the concept in one
variant or the other.
German-speaking translators will regard this glossary as an unexpected free
gift in a book expected to deal only with technical translation. But all readers
should pause at this stage, look closely, understand the implications and uses of
the descriptors, and memorise them. The same descriptors occur throughout
the disk and clarify concepts of a far greater degree of complexity. They appear
again in the next subsection, which deals with what, for some readers, may be
another unfamiliar area: Business Studies.
23.3 Business Translation
Good specialised translators are aware of the polysemy of natural language,
particularly simple adjectives/adverbs, such as stark or leicht:
23.3Business Translation 209
starke Verteuerung
starke Verbesserung
starker Bestelleingang
sharp price increase
marked improvement
rush of orders
stark abbauen
stark zunehmen
stärker steigen
draw heavily (on reserves, etc.)
increase rapidly/… dynamically
rise faster/at a faster rate
leichter Überschuß
leichte Geldpolitik
leicht entflammbar
small surplus
easy-money policy
highly inflammable
Some expressions necessitate paraphrasing:
als Vertreter tätig
in der Stereobranche tätig
weltweit tätig
1. acting as an agent (for a company)
2. representing (a company/department)
1. working in the stereo industry
2. dealing in stereo systems
operating all over the world
and some require specific (non-synonymous) renderings according to the
context:
groß
günstig {Preis}
Geschäftsverbindung
sizeable, substantial, large-scale
acceptable, competitive, favourable, low
business connection, business association,
business relationship, business contact
Verbs require appropriate attention too:
Sturmschäden decken
einen Bedarf decken
einen Fehlbetrag decken
durch Versicherung decken
cover storm damage
meet a demand
offset a deficit
back by insurance
and idiomatic expressions may be problematic, especially for non-native speakers:
Produkte führen
Verhandlungen führen
in Kraft treten
an Kraft gewinnen
supply products
conduct negotiations
become effective
gather momentum
Although the examples above have nothing whatever to do with Engineering it
is interesting to note that the expressions stark, leicht, groß which cause serious
210 Non-Technical Specialised Language
problems in technical translation (see TCD) are also problematic in this field.
Verbs too, e.g. decken, führen, gewinnen require specific translations in specialised contexts, and terms like Kraft which have precise engineering connotations
(force, Chap. 1) acquire idiomatic renderings like momentum. It is interesting to
observe other parallels as the discussion continues.
Translators cannot survive without computers and many individuals
become keen software enthusiasts. Having established a collocational data base,
such translators soon discover interesting cross-collocations. For example,
prepositions:
im Durchschnitt
in bestimmten Zeitabständen
in den nächsten Jahren
in Wert von
on average
at specific intervals
over the next few years
to the value of
syntactic contrasts between German and English:
über Verbindungen verfügen
auf einem Gebiet spezialisiert sein
to have contacts (at ones disposal)
to specialise in an area
A collocation dictionary also provides access to frequently repeated phrases
requiring a range of translation alternatives:
zum Teil
zu gleichen Teilen
ein großer Teil
partly, to some degree, to a limited extent
equally, in equal proportions, equal numbers of
a substantial proportion, a sizeable amount
and lexical contrasts of moderately specialised word forms appear too:
Branche
Haushalt
Lieferung
Umsatz
line, industry, sector
household, budget
delivery, consignment, shipment
sales, turnover
that help to sharpen the translator’s awareness of the different implications of
terminology used in the field.
The older generation of translators approached the problem of terminology
in specialised language by amassing enormous alphabetic card indexes, the
contents of which were eventually published as dictionaries. Concept definitions and subfield specifications were often omitted, either because of the nonsystematic compilation procedures employed or simply to save space. But
modern data-handling facilities can easily cope with this additional information.
23.3Business Translation 211
Moreover, when employing thesaurus descriptors, the amount of extra storage
space is minimal. For example, the English terminology below:
Kredit
Rabatt
Transport
loan, credit
discount, rebate, reduction
carriage, conveyance, haulage, transit
can be differentiated in a systematic reference system as follows:
carriage (a: cost of conveyance)
credit (u: delayed payment; a: goods received)
discount (t: reduction; u: bulk order, special concession)
haulage (t: conveyance; u: road, rail)
loan (u: money advanced; a: banks, financial institutions)
rebate (t: reduction; u: complaint)
transit (u: period of conveyance; ex: in/during transit)
Figure A3 contains a section from an English-German Commercial Thesaurus
and Figure A4 shows part of a small Commercial Collocation Dictionary, both
relating to the broad field of Business Studies. The terminology derives from
four main areas: General Economics (e), Banking (b), Commercial Correspondence (c), Financial Reporting (r). Two extracts are reproduced here:
pension provisions {u: balance sheet}
promissory note {t: draft}
publicity executive {u: company}
purchaser {a: order}
quotation {u: order}
raw material costs
rebate {t: reduction; a: complaint}
receipt {u: goods ordered}
receivables {u: balance sheet}
receiver {u: order}
reduction {cs: rebate, discount}
reminder {cs: dun}
remittance advice {u: payment}
representative {a: company}
reserves {u: assets}
retailer {t: dealer}
Pensionsrückstellungen,-m
Solawechsel,-m
Werbeleiter,-m
Käufer,-m
Preisangebot,-n
Materialaufwand,-m
Rabatt,-m
Empfang,-m
Forderungen,-pl
Empfänger,-m
Preisnachlaß,-m
Zahlungserinnerung, Mahnung,-f
Zahlungsanzeige,-f
Vertreter,-m
Rücklagen,-f
Einzelhändler,-m
212 Non-Technical Specialised Language
auflösen (b) Ich bitte Sie, dieses Konto aufzulösen.
Please close this account and transfer the balance to my savings account.
auflösen (c) Er löst das Geschäft auf und entläßt alle Angestellten.
He is closing down the business and dismissing all staff.
auflösen (r) Im Falle der Auflösung hat man Anspruch auf Rückzahlung.
In the event of liquidation one is entitled to reimbursement.
aufnehmen (c) Die Firma möchte eine Hypothek auf ihr Grundstück aufnehmen.
The company would like to mortgage its real estate.
aufnehmen (c) Die Geräte werden von unseren Kunden sehr positiv aufgenommen.
The appliances are getting a warm reception from our customers.
ausgleichen (c) Wir senden Ihnen einen Scheck zum Ausgleich der Rechnung.
We are sending you a cheque to cover the invoice amount./… check (Am.)
ausgleichen (e) Diese Kosten können wir durch höhere Verkaufspreise ausgleichen.
These costs can be offset by raising sales prices.
befördern (c) Er ist zum Abteilungsleiter befördert worden.
He has been promoted to departmental manager./… head of department.
befördern (c) Man hat ein Anrecht auf Beförderung von 20 Kg Freigepäck.
One is entitled to a baggage allowance of 20 Kg./… free baggage allowance
…
befördern (c) Unsere Waren werden mit der Bahn befördert.
Our goods are (being) shipped by rail./… transported/conveyed …
The illustrations reveal that techniques for the training and self-teaching of
technical translators demonstrated in the book, namely the determination of
polysemy, the specification of concepts via thesaurus descriptors, and the use of
collocation dictionaries, are equally applicable to the systematic study of other
areas of specialised language. They provide for the rapid acquisition of translation skills in any situation.
