Dr. Carlos F. Márquez Linares Dr. Enrique F. Quero Gervilla Doctoral Programme in Languages, Texts and Contexts Faculty of Translation and Interpreting university of granada

poison pills: меры по защите от поглощений (Ruscorpora) (mery po zashhite ot pogloshhenij): “Карл Айкан также готов подать иск, запрещающий совету директоров BEA применять меры по защите от поглощений (poison pills)” (Kotov, 2007. Ruscopora) (L.t.: to use the measures for the defense from takeovers);

anti-takeover defense: меры защиты от поглощений (IFC) (mery zashhity ot pogloshhenij; L.t.: defense measures against takeover(s)).

The terms safe harbor, poison pills and anti-takeover defense refer to measures or tactics for preventing the takeover of a company. However, the figuratively motivated terms safe harbor and poison pills refer to different kinds of business strategies, i.e. they are not synonyms. The term safe harbor refers to “anti-hostile takeover defense in which the target firm acquires a very heavily regulated firm thus making itself a less attractive candidate for acquisition” (Business Dictionary). The term poison pills indicates “defensive tactics that make hostile takeover by a corporate-raider prohibitively expensive or unattractive” (see above). The term anti-takeover defense refers to the general action. Accordingly, the latter term can be translated by means of Calque and DT: меры защиты от поглощений (IFC) (mery zashhity ot pogloshhenij; L.t.: defense measures against takeover(s)). In contrast, the figurative terms safe harbor and poison pills favor innovative forms retrieved by Calque:

• 
  безопасная гавань (IFC) (bezopasnaja gavan'; L.t.: safe harbor) and
  
• 
  ядовитая пилюля (Academic) (jadovitaja piljulja; L.t.: poison pill).
  

The use of Calque can solve the problem of homonymy and synonymy and retain the figurative and recognizable forms of the terms.

3. Attributive Сombinations in Сomplex or Сompound Corporate Governance Terms

Many terms represent compound and complex words. The main difficulty of translating such units consists in the polysemy of their components, and the complexity of their grammatical structures.

There are many attributive combinations in the English language. The search for equivalents should be preceded by the analysis of their meaning and structure. This allows a translator to identify the grammatical status of a unit, its semantic nature and its category. For example, an attributive component can denote the following:

• 
  a process or a phenomenon: “net transaction – нетто-сделка, сделка с ценными бумагами, при которой продавец и покупатель не платят комиссионное вознаграждение” (Anisimova, 2009, p. 2) (netto-sdelka; netto-sdelka, sdelka s cennymi bumagami, pri kotoroj prodavec i pokupatel' ne platjat komissionnoe voznagrazhdenie; L.t.: net transaction; a transaction (an agreement) with securities, when a seller and a buyer do not pay a commission charge);
  
• 
  the characteristic feature of an action/phenomenon/object: “stop payment – остановка платежа: остановка оплаты чека лицом, которое его выписало, в письменном виде или по телефону (не распространяется на электронные платежи)” (ibidem) (ostanovka platezha: ostanovka oplaty cheka licom, kotoroe ego vypisalo, v pis'mennom vide ili po telefonu (a comment); L.t.: stoppage of a payment: the stoppage of the payment for a check by a person or entity, who/which issued it in a written from or by telephone (except for electronic payments);
  
• 
  a place: “floor transaction –поерация в зале биржи” (ibidem) (operacija v zale birzhi; L.t.: the operation in a stock exchange hall);
  
• 
  application: “subscription ratio –опдписной коэффициент: число акций, которые надо иметь, чтобы получить право на еще одну акцию того же эмитента” (ibidem) (podpisnoj kojefficient: chislo akcij, kotorye nado imet', chtoby poluchit' pravo na eshhe odnu akciju togo zhe jemitenta; L.t.: subscription coefficient: a
  

number of shares, which should be available in order to obtain the right for a share of the same issuer).

