|
Transparency, Linguistic Correctness and Preference for the Native Language Term Formation Requirements
DT is indispensable when semantic components should be made explicit, i.e. content-oriented translation is applied. If translation focuses on a relevant term form in a target language, a form- oriented translation is used.
Content-oriented translation can be interpreted as the process aimed at providing term content accuracy (Basalina, 2009, pp. 3-4). It implies that term form strives to be transparent within LSP. For example, the Corporate Governance term supermajority (qualified majority) has a descriptive equivalent in Russian: квалифицированное большинство голосов (kvalificirovannoe bol'shinstvo golosov; L.t.: qualified majority of votes) (IFC). The semantic element “голоса” (golosa: votes) is explicit: “seventy five percent or higher majority of votes required in approving certain changes or decisions in an organization” (Business Dictionary). The term component “majority” has a wider meaning than the Russian word “большинство” (bol’shinstvo) and can refer to: “a number of voters or votes, jurors, or others in agreement, constituting more than half of the total number” (Dictionary.com).
Some terms are translated descriptively because Calque or Direct Loan cannot produce equally transparent terms in the target language. The term quarterly report has a stable and
widely used form in the special field of Corporate Governance. The term has been used since 1940, when it was introduced into the New York Stock Exchange (Investor Glossary). In Russian the term has the following descriptive form: ежеквартальный отчёт эмитента эмиссионных ценных бумаг (ezhekvartal'nyj otchjot jemitenta jemissionnyh cennyh bumag; L.t.: a quarterly report by an emissive security issuer) (IFC, 2004). It makes the term more transparent in the target language and less generalized: “a quarterly report is an interim report that management issues to shareholders each quarter during the fiscal year” (Investor Glossary).
The transparency requirement is often applied to figuratively motivated term forms (see
“Transparency”). Figuratively motivated forms represent a challenge for translation, because they are based on certain etymology, historical forms and conceptualizing patterns.
For instance, the word benchmark, originally referred to “a surveyor´s point of reference”, in 1884, acquired a figurative meaning (Online Etymology Dictionary). Within the field of Management it stands for “a standardized problem or test that serves as a basis for evaluation or comparison (as of computer system performance)” (Merriam-Webster). The concept was introduced by Frederick Taylor: “he identified excellent performers by putting a chalk mark on their benches. This indicated to staff whose output or working practices they should emulate” (Bates & McGrath, 2013). It is obvious that for the Russian Management system, the transliteration of the historically-motivated word benchmarking was unacceptable at first. Accordingly, Corporate Governance used descriptive terms, such as:
сопоставление с банком эталонных моделей (Ruscorpora) (sopostavlenie s bankom etalonnyh modelej; L.t.: comparison with a bank of etalon models);
анализ на основе эталонных показателей (IFC) (analiz na osnove etalonnyh pokazatelej; L.t.: an analysis on the basis of etalon indices);
сопоставление с эталонными значениями (UN-1) (sopostavlenie s etalonnymi znachenijami; L.t.: comparison/confrontation with etalon indices).
Semantically-dense figurative forms are also often translated by means of DT. For example, the English term with a figurative form greenfield is used to denote a new company or a new venture, and is often used in the attributive position (as a modifier), e.g. green field investment.
In Russian, the term совершенно новая компания (IFC) (sovershenno novaja kompanija) literally means “a completely new company”. The form of the Russian term in comparison with the English term is explicit. At the same time figurativeness and conciseness are nullified. It is the focus on the relationship between content and form relation which determines the use of DT.
DT focuses not only on the content of a term, but also on its form. In this case DT pursues term formation requirements which respect the target language, i.e. the linguistic correctness requirement and preference for the native language.
DT also focuses on fulfilling the linguistic correctness requirement. The term control transaction was translated into Russian with the use of a preposition: сделка по приобретению контроля (sdelka po priobreteniju kontrolja; L.t.: a transaction aimed at control acquisition) (IFC, 2004). An attributive (a modifier) which could be obtained with Calque (*контрольная сделка (kontrol’naja sdelka)) would give a characteristic to the second term component instead of making it more precise. Such a construction in Russian does not convey the semantic components implied by the English term: “acquiring at least a 50% stake in a company, either individually or in partnership with another investor” (Private Equity Database). For this reason, the semantic component “acquiring” (приобретение (priobretenie)) was made explicit with the help of a preposition.
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