Many universities train students mainly in general translation, either
because suitable staff are not available to cope with specialised material or
because it is assumed that once the foreign language has been mastered the
prospective translator can master the rest unaided. Other universities offer
technical translation courses but with staff only equipped for simple everyday
areas such as Automobiles or Computers and who avoid terminological
problems by using ready-translated material. In view of the vast spectrum of
material, linguists are expected to cope with, especially the enormous range of
scientific, engineering, medical, commercial and legal documentation, translators
23.3Business Translation 213
are inevitably forced to teach themselves at some stage. The book provides not
just a new approach to the teaching of specialised language, but a new look at
the subsidiary work involved in translation activities and sound advice on the
systematic handling of everyday lexicological and terminological information.
Unit 24
Translator Education
The book has one further application. It provides supplementary material for use by translator educators in university courses covering the
broad basis of science and engineering translation. The author’s own
experience over a period of ten years using a book with a similar theme
has shown that, contrary to conventional expectations, students can
indeed cope with a wide variety of interlocking technical fields, if they
are guided by personnel already familiar with the material. This unit
therefore proposes some di¬erent ways of using the disk as a teaching
aid. It relates them to various standard approaches to technical translator training, ranging from the classical transmissionist approach of the
university lecturer to modern constructivism.
24.1 Constructivist Approach
Don Kiraly is one author who makes a radical departure from the classical
approach to university translation classes, quote — the transcoding of sentences
amputated from real translation situations, to one based on extensive interstudent participation. He encourages students to work in groups and discover
the techniques of professional translation for themselves, being guided in a
particular direction by their teacher. With a detailed plan constituting the
curriculum of an introductory course in translation studies, Kiraly shows how
he has tempered his role as a sage on the stage and moved towards being more
of a guide on the side.
Kiraly begins by describing workshops where students discuss their interpretation of words like shadowy, drenched, laden in isolation, in juxtaposition
with other words shadowy peace, sun-drenched, flower-laden, and at phrase or
sentence-level. Another workshop takes examples from a tourist brochure for
a German town Bad Dürkheim, discussing interpretations of Fremde (stranger,
216 Translator education
foreigner, outsider) and the connotations of Bad (spa, health resort, etc.) in the
sentence:
Dürkheim — nur Fremde setzen dem Namen ‘Bad’ voraus
and whether or not there is any practical justification, in the context concerned,
of translating the sentence at all. The examples illustrate certain parallels with
this book: the didactic principles governing the TPD; those governing the TCD;
certain examples of Unit 19 (Kohlensäure, Salzsäure).
The workshops continue and Kiraly reveals how students are encouraged to
bring interesting material of their own to be analysed collectively according to a
scheme of decision categories: cognitive, cultural, linguistic, textual, etc. There
are many more stages in the translator education process, which ultimately
involves guided or supported translation projects with virtually full-fledged
independent work on the part of the students. Kiraly mainly focuses on the
acquisition of general translation skills, but some aspects of his social constructivist approach might also be applied to technical translator education.
24.2 Social Approach
The disk contains a vast amount of technical information arranged rather like
a gigantic teaching programme itself. One way to stimulate digestion of the disk
information for future translation assignments is to study the handbook.
Another is for the teacher to select L1 material geared to specific chapters and
demonstrate features of the disk as a translation tool. A third method is to
encourage students themselves to find such material. For example, a student
who remembers some school physics may produce an interesting mechanics
text from an elementary textbook to be discussed and translated orally by the
class. Students immediately realise that Chapter 1 is the place to look. Any holes
in their (or their teacher’s) understanding become evident as alternative
renderings of terms like Kraft, Leistung, Dehnung are disputed and checked via
the microglossaries, TPD, Thesaurus, illustrations, etc. After the class, students
re-read the chapter, re-examine the glossaries and illustrations and see them in
a new light, probably retaining much more of the information permanently
than they would have done by working alone.
The same school textbook may contain suitable basic electrical material for
the next class (Chapter 2), or other students may bring along a car manual, a
satellite receiver guide or even a child’s chemistry set instructions for class
24.3Electronic Approach 217
discussion and translation — with close attention to other chapters and
reference sources of the disk. The teacher gradually guides the students through
the entire disk. A semester or two later, when a large proportion of the basic
material has been covered, the students are ready to progress to more advanced
material handled in professional translation assignments. They also know
intuitively what essential information relating to these assignments is readily
available on the disk, and where to find it immediately.
24.3 Electronic Approach
Kiraly’s guidelines for his social constructivist approach to translator training
encompass the full range of computational facilities. He describes various
learning techniques, such as: one-alone involving autonomous learning from
databases, journals, software libraries; one-to-one as with on-line peer tutoring
or e-mail tandems; many-to-many with discussions, role-play activities, project
groups. He contrasts these with one-to-many, the so-called transmissionist
approach to knowledge dissemination, the classical one of the teacher or lecturer
at the front of a class.
The e-book can be applied to all these approaches and indeed it should be,
coming at the start of a technical translation course before other less easily or
less readily available electronic tools are even considered. Kiraly’s ideal networked classroom with a separate workstation for each student allowing them to call
upon their own computer expertise for translation-related research is directly
amenable to guidance methods for absorbing information from the disk.
Teachers can easily select source material containing disk terminology or
involving aspects of the disk information, and students prefer this rapid
systematic initial approach to the acquisition of technical translation skills to
clicking around aimlessly on the Web.
24.4 Transmissionist Approach
A statement earlier in the book refers to modern linguists changing their area of
enthusiasm at regular intervals like flocks of birds. But sometimes they are more
like flocks of sheep, when snobbism or fear of being classed among the cruddyduddies causes them to attack new ideas relating to areas no longer in fashion
without hesitation or reason. For instance, one statement in response to the
218 Translator education
disk, made by an early short-sighted critic was “everything is available on the
Web”. That of course is not true. Information of this calibre, carefully structured in two languages for a vast collection of engineering areas, is not available
anywhere on the Web, not even in small doses. It seems that while pretending
outwardly to favour constructivist guidance methods, the reader automatically
interpreted the disk in terms of his actual approach to translator training, the
classical one, that of a conventional transmissionist.
Oddly enough, the transmissionist approach itself is also adaptable to the
usage of the disk. Conventional university teachers who have chosen and
prepared material for translation classes, involving disk terminology, during
stress-free semester vacations have an advantage over students asked to perform
the same task within just a few days. This competitive edge, on which so much
of their personal esteem depends, may persist. The teacher should not take this
to extremes though. It may be easier to find translation material to suit the disk
than choosing material at random and floundering around on the Web for
terminology, but translation classes should not entirely neglect other electronic
tools. Just as students require a lengthy period to master their foreign languages
without the burden of technical considerations, in the same way they require a
period of systematic study to concentrate upon technical language without the
perpetual agitation of Web-searching and the constant flicker of the changing
monitor screen.
24.5 Disk Approach
Experience has shown that many university teachers do not like their students
to have access to large sources of accurate information, all in one place, because
they feel their own integrity threatened. Hence the disk approach to translator
education was softened to give teachers a chance to adapt before students
discover the true power of the book for themselves. Hasty users, or what this
book refers to elsewhere as non-thinking translators will regard the disk as a
database, an error that at this stage warrants no further discussion. To true
linguists, the disk gives the impression of being a didactic tool for promoting
individual translation expertise, whether the user concerned is a professional
translator or someone learning the profession. Indeed, it is just that.