DT can be applied to terminological units in order to disclose the meaning of a term. It should be noted that the meaning is not always derived from the term components. Sometimes the meaning of the unit is different from the definition of its elements: “chip-rate – процентная ставка по кредиту первоклассному заемщику; обычно плюс 1% от базовой ставки банка” (Anisimova, 2009) (protzentnaya stavka po kreditu pervoklassnomu zajemschiku; obychno plus 1% ot bazovoj stavki banka; L.t.: the percentage rate under a loan to a first-class borrower, usually plus 1% from the basic rate of a bank).

Some compound or complex terms are close to semantic merge. The translation of these units will not depend on their components, because the whole meaning of the term cannot be equal to the sum of the meanings of its elements. In such cases, the DT of term units is often implemented, because such a translation often makes hidden sematic elements explicit: “tapping director – датчик обнаружения прослушивания телефонной линии” (Anisimova, 2009) (datchik obnaruzhenija proslushivanija telefonnoj linii; L.t.: detection sensor on a tapped telephone line).

4. Figurative Terms in the field of Corporate Governance

Terminology on the whole and in the special field of Management in particular, seems to be unlikely to favor creative term formation methods. Metaphor as a means of imaginative representation does not seem to be compatible with strictly-defined and principle-driven LSP vocabulary. However in practice, it turns out that semantic transfer as a term creation process can conform to the main requirements attributed to terms.

“Changing the meaning of the base form” (Cabré, 1999, p. 94) with the help of metaphor generates a huge number of terms because of several factors: it gives priority to development and innovation; it produces international terms; it creates concise term forms which are convenient to use; it tends to produce transparent term forms, i.e. semantic elements which can be inferred, and it helps to delineate conceptual patterns attributed to each subject field.

1. Conceptual and Conventional Metaphors in Management Terminology

Metaphors generate not only semantically dense, concise and modern terms but they also contribute to the conceptual patterns developed in a special field. According to Lakoff and Johnson, our conceptual system is “purely metaphorical in nature” (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980,

p. 3). Terminology is also a part of our lives, employing communicative, social and linguistic dimensions (Sager, 1990, p. 13). This is the reason why metaphor use is not necessarily confined to LGP units. The main cornerstones of the special field of Management are the notions of leadership, struggle, fight, movement, control etc.

Metaphors are indispensable instruments in shaping these concepts. The basic conceptual metaphors in the sphere of Management were mentioned by Morgan in Images of Organization (Morgan, 2006): ORGANIZATIONS AS MACHINES, ORGANIZATIONS AS ORGANISMS, ORGANIZATIONS AS BRAINS, ORGANIZATIONS AS CULTURES, ORGANIZATIONS AS POLITICAL SYSTEMS, ORGANIZATIONS AS PSYCHIC´S PRISONS, ORGANIZATIONS AS FLUX AND TRANSFORMATION and ORGANIZATIONS AS

INSTRUMENTS OF DOMINATION. The main spheres acting as sources for the special field of Management are Engineering, the Military, Sport, Medicine, Psychology and Politics. “A metaphor is a straightforward method used to simplify the complex description of an organization” (Cacciaguidi-Fahy and Cunningham, 2007, p. 136), with its help, different phenomena, such as Economics, financial strategies, company policies, etc. can be analyzed in depth. Besides this, a metaphor is capable of conveying large amounts of information, which is of a great use in LSP. According to Mesjasz (Mesjasz, 2002, pp. 10-11), metaphors of organization include machines, biological systems, brains, learning/knowledge systems, social networks, virtual organizations (based on the Internet) etc. Metaphors are based on our experiences, and that this is the reason why source domain tends to be more delineated than the target domain, which is in accordance with the special field of Management and LSP on the whole, as new emergent concepts are rarely clearly defined.

Some conceptual metaphors within the Management terminology, which can be regarded as subordinate to those mentioned by Morgan, include the most frequent source-target relations,

e.g. ECONOMIC STRATEGIES AS INSTRUMENTS. The financial term lever (see 3.1.2.3. “Transdisciplinary Borrowing”) also contributes to this conceptual metaphor, referring to the features of lifting something, facilitating a process with a source domain of a technical instrument.

