INTRODUCTION TO TERMINOLOGY AND TRANSLATION COMPETENCE-Part 1

INTRODUCTION TO
TERMINOLOGY AND
TRANSLATION COMPETENCE
PART 1
By A. Muchanga, ENGLISH SECTION, UEM
IS TERMINOLOGY A MUST?
 According to Newmark (1996, 19), “In

almost all professional translator courses,
students are trained to translate technological
and business texts, to produce foreign
language texts, abstracts and summaries, to
handle terminology, to use word-processors”.
Some urgent questions
 What is the relationship between terminology and translation

competence?
 What is the role played by technology in developing
terminology research skills?
 What is terminology?
 What is the difference between term and concept?
 How should a translator/an interpreter conduct terminological
research?
CONT.
 Nord (2001, 31-32) suggests that the training of

functional (professional) translators should
include the development of aspects of general
text competence such as “LSP [language for
specific purposes] and terminology as particular
forms of communication in specific domains”.
CONT.
 Thus, in her “pig-tail method”, Nord (ibid, 34-

35) suggests that in the 6th and 7th semester of
training, students should be given practice and
theory of specialized translation, terminology,
use of both traditional and electronic
translation aids and tools, among other things.
CONT.
 Pym (2003, 487) describes the tasks of

modern translators as including
“documentation, terminology, rewriting,
and the gamut of activities associated
with the localization industry”.
CONT.
 Even though, Pym (2003, 489) argues that “the

specifically translational part of their [translators’]
practice is strictly neither linguistic nor solely
commercial”, he acknowledges that “There can be no
doubt that translators need to know a fair amount of
grammar, rhetoric, terminology, computer skills, Internet
savvy, world knowledge, teamwork cooperation,
strategies for getting paid correctly, and the rest”.
CONT.
 According to Olvera-Lobo et al. (2005, 137),

for a successful completion of his /her project,
the translator follows a process involving a
series of tasks that must be carried out from
the moment he/she receives a translation brief
until the delivery of the final product.
CONT.
 documentation, both in the source and the

target languages;
 terminology;
 translation;
 revision, edition, and desktop publishing
CONT.
 Documentation, terminology, revision, edition and

desktop publishing are closely related to what Kelly
(2005, 32-33) calls professional and instrumental
competence in that they involve the use of
“documentary resources of all kinds, terminological
research, [and] information management for these
purposes”.
CONT.
 But at the same time, these tasks are linked to

what this author calls subject competence and
strategic competence in so far as the
following skills are concerned: access to
specialized documentation to solve translation
problems, self-assessment and revision (ibid).
CONT.
 The PACTE’s (2005, 610) model of translation

competence includes the extra-linguistic sub-
competence, which “is made up of encyclopaedic,
thematic and bicultural knowledge”. It also includes
instrumental sub-competence, which “is made up of
knowledge related to the use of documentation sources
and information technologies applied to translation”.
CONT.
CONT.
 Similarly, Göpferich’s (2009, 22) translation

competence model includes domain competence,
which “comprises the general and domain-specific
knowledge that…is necessary to understand the source
text and formulate the target text, or at least the
sensitivity to recognize what additional knowledge is
needed from external sources of information to fill
one’s knowledge gaps”.
CONT.
CONT.
 Likewise, the model includes tools and research competence, which

Göpferich (ibid) says
 comprises the ability to use translation-specific conventional and
electronic tools, from reference works such as dictionaries and
encyclopaedias (either printed or electronic), term banks and other
databases, parallel texts, the use of search engines and corpora to
the use of word processors, terminology and translation
management systems as well as machine translation systems.
&
CONT.
 Along these lines, we can highlight three components of

the EMT model of translation competence, namely
information mining, technological and thematic.
Describing the components of this model, Chodkiewicz
(2012, 40) suggests that information mining competence
“includes a number of well-established components in the
literature”, for example, the development of strategies for
appropriate documentary and terminological research.
CONT.
 The EMT group adds that this competence involves the

ability to identify the translator’s information and
documentation requirements, knowing how to evaluate the
reliability of documentary sources, and using tools and
search engines such as terminology software, electronic
corpora, electronic dictionaries effectively (EMT 2009, 6).
CONT.
CONT.
 Chodkiewicz (2012, 40) further states that thematic

competence is related to information mining “as
translators need to find information which helps them
understand the themes of a document better”. In other
words, the thematic competence complements involves the
translator knowing how to develop his or her knowledge
in specialist fields, for example (EMT 2009, 7).
CONT.
 She adds that translators also need to “develop their

knowledge about specialist fields, their concepts,
terminology, etc.” (ibid). Finally, the EMT’s (ibid, 7)
technological competence is concerned with the mastery
of tools and comprises effective and rapid use of software
to assist in correction, translation, terminology, layout,
documentary research and the like.
In sum
 We saw from different translation competence

models that a translator is required to have good
terminological research skills if he/she is to succeed
in his/her career.
 Does this apply to interpreters as well?
 Next session
 Thank you very much!

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INTRODUCTION TO

 According to Newmark (1996, 19), “In

 What is the relationship between terminology and translation

 Nord (2001, 31-32) suggests that the training of

 Thus, in her “pig-tail method”, Nord (ibid, 34-

 Pym (2003, 487) describes the tasks of

 Even though, Pym (2003, 489) argues that “the

 According to Olvera-Lobo et al. (2005, 137),

 documentation, both in the source and the

 Documentation, terminology, revision, edition and

 But at the same time, these tasks are linked to

 The PACTE’s (2005, 610) model of translation

 Similarly, Göpferich’s (2009, 22) translation

 Likewise, the model includes tools and research competence, which

 Along these lines, we can highlight three components of

 The EMT group adds that this competence involves the

 Chodkiewicz (2012, 40) further states that thematic

 She adds that translators also need to “develop their

 We saw from different translation competence

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