Used sensibly it can also function as either a transmissionist or a constructivist learning tool, one which removes the indecision and bewilderment currently hampering students new to fields of engineering, so that technical translation
24.5Disk Approach 219
becomes an intellectual activity as intrinsically rewarding as general translation
classes are likely to be. Methods of tuition, tutoring or group guidance vary
from one academic institution to another, among individual teachers, and there
are many intermediate approaches described by authors on which Kiraly’s ideas
are based (Nord, Toury, Kussmaul, etc.). But, applied to scientific or engineering translation, they all have one thing in common. Successful transitions from
student to graduate to professional translator are smoother and easier by any
method using the disk, than any without.
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222 Bibliography
Sager, Juan C. 1994. Language Engineering and Translation. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John
Benjamins Publishing Company.
Simon, Hans. 1985. Mathematik — Formeln und Gesetze. Cologne: BZ-Verlag.
Wagener, J. Siegried. 1978. Definition and Origin of the Human Language. The Hague:
Linguistics, Mouton Publishers.
Wüster, Eugen. 1968. The Machine Tool — An Interlingual Dictionary of Basic Concepts.
London: Technical Press.
Wüster, Eugen. 1974. Die Umkehrung einer Begriffsbeziehung und ihre Kennzeichnung in
Wörterbüchern. Munich: Nachrichten für Dokumentation.
Appendix 1
Approach Survey
Writing a book which can be read on di¬erent levels has great advantages for readers struggling to cope with the vast amount of technical
information contained. But for academics it can provide a means of
attacking small specific aspects, irrelevant to the main purpose, without
really understanding the full book itself. This Appendix puts the record
straight by comparing approaches adopted in the disk volumes with
ideas of other linguists, lexicologists, semanticists and terminologists
of various generations.
1. Convention
Non-native English speakers, may welcome the fact that the simple style
employed in the engineering chapters is extended to the linguistics sections with
no urgent need for background reading. Other linguists may frown at the
author’s introduction of new grammatical terms (pair noun, singular noun), his
reluctance to employ the traditional tree diagrams to indicate semantic relationships, and his occasional usage of expressions like attribute, element, feature,
field with implications slightly different from the standard meanings in classical
general semantics. But there are good reasons for the approaches adopted.
The objective of these units is to supplement the reader’s knowledge of
engineering terminology and resolve specific conceptual problems arising in the
chapters. The avoidance of tree diagrams saves valuable space, and minimising
the number of grammatical categories saves valuable time for readers already
struggling to memorise a large set of dictionary labels. The book employs
established models borrowed from general semantics and may itself make an
indirect contribution to the field, but it is intended first and foremost as a
translator’s handbook, rather than as a contribution to linguistics.
224 Appendix 1
2. Orthography
By an unfortunate quirk of fate, the publication of the book was preceded by a
political incident that presented a substantial dilemma. German schoolteachers
are obliged by law to adopt a new system of spelling (Ge. Rechtschreibreform).
The system has been accepted by newspapers, journals and other publications,
and twenty-first century Germans will soon write rather differently to their
predecessors. The author was faced with the decision of whether to re-edit the
entire book and guess new spellings for technical expressions reformers have not
yet classified (and have possibly never even heard of), or whether to adopt the
current attitude of most of the German scientific, technological and industrial
world and ignore the reform.
Due to the fact that most specialised literature currently conforms to the old
spelling model, and that technical authors of internal as well as external
industrial reports will obviously have considerations and priorities far more
crucial than changing their own long-established spelling habits, the author felt
tempted to opt for the second alternative, especially as any tampering with
spelling would adversely affect carefully contrived sorting arrangements. Instead
a compromise was adopted. A large section of the book focuses on translation
from German and adopts twentieth-century spelling conventions. Although
certain alternative versions appear in the TPD and TCD, there is little space
available for this information owing to structural restrictions. Translators
interested in new spellings should consult the Thesaurus instead.
English has been subjected to recent spelling reforms too. Regrettably, these
do not make it any easier to distinguish the radically different pronunciations
of words like brought, cough, drought, but concentrate on whether to write for
instance realization as opposed to realisation. Nevertheless, if full spelling
conformity does ever occur within either the English- or German-speaking
worlds it is likely to result not from the activities of spelling reformists but from
the free market itself.
3. Text Typology
A good translator tries to capture the message of a source text as accurately as
possible and makes finely tuned adjustments to the final version to suit the text
type (essay, memo, report, etc.) and the intended recipient. The book concentrates on meaning rather than message, and deals with the cognitive aspect of
Approach Survey 225
terminology (Sager, 1990), relating linguistic forms (terms) to their referents
(conceptual content). It tends to leave final adjustments to the reader’s common sense.
Nevertheless, improvements in this area of language study could soon be
taking place. In the modern era of globally interacting data systems there is no
reason why lexicographers should not produce well-organised large-scale
collocation dictionaries along the lines of the TCD. When space restrictions and
organisational complexity are not paramount considerations, as in on-line
dictionaries, additional translated versions could be included and possibly
differentiated according to a set of symbols denoting text type. Further research
is necessary first, however, in order to establish and classify the various text-type
categories and reach international agreement on these categories.
4. Terminology Processing
The dictionary arrangements of the book represent practical applications of
theories proposed by a long line of linguists, semanticists and terminologists
over several generations, ranging from Eugen Wüster to John Lyons to Juan
Sager.
Sager (1990) employs various examples from technical language and
stipulates the following types of relation:
caused by
a product of
a property of
an instrument for
a quantitative measure of
a counteragent of
a container for
a method of
a material for
a place for
He also differentiates facets of a generic relationship in an interesting ISO
example reproduced briefly (in the style of this book) below:
1
11
12
13
14
antifriction bearings
differentiated by type of rolling bodies
roller bearings
ball bearings
by number of rows of rolling bodies along the bearing axis
single-row bearings
double-row bearings
226 Appendix 1
15
multi-row bearings
by type of forces
16
radical bearings
17
radical axle bearings
18
axle bearings
And Sager lists different subtypes of partitive relationship:
1. atomic constituents (e.g. the characters of a character set)
2. groups of parts (the four suits in a deck of cards)
3. optional constituents (the radio of a motor car)
etc.
The e-book side-steps the problem of terminological relationships with different facets, by incorporating relevant information either implicitly in the
engineering chapters or explicitly via additional thesaurus definitions. Of
Sager’s list of relational types, one is used directly:
a quantitative measure of
and corresponds to the descriptor m (a measurable parameter of). Others
appear indirectly via two descriptors t (type of), u (used in connection with):
a product of
t: product; u: …
a container for
t: container; u: …
a material for
t: material; u: …
an instrument for
t: instrument; u: …
Others can occur directly via the descriptor d (designates):
d: a reaction caused by …
d: a method of …
d: a property of …
d: a place for …
Early authors, such as Lyons (1977) or Palmer (1975), look more closely at the
logical aspects of relations themselves and distinguish between categories such
as symmetrical, transitive, reflexive. The Thesaurus takes account of this approach but without indicating these aspects directly.
