Technical translation

Technical translation is one of the most difficult types of translation, along with legal and medical. Technical translation is in demand in the scientific and technological field, where it provides for information transmission between people having technical professions and speaking different languages. A distinctive feature of this translation is the brevity, impersonal construction of sentences, wide use of impersonal verbs.

 

It is not enough just to know English to perform the correct technical translation; specific scientific and technical knowledge is also required. An unprofessionally prepared translation of technical documentation may result, for example, in a failure of the equipment operation, breakdown or damage. Therefore a technical translator must be an erudite in technical subjects and be able to work with information sources in order to fill the missing knowledge in the course of work on the translation.

 

The concept of “technical translation” is typically used in respect of the following texts:

  • - documentation related to designs and construction projects, as well as drawings;
  • - patents;
  • - engineering documentation;
  • - quality certificates;
  • - operational and service manuals for equipment and appliances;
  • - special installation instructions for technical equipment;
  • - other instructions;
  • - abstracts;
  • - scientific and technical documentation, which includes a variety of articles, research papers and reports.

Technical translators typically face technical English, but there are also translations in other language pairs. Since there is a large number of all kinds of terms and acronyms in the scientific and technical literature, only a professional can cope with them. If the literary text involves interpretation and free translation, in this case the “rough conveyance of the meaning” is totally unacceptable.

 

The emphasis should be placed on the fact that it is very difficult to correctly translate a technical text on one’s own, even using machine translation tools and dictionaries. One shouldn’t trust technical translation made by a performer not having specific technical knowledge.