FINANCIAL OPERATIONS/COMPANIES AS BUILDINGS is another frequent conceptual metaphor, e.g. in the case of the Management term hedge based on the LGP unit (see 3.1.2.2. “Terminologization”), the features mapped from the source domain a fence onto the process of defense against losses are as follows: protection, security etc. The process of semantic transfer can be illustrated by the following examples:

1. 
   “The Neighbourhood Office will inform you of its decision to grant permission to build a hedge, fence or wall within 15 working days …” (Building a fence, hedge or wall. Guidelines for Tenants, n.d.). 2) “Cash flow hedge - hedge of the exposure to variability in cash flows
   

…” (IAS 39, p. 4).
Companies, shareholders, and other subjects of Management activity often act like targets. The COMPANIES AS PREDATORS conceptual metaphor illustrates this case. The Management term takeover in LGP stands for an act of seizing or devouring something. The form of a lexical unit has been used in the corporate sense since 1958 (Online Etymology Dictionary), describing one company taking control of another. The features mapped include the hostile nature of some companies and vulnerability of others.

The COMPANIES AS ENEMIES metaphor also contributes to this conceptual pattern. The use of the lexical unit raider, belonging to the terminologization process (see 3.1.2.2. “Terminologization”), adheres to the given conceptual metaphor:

1) “Police said that the raider threatened the two guards using a "small handgun"” (Barett, 2007). 2) “We also examine takeover premia that arise in the presence of competition among raiders” (Yakov, Marcel & Rangarajan, n.d.)

The hostile relationships between companies including competition and military-like strategies, are the features constructing this conceptual metaphor.

The COMPANIES AS PLAYERS/ TRANSACTIONS AS GAMES conceptual metaphor is also based on the notion of the competition between companies; however, the feature of hostility is not highlighted. The term level playing field, i.e. “a situation in which none of the competing parties has an advantage at the outset of a competitive activity” (Collins) is a frequent term in the special field of Management, linked to the sphere of Sport and obviously contributing to the given conceptual pattern.

Various terms created by the method of semantic transfer, in particular with the help of metaphor, correspond to extended conceptual patterns in the special field of Management. More specific conceptual metaphors of different kinds can be observed, where central metaphors are accompanied by the subordinate terms enjoying barely distinguishable features. For example, the conceptual metaphor SHAREHOLDERS AS COMPETITORS or SHAREHOLDERS AS a TEAM includes the following term: drag-along right referring to “a right that enables a majority shareholder to force a minority shareholder to join in the sale of a company” (Investopedia). The metaphorical meaning of the term caters for the main idea of the conceptual metaphor.

The COMPANIES AS PERSONS conceptual metaphor entails the mapping of human-like features onto business entities. The Management term due diligence, meaning “research and analysis of a company or organization done in preparation for a business transaction (as a corporate merger or purchase of securities)” (Merriam-Webster) is based on the LGP expression due diligence, i.e. the source domain referring to “such diligence as a reasonable person under the same circumstances would use” (Dictionary.com).

SHARES/EQUITIES/ASSETS and MONEY AS SUBSTANCES are well-developed conceptual metaphors, including such metaphors as equity dilution, shares lock-up, etc. The term anti-dilution (see term transparency) contributes to the idea that financial objects, i.e. money, shares etc. have functions and features (particularly physical properties) similar to different kinds of substances.

The conceptual metaphor ORGANIZATION AS A BODY triggers the usage of a vast number of medical terms in the special field of Management, e.g. profit can be described as healthy, vitalizing; the term equity injection is used to denote main capital investment. The

process of “introducing fluid under pressure” (Collins) with medical purposes acts as a source domain for the process of investing one’s capital in order to get profit.