Approach Survey 227
5. Hierarchic Organisation
Another early linguist turned terminologist, along the lines of Wüster/Sager, is
Helmut Felber (1980), who quotes the following engineering example of what he
calls a “genus/species system of concepts”, a generic hierarchy:
1 (vehicle)
11
land vehicle
12
seacraft
13
aircraft
131
(lighter-than-air aircraft)
1311
balloon
1312
airship
132
(heavier-than-air aircraft)
1321
glider
1322
kite
1323
airplane
1324
rotorcraft
14
spacecraft
Felber also cites a biological example of a system involving partitive relations:
1 human body
11
head
111
mouth
112
nose
113
eye
1131
eyeball
1132
eyebrow
12
trunk
13
limbs
131
arm
132
leg
Felber’s examples are given in the form of tree diagrams but are quoted
accurately above, with the exception of the bracketed expressions.
Some writers on linguistics do not make it clear whether their semantic
hierarchies depict terms or concepts. The author would disagree that there is an
English term vehicle covering land vehicles and seacraft, etc. There seems to be
a concept but no term, a lexical gap in English. Hence the entry above is bracketed.
228 Appendix 1
Similarly, the expressions lighter/heavier-than-air aircraft are more likely to
denote concepts rather than terms, as engineering does not usually tolerate
clumsy expressions like this, any more than natural language does. This is not
to say that Felber is wrong. He quotes both a BS (British Standards) definition
of rotorcraft in terms of heavier-than-air aircraft, and a separate BS definition of
heavier-than-air aircraft itself. But in such cases, if the term is truly used in
engineering, an abbreviated form such as HTA aircraft is more likely to emerge.
Another slight oversight in Felber’s example concerns the terms seacraft,
aircraft, spacecraft themselves. These belong to a special class of nouns whose
plural is invariable (e.g. one aircraft, fifty aircraft) and this valuable information
(especially for non-native English speakers) is absent. Moreover seacraft may
belong to a slightly different category to aircraft/spacecraft. A theoretical
singular form may exist, but it is barely used if ever. Thus the first two examples
below represent normal English statements. But not the third.
The Boeing B52 is an aircraft.
Gemini 1 was an early spacecraft.
(*)The QE2 is a seacraft.
Felber’s second hierarchy has no lexical gaps but it seems to imply that eyebrow
is part of the eye in the same way that eyeball is. Moreover, he realises the
problem of non-singular entities, and includes the conception limbs rather than
limb, but does not extend it to arm/leg. Similar examples of structural dilemma
occur in engineering, where the concept atom involves the singular constituent
nucleus but a specific number of electrons.
Nevertheless, apart from the slight inconsistencies, Felber’s examples reveal
that hierarchic organisation is a powerful lexicographical tool for pinpointing
both the denotations and connotations of specialised expressions, as well as
highlighting lexical gaps. The thesaurus approach devised in the book neatly
sidesteps the semantic problems of hierarchic organisation, and does provide
information on noun classes, but unfortunately it has difficulty representing
lexical gaps. If an English term does not exist for a concept there can be no entry
in a bilingual thesaurus, regardless of whether a term exists in German
However, there are practical methods of resolving such problems:
i.
The TPD employs brackets to indicate descriptive meaning as opposed to
direct translational equivalence for entries where inconsistencies occur, e.g.
Reißzeug (drawing instruments), Atomhülle (set of electron shells).
ii. In those Thesaurus entries where a technical term exists in English but
there is no true equivalent in German, e.g. the chemical expression fluid
Approach Survey 229
that covers both liquids and gases, the lexical gap is indicated by the symbol (–).
iii. The German Index provides indirect access to explanations of German
terms for which there are lexical gaps in English and for which concise
descriptive explanations in glossary form would be difficult or impossible,
e.g. Atomrumpf (Chap. 3), Lastarm, Kraftarm (Chap. 13), Höhenschnittpunkt, Kathete (Chap. 16).
6. Contiguity
An alternative approach to the illustration of related meaning, avoiding tree
diagrams or hierarchic organisation altogether, is that of Nida (also Lyons, etc.),
which involves two-dimensional shapes representing constituents of meaning
within a semantic space, rather like the Set Theory of Mathematics (Ge. Mengenlehre). Sets can cover the same area (synonymy), enclose one another completely (hyponymy) or partially overlap (related synonyms, complements, opposites,
etc.). Nida differentiates the concept opposite, and defines expressions like polar
opposite (good, bad), reversive (tie, untie), reciprocal (loan, borrow). He also
makes it clear that the related meanings of words like run, walk, hop, skip, jump
are much closer in semantic space than are different meanings of run:
The engine is running.
She has a run in her stocking.
He is running for the office of President.
The method is a good one for revealing contiguous relationships of the type hop,
skip, dance, but not a practical large-scale approach for terminologists or
lexicologists. Moreover, like Sager’s facets of generic relationships, Nida’s
various categories are representable indirectly in the Thesaurus via descriptors
like s (synonym), ct (contrasted with), cv (covers), d (designates).
Generally speaking, the dictionary symbols adopted by the book involve
simplifications rather than direct copies of those relations proposed by established writers on semantics. The simplifications seem justifiable, but only time
will tell.
230 Appendix 1
7. Speech Acts
The ideas of certain linguists and linguistic philosphers (Searle, Austin et al.) on
so-called speech acts may seem irrelevant to technical translators at first sight,
but this is not the case. Though natural language has secondary functions
(social, aesthetic, ritual, etc.), it is assumed that the main function of both
natural and specialised language is communicative. This is true, but large
sections of mathematical and scientific text, as well as material concerning
engineering design, employ a language function closer to the category ideational: involving the formulation of ideas.
The problem for translators is that sometimes lexical gaps or different
knowledge structures exist in fundamental areas crucial to the formulation of
ideas. Even general language contains nuances difficult for translators to work
with. Wagener (1978) quotes the German expression Schaum, which has two
very distinct interpretations in French écume, mousse and three in English:
foam, froth, lather. But the difficulties involving Wagener’s Schaum are minor
compared to the technical translator’s quest to find English equivalents for
Elektronenhülle or Atomrumpf (Chap. 3) or decisions as to whether to substitute
resistance or impedance for the German Widerstand (Chap.2). Before terminology can be standardised and stored efficiently in multilingual term banks it is
necessary to standardise concepts themselves. In the world of engineering this
is by no means easy.
8. Error Analysis
The brief criteria proposed for the evaluation of errors by technical translation
assessors (Lex.7) may irritate certain linguists, like Pym, Kussmaul, Hönig, who
dislike approaches based on a system which they regard as binary: either right or
wrong with no stage in between. Kussmaul (1995) employs an interesting
example where the direct translation of trailer into German as Sattelschlepper is
declined in favour of Lastwagen, a term normally translated by lorry or truck. He
also quotes examples of lexical gaps in language and illustrates difficulties
involved in translating the terms haricot and kidney bean into German, or the
British legal terms barrister, solicitor. Kiraly (1995) cites other authors (Röhl,
Michea), in stating that translation does not imply “transposition from one
language to another” but “playing two different keyboards”. His case studies for
translation pedagogy try to demolish the persistent student image of their
language instructors as “guardians of translatory truth”.
Approach Survey 231
The book does not contest the theories of other authors on error analysis.
In fact it produces a variety of parallel examples which might substantiate them,
especially among fundamental engineering conceptions such as conductance,
impedance, tension. But instead of including lengthy discussions of the gravity
of particular errors, the book concentrates its attention on providing sufficient
background information to enable translators to avoid them. If translation
involves “playing two keyboards”, technical translation uses several more.
9. Sememe, Chereme
If three mathematicians from opposite corners of the world but with similar
interests were stranded, without their interpreters, in a hotel room they would
soon start communicating with one another, discussing mathematics. An
Iranian businessman, a Japanese clerk and a Polish railway worker might, under
similar circumstances, discover a common interest in football. They too would
hold a kind of conversation, one consisting largely of the names of players,
teams and important matches. Wagener quotes examples documented by earlier
linguists (e.g. William Stokoe) of American Indian and African Bushmen
languages which are based not on semantic units of mutual recognition, socalled sememes, but on sign units or cheremes. Some palaeontologists are of the
opinion that neanderthal man employed a similar (though more advanced)
means of communication, in conjunction with a smaller set of speech sounds
than modern man. And there are methods of communication analogous to a
language based on cheremes that exist in various areas of science and technology.
Mathematicians communicate via an internationally recognisable system of
symbols rather than body signs or hand signals. Chemists, atomic physicists,
electronic circuit designers and other scientists and engineers employ their own
respective, mutually intelligible symbols. Technical texts may well contain
symbols which themselves carry meaning and can assist translators to locate
correct L2 equivalents for difficult terminology. The book introduces linguists
to concepts of the type physical quantity, dimension, unit (Chap. 1) which are
fundamental to all areas of engineering and provide vital clues to the translation
of German polysemes like Spannung, Widerstand, Leitfähigkeit. It also presents
chemical, electronic, mathematical and many other symbols. But this is just the
tip of the iceberg. More research needs to be done in this area so that translators
can profit from this additional extralingual facility.
232 Appendix 1
10. Standardisation of Nomenclature
Possibly, in the wake of repercussions from the famous confrontations of the
fifties between behaviourists and mentalists, the Skinner versus Chomsky
disciples, Lyons, Nida, Palmer and other semanticists of the seventies epoch
were influenced by logical or algebraic formalisation schemes, such as propositional or predicate calculus. But Wüster (1974), towards the end of his long
career, was already applying this knowledge to the more practical aspects of
terminology and lexicography. Wüster’s pioneering work dating from as early
as 1931 led to the formation of committees for the standardisation of nomenclature, one of the most influential being the ISO (International Standards
Organisation). His epic book The Machine Tool marked the birth of a new type
of glossary, and possibly of a new discipline: terminology itself. Though some
authors were a little unhappy with the designation of the new field and introduced expressions like terminography (Sager), terminological lexicography
(Felber) to cover specific aspects of what seemed to be a new profession,
terminology is now an established component of modern university curricula
relating to language study.
In response to the need for standardisation, a number of term banks arose
over the years, such as Eurodicautom compiled for the Commission of the
European Community. Some linguists of the eighties were disturbed by
Britain’s initial reluctance to contribute to this work, and there were even
suggestions that, without Britain’s involvement, terms or usages might become
established which would be unacceptable or even incomprehensible in Britain
itself. But linguists, or rather terminologists, tend to underestimate market
forces. Electronics enthusiasts had no trouble discarding the antiquated terminology from the days of valve circuitry, resistance, condenser, coil in favour of
resistor, capacitor, inductor, nor with the transition from the long-established
unit of frequency cps (cycles per second) to the recommended SI unit hertz.
Similarly, chemists have swiftly adapted to the more consistent, new designations of chemical compounds, dinitrogen monoxide, etc., quickly discarding the
long-established forms like nitric oxide, nitrous oxide, and computer enthusiasts
in Britain differentiate between TV programme/computer program, brake disc/
hard disk almost subconsciously.
Approach Survey 233
11. Translation Approaches
Twenty-five years ago, courses on technical translation were given by eminent
linguists and part-time lexicographers owning vast libraries of technical
dictionaries and large filing cabinets of card indexes. These assessors did indeed
regard themselves in the words of Kiraly as “guardians of translatory truth”.
Confidence in the old masters ebbed when universities began introducing
subsidiary courses (Ge. Ergänzungsfach) on Economics, Law and Engineering,
which helped students to understand what they were translating and encouraged them to consult literature rather than antiquated alphabetic dictionaries.
Translators with access to libraries at universities where these subjects were also
taught as main subjects had a substantial advantage over those taught at smaller
institutes. But free access to modern Internet facilities has now evened out this
gap, and a new on-line approach to translation is emerging.
The author has avoided any comment on these approaches so far, as they
have not yet crystallised and are bound to change with each advance in software. But a tentative recommendation can be given to future translators. Now
that first-hand access to specialised literature is finally available it should be
properly analysed, and not just skipped through on the monitor. The book
provides the necessary background knowledge to begin a career in technical
translation, but a systematic approach to data analysis and storage is necessary
if individual translators wish to improve upon this basis.
12. Future Technology
If a book of this type had appeared in 1970 it might have contained wild
predictions about future technology in the year 2000, envisaging permanent
space stations on the moon and trips by astronauts to Mars. But none of this
has come about.
The industrial basis of engineering has expanded, but it has not changed
beyond recognition. It is professions themselves that have changed dramatically.
A motorist having occasional problems with his starter during the fifties would
consult a garage mechanic who would locate the fault (possibly a loose connection) and eliminate it. Nowadays most mechanics order a new starter regardless
of the fault, and would probably be unable to fix it anyway. Neither the technology of starter motors nor their terminology has changed much over the years,
but increased specialisation, indeed monopolistic over-specialisation has not
234 Appendix 1
necessarily led to a reduction in the frequency of translation assignments for
such areas. Faults in engineering components still have to be described and
analysed, even when the component itself is eventually discarded. In fact,
demands on translation quality are more important than ever, now that
customers have access to translation memory and alternative sources of costfree machine translation.
13. Technical Language
The book began with the commitment to provide interested learners with a
working knowledge of technical language. Some readers may have been sceptical
that there is such a thing as “technical language”, expecting the book to present
simply a neat collection of material on various unrelated engineering disciplines. But all engineering branches are rooted in natural science and, just as
linguists share a basic understanding of areas as diverse as phonology, morphology, syntactics and semantics, all engineers share a common basic language, which
develops in different ways according to the industrial environment and the
technological expertise available in the country concerned. The engineering
chapters demonstrate that certain expressions recur throughout technology and
many of these are polysemous. Moreover, technical language sometimes involves
different prepositional or verbal constructions to those anticipated from general
language, and even slightly different grammatical rules.
School-leavers embarking on foreign-language courses hope that one day
their competence will improve to such an extent that they are indistinguishable
from native-speakers. But improvements in didactic methods of language
instruction have recently brought this seemingly unattainable goal closer than
ever before. Likewise, this book removes the drudgery and the guesswork which
has dominated technical translation for so long. It brings a working command
of technical language within the grasp of any proficient linguist, thus providing
a solid basis for the acquisition of professional translation skills.
14. Reference
The author belongs to the generation of translators that followed the ancient
guardians of translatory truth, and has acquired a substantial library, not of
technical dictionaries but of first-hand scientific and engineering literature, in
Approach Survey 235
both British and American English and in German. The reader might expect the
book to close with a long ragged list of these references. But there is no real need
for this, now that on-line facilities provide instant access to similar material and
can suggest better, up-to-the-minute reference sources.
The book encourages translators to study semantics and linguists to study
technical language. The semantic approaches of Lyons, Nida, Felber and Sager
provided valuable inspiration for the Technical Thesaurus, and other linguists
are quoted whose ideas are reflected in the book too, some of which go back a
long way. Just as the music of Gershwin, Lennon/McCartney and Carlos
Santana has withstood the test of time, so the ideas of certain early contributors
to the fields of linguistics, semantics and terminology are still valid today. This
Appendix admittedly picks the raisins out of the cake but may encourage some
members of the modern teaching elite to look at these areas for inspiration once
again.