Metaphor is a useful tool in creating terms in the special field of Management because the field is steadily expanding and emergent concepts need to be designated. At the same time changing the meaning of a base form using metaphor seems to represent a serious challenge for Management terminology because metaphor always can be interpreted in different ways, some ad hoc concepts can be ascribed to a certain metaphor. Terms are codified units, which cannot be ambiguous in any circumstances. In most cases, metaphors functioning in LSP are conventional metaphors, the origin of which is hardly ever perceived. For example, the use of the following metaphor makes the link to the source domain obscure: advance: “I, the Payee, expressly agree that this payment may be considered an advance of my wages…” (NY University). A lexical unit advance in LGP is used to denote a “forward movement; progress in time or space” (Collins), in the special field of Management the term refers to the phenomena sharing common features with the LGP unit, namely something anticipating further actions: “the supplying of commodities or funds before receipt of an agreed consideration” (Collins). The link between the source and the target domain is not very explicit, which is the reason why the metaphor can be considered as conventional.

However, some metaphors retain a strong connection to the source domains e.g. golden parachute, poison pill, safe harbor and greenfield (IFC) some of them even preserve connotations. For example, the Corporate Management term safe harbor (see 3.1.2.3. “Transdisciplinary Borrowing”) uses safe harbor at the sea as a source and an anti-hostile takeover defense as a target. The term uses the following features: safety, protection, etc. Moreover, the positive connotation is preserved. The given example adheres to the conceptual metaphors frequent in the special field of Management: ORGANIZATIONS AS BATTELFIELDS and ORGANIZATIONS AS THE ELEMENTS (IN NATURE).

Transdisciplinary borrowing and Terminologization are based on semantic transfer, in particular the change of the base form with the help of metaphor. In modern Management Terminology, the use of metaphors is considered favorable because their forms are semantically dense.

2. Translating Figurative Terms from Corporate Governance

Most terms with dense content have figurative meaning. The figurativeness of terms should be approached with special care, when compared to LGP unit translation. Terminology gives priority to concise and innovative forms and tries to find an economical use of language units, “based on the same parameters, i.e. the use of a compact linguistic form to express a wide range of semantic and pragmatic information” (Timofeeva-Timofeev & Vargas-Sierra, 2015, p. 105). Figurative units perform an important role in all varieties of communication: “metaphors, idioms, formulaic phrases and other types of figurative examples are pervasive in discourse and provide great communicative effectiveness” (ibidem).

Accordingly, a translator should identify figurativeness in texts and lexicon. In other words, the meaning of the figurative form should be clear for native speakers, the links between semantic components and cognitive structure should be coherent. In addition to this, two requirements are essential for the figurativeness of linguistic units, according to the Conventional Figurative Language Theory (Dobrovol’skij & Piirainen (2005a) as cited in Larissa Timofeeva- Timofeev and Chelo Vargas-Sierra, 2015, p. 105) : “additional naming”, i.e. the concept can be explained or expressed differently, and “image component”, i.e. the connotative element with certain motivated links (ibidem).

The “image component” cannot be separated from the etymological, cultural and historical background of linguistic expressions. When a figurative term is to be translated, the Calque method can be used only if the conceptualizing patterns coincide in the target and the source languages. If a certain element of the term or motivational links are not clear in the target language, a new term form should be coined. For example, the term green wash can be explained in the following way: “a type of deception committed by a company, which poses as an environmentally responsible organization because this brings certain economic and social benefits for the company, and yet its productive activity may in fact inflict serious damage on the ecological balance” (Timofeeva-Timofeev and Vargas-Sierra, 2015, p. 115). The term in Russian was attested as having another form: зеленое замыливание (zeljonoje zamylivanije; L.t.: green soaping) (ibidem, p. 117). The first component was retained, as it is based on the metonymic and

general connotative meaning of the adjective, referring to ecology and the environment: “green”, i.e. environmentally friendly and ecological (ibidem, p. 116). The second part; however, in English, is connected to whitewash, “political term that refers to the manipulation of data” (ibidem). The meaning of the second component refers to underhand dealing. In the Russian language the second term component is “замыливание” (zamylivanije, soaping). The connotation of this element is quite clear for the native speaker and refers to the act of concealing, trying to hide something by dishonest means. The term follows the cognitive pattern of the Russian language, although it may imply certain context and style restrictions.