Finally, attention is drawn to particular statements made by two influential
founding fathers of Linguistics:
i. The meaning of a word is its use. (Wittgenstein)
ii. You shall know the meaning of a word by the company it keeps. (Firth)
Though quoted out of context, Wittgenstein’s statement could justify the
collocational approach to terminology organisation illustrated by the book, and
Firth’s statement the thesaurus approach.
Appendix 2
American-English Survey
The author specialises in British English translation, which is reflected
in the book. Fortunately, there are few areas of technology where serious
discrepancies exist between British and American terminology. But,
where they do occur, they need very close attention. Every e¬ort was
therefore made to include American alternatives at each stage of the
project. Key sections, especially of Chapter 8 — Automotive Engineering and
of the disk Appendix were carefully checked against the existing literature, and tables were modified with the advice of available American
native speakers. Despite this, at almost the final stage, the book received a surprising but well-meaning attack on the very sections and the
very topic for which so much trouble had been taken.
Apart from occasional terminological discrepancies themselves, one
real problem was that all terminology, including American terminology,
was discussed in British English. For American speakers, especially nonnative speakers, this could be misleading. The glossaries enable translators from German to distinguish British terminology that has no place
in American, and vice versa, but though examples of where British English accepts American were specific, the converse was not true. Simple
last-minute alteration of the disk would have provided a mish-mash
unacceptable to either British or American translation enthusiasts, and
involved the loss or obscuring of valuable examples quoted elsewhere in
the text sections. Instead, the “corrections” stipulated by the final critic
are presented in the form of neat tables below.
1. Transatlantic Glossaries
The first table concerns terminology from the Transatlantic Lexicon (disk
appendix, Figure A1) that, by virtue of the British-orientated dictionary
structure is occasionally misleading for translators into American. The
238 Appendix 2
information is arranged in order of German, and the first three columns are
exactly as on the disk. It is the final column Am(2) that contains the vital
supplementary information for non-native American speakers. Terms are either
qualified, e.g. precinct (u: police area), or related to terminology of the third
column via two descriptors:
< tramp, vagabond — implying some Americans use these terms too
> renter, > playground — some Americans use these instead
Supplement to Figure A1.
German
British
Am (1)
Am (2)
Bezirk
Bezirk
district
district
precinct
precinct
Bezirk
district
precinct
Brieftasche
Eimer
Geschäftsinhaber
Herbst
Hose
Krug
Landstreicher
Notizblock
Rechtsanwalt
Schnürsenkel
Schulhof
Strumpfhose
Untermieter
Wasserhahn
Wohnwagen
wallet
bucket
owner (of a business)
autumn
trousers
jug
tramp
note pad
lawyer
shoelace
playground
tights
lodger
tap
caravan
billfold
pail
proprietor
fall
pants; dress slacks
pitcher
hobo
scratch pad
attorney
shoestring
schoolyard
pantie hose
roomer
faucet
trailer
precinct (u: voting)
precinct (u: police
area)
district (u: school
area)
< wallet
< bucket
< owner
< autumn
< trousers
< jug
< tramp, vagrant
< note pad
< lawyer
< shoelace
> playground
< tights
> renter
< tap
< mobile home
American-English Survey 239
A supplement was also requested for the Transatlantic Thesaurus of Figure A2.
Supplement to Figure A2.
Term
Implication, Br.Eng.
bill
chips
ex: hotel bill;
ex: 10-dollar bill;
u: meal; ex: fish & chips; u: popcorn, candy,
etc.;
a: loose change
t: handbag
t: pedestrian walkway
t: underground railway
u: carpeting, panelling u: office stationary
u: load being towed
t: mobile home
u: banknotes; a: pocket u: cash; a: bag;
u: dishes, plates
u: people
purse
subway
tack
trailer
wallet
wash up
Implication, Am(1)
Implication, Am(2)
< ex: hotel bill;
> d: thin sliced crispy
potatoes
< d: change purse
> t: underground
railroad
> u: office products
< u: load being towed
> u: cash
< u: people, dishes
2. Automotive Terms
The same descriptor devices as above are employed to indicate supplementary
information to Figure 8A (Chapter 8). Thus >inner tube, >choke, >antifreeze
mean that some American customers, terminologists, translator educators, etc.
dispute the terms quoted in column 3, i.e. air tube, air strangler, defreezer, or
merely prefer those of column 4. Likewise <accelerator, <gas, <rotary indicate
alternatives.
Other microglossaries of the same chapter do not contain different American versions. But in two cases, their inclusion was subsequently deemed
necessary:
Figure 8D: Brake Assembly, Hydraulic System
Figure 8E: Steering, Suspension, Body, Windscreen
240 Appendix 2
Supplement to Figure 8A.
German
British
Am (1)
Am (2)
Autobahn f
motorway
freeway
Benzin n
Blinker
Bremslicht n
Dachgepäckträger m
Fahrpedal n
Frostschutz m
Kreisverkehr m
Limousine f
Motorrad n
petrol
indicator
brake light
roof rack
accelerator pedal
antifreeze
roundabout
saloon car
motorbike, motorcycle
gasoline
turn signal
stop light
car-top carrier
gas pedal
defreezer
traffic circle
sedan car
motorbike
branch road
air tube
bull’s eye
back-up gear
air strangler, choke
channelizing island
ac generator
< interstate, interstate
highway
< gas
< blinker
> brake light
< roof rack
< accelerator
> antifreeze
< roundabout, rotary
> sedan
> motorcycle, ex:
BMW, Harley Davidson
> side road
> inner tube
> reflector
> reverse gear
> choke
> traffic island
< alternator
direction post
> sign post, signage
Nebenstraße f
side road
Reifenschlauch m
inner tube
Rückstrahler m
reflector
Rückwärtsgang m
reverse gear
Vergaserluftklappe f choke, choke disc
Verkehrsinsel f
traffic island
Wechselstromlichtmasc alternator
hine
Wegweiser m
signpost
Supplement to Figure 8D and E.
German
Figure
British
Am(2)
Bremsleitungen pl
Bremsseil
Bremsträgerplatte
Chromteile
Handbremshebel
Karosserie
Lackierung
Parkbremse
Radstand
Türverkleidung
Türverkleidung
Figure 8D
Figure 8D
Figure 8D
Figure 8E
Figure 8D
Figure 8E
Figure 8E
Figure 8D
Figure 8E
Figure 8E
Figure 8E
fluid lines
handbrake cable
backplate
chromework
lever
bodywork
paintwork
handbrake assembly
wheel spacing
door cladding
door cladding
brake lines
brake cable
back plate
chrome
handbrake lever
body
paint
handbrake
wheelbase
door cladding
door lining (co: soft
fabric)
American-English Survey 241
3. TPD Entries
The knowledgeable critic responsible for the supplements above also kindly
analysed the TPD and Thesaurus for discrepancies. The result appears below:
German
Field
British
außer Betrieb
Automatik
gen
auto
non-operational
automatic gears
Bahnschranke
Bremsspur
rail
auto
Elastizitätsmodul
Faßhahn
Gabelschlüßel
Gummiband
Hoch
Kupplungsbelag
Leitungsnetz
Netzanschluß
phys
hous
tool
gen
metr
auto
elec
elec
Normalbenzin
offener Güterwaggon
Ottomotor
Prüfstand
Radstand
Radträger
rechter Winkel
Sechskantstiftschlüßel
Spülbecken
Spülbecken
Stromnetz
Superbenzin
Torsionsmodul
Versorgungsnetz
Winkel
Zündkerzenschlüssel
auto
rail
auto
mech
auto
auto
geom
tool
u: kitchen
a: toilet
elec
auto
phys
pow
geom
ign
Am(2)
out of service, down
automatic transmission
level-crossing barrier grade crossing gate
tyre tracks
brake marks, skid
marks
elasticity modulus
modulus of elasticity
spigot
spigot, tap
open-jaw spanner
open-end wrench
elastic band
rubber band
anticyclone
high pressure area
clutch lining
clutch facing
distribution network distribution grid
mains socket
electrical socket, electrical outlet
3-star petrol
regular gas
goods truck
open freight car
petrol engine
gasoline engine
test-bed, test block
test rig, test stand
wheel spacing
wheelbase
wheelbase
steering knuckle
rightangle
right angle
Allen key
Allen wrench
sink
kitchen sink
lavatory pan
sink, lavatory
power network
power grid
4-star petrol
premium gas
rigidity modulus
modulus of rigidity
supply network
supply grid
setsquare
square
plug spanner
spark-plug wrench
242 Appendix 2
It can be frustrating for translator trainers when students repeatedly come up
with the same inappropriate terminology substitutions, obtained from a
valuable source not specifically designed for their purpose. The irritation sensed
by the critic concerned, on observing a number of L2 substitutions presented in
isolation that were inappropriate to his language variant, is therefore understandable. Familiarity with the table extensions above, however, should enable
translators into American English to avoid such pitfalls. The additional substitutions are readily accessible (red eye) anywhere on the disk in the form of three
compact microglossaries: Automotive Engineering (Figures 8A–E), General
Engineering (TPD/TT), General Language (Figures A1–2).
A few other discrepancies exist, for instance aluminium (Br.), aluminum
(Am.) or the many derivatives of sulphur (Br.) in the terminology of chemical
compounds, e.g. sulphuric, sulphurous, sulphate, sulphite, sulphide, that require
the mental substitutions sulfur (Am.) — sulfuric, sulfurous, etc. But most of
these are mentioned in the chapters or appear in the microthesauri.
Appendix 3
Overall Survey
The previous unit re-examines the book from a specific perspective, that
of a German-speaking technical translator into American English who
might be misled by the British terminology and definitions. This unit
surveys it from another perspective, that of future analysts. It points out a
variety of possible misconceptions, justifies approaches taken in the
light of the way the book was written, and discusses the reader’s realistic expectations of the work itself.
1. Disk Format
Technical translation is an enormous field and different readers encountering
this book will inevitably have different preferences and expectations. Some will
expect to insert the disk, type in a term and immediately discover scores of
occurences in completely random contexts or simple database structures, an
approach involving single-click access without user intelligence. The disk provides
at best double-click access with minimal user intelligence:
Load disk
Click 1 eye button (blue, green, brown, purple)
Click 2 page (GE-B, TPD-F, 3.4.1, Figure 8B, etc.)
Thus Volume 3 (GE, EG) displays immediate translations of technical terminology. Another click at the appropriate eye button enables immediate access to
information concerning this terminology. Any fumbling (clicking on the wrong
eye button or wrong section) costs time, though this and other less obvious
potential difficulties are easily avoidable if the disk instructions are studied and
properly implemented (contents list, multiple windows, etc.).
The disk is formatted in HTML (HyperText Markup Language), a facility
used recently to format the Web itself. It could be argued that with other
244 Appendix 3
electronic information management environments with a global search engine,
terminology management, database output facilities, etc., such as XML or XSL,
the limitations of the HTML disk format mentioned above need not occur. But
it should be borne in mind that the project began, not as a database, but as
conventional book that outgrew any conventional size. The decision to employ
HTML was taken at a time when no assistance was offered by either the
publisher or the author’s academic institute, and when the author was grateful
to find any software enthusiast prepared to spend so many months patiently
reformatting a vast collection of Word files into electronic form. If the decision
to use HTML was wrong, so be it. Without it the book would not have appeared
at all.
2. High-Tech, Low-Tech
Like technology, the ideas of linguists, translators and translator educators are
perpetually changing. This is reflected in the range of university curricula
offered. Some institutes teach language and convey mainly general translation
skills, but provide technical translation as a valuable option. Others, at the
opposite end of the scale, teach specialised translation disciplines — Engineering, Medicine, Law, Business — virtually from the first semester onwards. Some
provide joint honours curricula, combining language teaching with a specialised
discipline itself. Most institutes now provide facilities for database management,
translation memory, Web searching, etc. and try to make the transition from
low-tech to high-tech translation, for graduates entering full-time employment,
as smooth as possible.
But without low-tech there could be no high-tech. The principles underlying
the loudspeaker system of a football stadium or the minute circuitry of a
hearing aid, the starter of a heavy goods vehicle or the motor of an electric
toothbrush, the products of a nuclear reaction and the substances employed in
medical diagnostics contain many basic parallel similarities. Low-tech terminology tends to remain fairly stable from one decade to the next but, because it
often precedes the existence of the Web, it is still notoriously difficult to specify
accurately.
The book provides low-tech terminology and a low-tech approach to
scientific and engineering translation. But there is no shame in this. It enables
the linguist to become an intelligent, respected, equal partner of the technologist rather than a dogsbody who perpetually confuses power with performance,
Overall Survey 245
current with voltage, resistivity with resistance, and makes scores of similar
elementary blunders for which the translation customer can see neither rhyme
nor reason. In short, the book fulfils the objectives it began with: the description
and specification of simple technical language, that elusive dialect of communication understood at least passively by all scientists, engineers, mathematicians
and technologists regardless of their specialist discipline or field of interest.
3. Popular Misconceptions
The chapter on Automotive Engineering contains plenty of terminology, a fair
number of useful coloured illustrations, and raises some interesting semantic
points: ignition coils are not coils, water pumps do not pump water, high-tension
leads have nothing to do with tension. It paves the way for the passive stimulation of similar intellectual processes in less familiar fields: a saw-tooth generator
is not a generator, a multivibrator does not vibrate, the base of a transistor has
nothing whatever to do with the bottom. Terminology discussions invite the
reader to step back for a moment to contemplate the terms concerned, thus
improving familiarity with them and enhancing subsequent correct usage in
practical translation situations. One critic felt that the book seems to support a
prescriptive approach to translation, trying to impose terms like ignition
transformer, coolant pump, HV-lead on industries where they are simply not used.
A closer look at any chapter reveals that nothing could be further from the truth.
A reader also complained about the alleged “brevity of the microthesauri”.
Another wanted all the microglossaries to appear in one place. The disk chapters
concentrate on the difficulties of translation, not on the identification, collection
and registration of all terminology relating to the field concerned. The prime
purpose of the microglossaries and microthesauri is to provide sufficient entries
to indicate the essential terminological and conceptual relationships relevant to
the chapter. The disk is neither a database nor a conventional e-book, neither a
lexicon nor a text book, neither a simple translation tool nor purely an instructive
aid. It is all of these things, and yet none of them. It is what it is. A similar
labelling difficulty applies to the conception microglossary.