In certain situations figurative terms are not translated by means of figurative elements. The pursuit of concise forms in LSP can result in the use of non-motivated forms retrieved by Calque (without certain connotation conformity) or Direct Loan (transcription or transliteration). For example, the term greenmail stands for “the practice of buying enough of a company's stock to threaten a hostile takeover and reselling it to the company at a price above market value” (Merriam-Webster). The term is obviously a mixture of the words “blackmail” and “green”, standing for the color of money (Merriam-Webster). The Russian term was retrieved by means of DT and Calque: корпоративный шантаж (IFC) (korporativnyj shantazh; L.t.: corporate blackmail). In this case, the term retained figurative meaning partially making the term component “blackmail” explicit. Nevertheless, the term competes with the transcription form of the term, which often appears in specialized contexts: гринмейл (IFC; Academic): “гринмейл – самый распространенный прием, к которому прибегают миноритарные акционеры” (Novikova, 2006. Ruscorpora) (L.t.: greenmail – the most frequent approach which minority shareholders use). It is interesting to note, that dictionaries offer terms obtained by means of Calque: "зелёный шантаж" (Academic) (zeljonyj shantazh (a comment); L.t.: “green mail”) and "зелёная почта" (ibidem) (zeljonaja pochta; L.t.: “green mail/post”). The latter one is a clear mistake of the interpretation of the meaning of the source term and the function of its elements.

Accordingly, the translation of figurative terms can result in non-motivated term forms, easily recognizable and yet violating the term transparency requirement.

5. Translation of Business Term Abbreviations

Different types of abbreviations represent another challenge for term translation. Each language has its own patterns of abbreviations and clipping. In addition to this, the translation of terms should pursue the aim of decoding unusual and unclear forms and at the same time to preserve innovative and easily recognizable forms.

Hybrid abbreviations are formed "by means of clipping one element of a term system, while the other one remains unchanged” (Lotte, 1971 сited in Beisembayeva, Yeskindirova & Tulebayeva, 2016). These are very common in modern English, especially in the field of Management. However, in Russian such a form is not widespread and the clipped element requires explanation: e-contact: электронный контакт (UNTERM) (jelektronnyj kontakt; L.t.: electronic contact); e-government: электронное правительство (UN-1) (jelektronnoe pravitel’stvo; electronic governement); e-offer: электронное предложение (UNTERM) (jelektronnoe predlozhenie; electronic offer). In some situations a certain abbreviation (“e-“ for electronic) becomes so crystalized, that some terms are shaped into Pure Calque in Russian and function in a full form and a clipped one: electronic governance (e-governance): электронное управление (э-управление) (UN-1) (jelektronnoe upravlenie (je-upravlenie); electronic governance).

Terminological systems are updated constantly. Nevertheless, the innovative structure of a term is not always preserved in the target language. The DT of terms is used if a concept is new in the target language and the term form is not easily reproduced. It especially concerns complex terms with three or more term components. For example, the term e-staffing help desk has the following equivalent in the Russian language: группа по оказанию помощи в вопросах электронной кадровой системы (UNTERM) (gruppa po okazaniju pomoshhi v voprosah jelektronnoj kadrovoj sistemy; L.t.: the group for the rendering of aid concerning the issues of the electronic staffing system). The term has two modifiers in the attributive position. Such a form does not exist in Russian and the clipping is not possible with the word it is attached to in the Russian language.

Accordingly, the term should be decoded in the target language if the term form is not clear in the target language. In addition to this, “the complexity of an adequate translation of abbreviations is in the lack of an equivalent abbreviation in Russian” (Beisembayeva, Yeskindirova & Tulebayeva, 2016).

Initial abbreviations of terms, i.e. the first letters of term components, are very common in Russian. In the innovative field of Management initialisms tend to be borrowed in a full form from the source language. For example, the term GARP (Growth at Reasonable Price) investors favors the combination of Calque and the source term component: GARP-инвесторы: “GARP- инвесторы совмещают growth- и value- подходы и покупают акции растущих компаний по разумной цене <…>” (Buzdalin et al., 2010). The DT of the term offered in the IFC glossary concedes to the innovative term form, because of the unwieldy and irrelevant components: инвесторы, которые вкладываются в компании средней капитализации c высокими темпами роста (IFC) (investory, kotorye vkladyvajutsja v kompanii srednej kapitalizacii c vysokimi tempami rosta; L.t.: investors, who invest in the companies of a medium capitalization with high level of growth).

6. Lexicographic tools for business terminology translation. The translators’ work with LSP

The dictionaries and glossaries are two of the main lexicographic tools and the translator’s job must continue to be that of resolving “the tension existing between determinate dictionary entries and the much more indeterminate nature of a text, including the make-up of lexical chains in which terms participate as essential lexical components in the textual picture” (Rogers, 2007, p. 31).

The dictionaries often contain superfluous information and do not give examples of term use. The use of coherent comments, listings and definitions can facilitate term translation. A terminological resource should reflect “some sort of network representation, displaying common types of links such as coordination, collocation, and superordination, as well as more complex semantic relations with other words <…>” (Faber & Ureña Gómez-Moreno, 2012, p. 86).

According to Faber and L’Homme (2014), “when terms are activated in texts, they set in motion a wide variety of underlying conceptual relations and knowledge structures”. Terms were previously used as “linguistic labels” and a “semantic analysis of terminology” is currently of great importance (ibidem, p. 144).

According to Pimentel (2013), the assignment of terminological equivalents “could be based on: 1) corpora; 2) the analysis of the semantic content / conceptual characteristics of terms; 3) the analysis of the collocational context of terms; 4) encyclopedic knowledge; 5) a tertium comparationis or entity external to terms” (ibidem, p. 244).

Lexicographic work is simplified by the use of IT. The automation of a terminology resource can be “implemented according to two scenarios” (Dzhepa, 2015, p. 83):

• 
  “the search of equivalents and fixing them on a local level <…>” (ibidem), the extraction of terms is important for the coordination of LSP translation;
  
• 
  “harmonization of terminologies” (ibidem) is important for the univocity of terms (see 10. “Harmonization”). It is an indispensable part of “the technological process and is regulated by the ISO 860 standard” (ibidem, 85).
  

Comparable and parallel texts are important for sound terminology planning. In addition to this, the search for equivalents or the frequency of their use can be carried out with the help of corpora. The national corpus of the Russian Language, Ruscorpora, is “a reference system based on a collection of Russian texts in electronic form” and it represents the modern language “in all the variety of genres, styles, territorial and social variants of usage, etc.” (Ruscorpora). The corpus has been created by “specialists in corpus linguistics” (Ruscorpora). It is used for “academic research and language teaching” (ibidem). The corpus uses and processes a huge amount of material: “more than 600 million words” (ibidem). Ruscorpora helps to track down the usage of certain words, including terms; to consult the frequency, style and context of the units. In addition to this, it allows the indication of the variations of these units, their forms and compatibility with other words. Accordingly, Ruscorpora is a rich source for lexicographic work, including the translation of terms, provided translators have enough professional skills to deal with terminology translation.

The translation of terms should be based on a translator´s competence and ability to acquire essential “expert knowledge” (Montero Martínez & Faber, 2009). Terminology is “an instrument used in specialized communication”, but not the product of a “speech act” (ibidem). The translator should focus on resolving translation challenges, analyzing the source text and producing the target text. According to Montero Martínez and Faber (2009), the translators of specialized texts should identify and acquire “specialized concepts activated in discourse”; consult, evaluate and elaborate “information resources”; recognize the “interlinguistic correspondences based on concepts in the specialized knowledge field” and manage the acquired knowledge and information “in future translations”, including their “re-use” (ibidem).

Accordingly, translators should develop essential strategies when working with terms and their contexts. Special attention should be given to the meaning of a certain concept and term functions.

2.