246 Appendix 3
4. Coverage, Detail
Many translator educators have two main areas of specialisation, Automobile
and Computer Engineering. The book does not provide a great deal of detailed
information on these two fields as this is available abundantly and covered
better (with more explicit diagrams, etc.) by other electronic media. Instead it
uses these familiar fields to extract linguistic models for general discussions of
technical translation complexities, that are applied elsewhere in the book.
Emphasis on detail is more evident, nonetheless, in fields that tend to be
overlooked in a classical translator education programme (the other 14 chapters) and a balance is struck among the fields considered. Thus the description
of areas like Semiconductors, Nucleonics, Electronics, Machine Technology, Heavy
Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering tends to be more explicit than the
two relatively straightforward main areas which most translator educators seem
to want to examine in isolation first.
These neglected fields in conventional schemes for translator training have
important features of their own. Certain key concepts are shared, for instance
by Chemical, Nuclear and Materials Engineering, Mechanical, Aeronautical and
Construction Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and it is
interesting for the reader to see how terminologies of German can widely
diverge from those of English in this respect: Flüssigkeit (liquid, fluid), Auftrieb
(lift, buoyancy, upward thrust), Kondensator (condenser, capacitor). Having
overcome the conceptual hurdles, the reader will find that translation itself is
not necessarily more difficult in these fields. Indeed, the insights and perspectives obtained by students who translate material from a broad range of engineering disciplines open up new job markets to them and stand them in good
stead when later the only way to supplement this expertise is by conventional
electronic search methods.
Another feature of the disk is that it encourages translators to consider
different lexicological approaches that might be applicable to their own data
management schemes. Figure 10A illustrates the advantage of reverse-sorting
arrangements in connection with the names of chemical substances: calcium
carbide, zinc iodide, hydrogen sulphide. Figure 9B contains a glossary devoted
entirely to verbs: bore, braze, cast, forge, grind, etc. The mathematical glossaries
of Figures 16A–G all employ simple hierarchic organisation with great success.
And most chapters contain microthesauri inter-relating the basic terms of the
fields concerned and highlighting useful linguistic aspects: polysemy, homonymy, contrast, usage, association. There is no time to consider more creative
Overall Survey 247
approaches to terminology management when students are forced to rely
completely on conventional electronic search methods throughout their
education. But, without them, life as a translator can be very dull.
5. Possible Omissions
The author’s approach to technical translator training is to give students as
broad a base as possible, so that when as professional translators they are
subsequently obliged to specialise they have a solid background enabling them
to switch fields at any time, just as a qualified mechanical engineer might later
specialise in aircraft design, or a chemical engineer might seek employment at
an electronics company. Many academic institutions currently take the opposite
approach and oblige their students to stick rigidly to just one or two disciplines.
By using the multifunctional disk for a single translation purpose, they will
inevitably discover omissions, terminological and otherwise, sooner or later.
The book should therefore be viewed in terms of the quality of the information
provided and not the quantity.
More diagrams, more glossaries, more definitions, indeed more of everything would be nice. But the disk already constitutes a vast manuscript, and
more of everything does not necessarily imply that the additional material could
be properly or usefully absorbed by the reader. The disk contains information
that should be persistently at the fingertips of every proficient technical translator, and a little bit extra into the bargain. It is the work of one person and is
absorbable as such — even by student translators, in appropriate doses, with
helpful guidance from their peers (Kiraly 2000).
6. Materials, Presentation
In the words of one critic, the disk is “a paper-orientated presentation of materials stored on an electronic medium”. Though possibly intended as a slighting
remark, this statement is nevertheless not far from the truth. The book provides
insights and materials from the author’s own experience in freelance translation, but is adapted more to his current activity of translator training than to the
total requirements of a highly specialised translator working daily in any one of
these fields. Hence the materials presented are not so much what is usually
taught at universities, as what should be taught, in small packages at least, so
248 Appendix 3
that the next generation of translators will not have to flounder for hours trying
to produce meaningful target renderings of basic terminology, from information scattered all over the Web, and need no longer automatically inherit the
mistakes of their predecessors. But to get the best out of the disk, it needs to be
read occasionally in small stages in consecutive order, just like the handbook.
Some readers might find the electronic presentation itself substandard
compared to that of other e-books designed with database assistance from the
outset. If so, they are welcome to their opinion. The material itself is not, and
anyway sooner or later all translators are glad to stop clicking for a while to read
something properly and systematically. Obviously the disk cannot provide
immediate answers to everything the translator wishes to know. Nor does it
necessarily provide rapid answers. It supplies translators with the means to
improve their background knowledge, so that many questions no longer need
to be asked.
Index
basic physical quantity 9, 12
collocation list 55, 212
connotation/denotation 119–121, 207
convention 223
derived quantity 9, 12
diachronic changes 69
dictionary symbols xxxiv–xxxviii, 59, 61,
83–6, 123
e-book dictionaries xxvi, 1–3, 8
e-book layout xvi–xvii, xxii–xxvi
e-book objectives xviii, xxvii
e-book outline xxii
e-book sections xxiii–xxvi
electrical quantity 11, 17–24, 120
electricity 10, 17–24, 135, 141–3
engineering chapter xxiii, 1–2, 7, 56, 83
entry block 83, 87–93
equivalence 27–30, 184
error analysis 175–180, 230
Felber, H. 227, 235
field code xxvi, 2, 31, 83, 165
force 23, 32, 76, 187–9
hierarchic arrangement 24, 31, 33–35,
68, 138, 225–9
hyponymy 87, 91–4, 121, 126, 229
incompatibility 182
indentation 90–94, 182
Kiraly, D. 215–7, 230
Kussmaul, P. 175–6, 230
lexical gap 40, 101, 182, 227
lexicography units xxv, 16
lexicography xxv, 1–8, 40, 47–48, 93–94,
113, 141
lexicology xxvi, 1–8, 27, 55–62, 83–88,
155–163, 205–214
load 18, 29–30, 39, 79, 125, 188
machine 12, 38, 56, 140, 146–8
material property 21, 38–40, 106
mathematics 163, 191–200, 201–3
mechanical quantity 11, 23
mechanics 9–11, 19, 59, 79, 148–153
microthesaurus 41, 98
misnomers 67
multiple meaning 10, 29, 101
navigation xxix–xxxii
noun classes 3, 56–62
noun countability (CN/NCN) 14–16, 21,
56–59
number systems 197–8
orthography 9, 13, 139, 224
pair nouns 60
parameter definition 11–12
parameter 4, 11–12, 21, 46
physics 9–12, 29, 37, 47, 58
plural nouns 59
polyonymy 64, 173
polyseme group 30
polysemous adjectives 161
polysemy 1, 70, 86, 125, 161, 173, 187
prepositions 159, 210
Sager, J. C. 225, 235
social constructivist approach 215–217
250 Index
specialised adjectives 160
specialised nouns 156
specialised predicates 157
specialised verbs 157–9, 202
stress 10–12, 19, 22, 79, 188
subject field 83–86, 153, 165
symbols 13, 203
TCD 3, 155–164, 212
terminology processing 165–6, 225
text typology 224
thesaurus arrangement 33–35, 207–8
TPD 1, 83–95, 181–2
translator education 215–8, 233
transmissionist approach 217
TT 2, 123–133, 181–2
units 13
user expectations xviii, 243–8