The Problem of Euphemisms in the Medical Terminology of the English and Tatar Languages

The article "The problem of euphemisms in the medical terminology of the English and Tatar languages" discusses issues related to euphemisms, in particular, the field organization of euphemisms in the medical terminology of the English and Tatar languages. The study uses a comparative analysis and the field organization of euphemisms in medical terminology is established to be the basis of comparison. Another method applied is the method of comparative interpretation and the principles of interpretation of the compared material of the two languages are determined. The results of this study make it possible to use the obtained theoretical outcomes and the collected lexical material in courses of general linguistics, lexicology and stylistics of the English and Tatar languages. In addition, the data obtained can be used in teaching professionally oriented English, for example in practical lessons of English language and while teaching translation practice to students of medical sciences. The lexical material obtained in the course of the research can supplement the existing dictionaries of euphemisms of medical terminology in the English language and form the basis of the dictionary of euphemisms of medical terminology in the Tatar language. Thus, one can observe the universal features of the field organization of euphemisms in English and Tatar languages for the first position of the first row, second, third and fifth rows. There are some differences in the rest of the ranks. Received: 20 August 2021 / Accepted: 18 November 2021 / Published: 3 January 2022

English-Turkish Literary Translation Through Human-Machine Interaction

This article investigates perceptions of technology-mediated translations of literary texts by two groups: translation students and professional literary translators. The participants post-edited an excerpt from a classic Dickens novel into Turkish using a machine translation (MT) system of their choice. The analysis of the post-edited texts, participants’ answers to survey questions, and interviews with professional translators suggest that MT is currently a long way from being an essential part of any literary translation practice for the English–Turkish language pair. Translators’ interactions with MT and negative attitudes toward it may change in a positive direction as MT improves and translation practice evolves.

Ethics in translation practice

The interest in and understanding of ethics among translation scholars has changed dramatically since the publication of Andrew Chesterman’s proposal for a Hieronymic Oath (Chesterman, 2001). Early definitions of ethics based on equivalence (Newmark, 1991), faithfulness, loyalty (Nord, 1997) and trust have been put aside in favour of more recent notions of translator ethics grounded in accountability (Baker & Maier, 2011) and social responsibility (Drugan & Tipton, 2017). Practising translators who abide by codes of ethics/conduct are bound by principles of honesty, integrity, linguistic competence, confidentiality, and trust. This paper begins by presenting a brief literature review of the main developments in translation ethics from the early linguists to contemporary interpretations. There then follows an analysis and comparison of several professional codes of conduct from the main international associations of translators and interpreters with the benchmark, the Association of Translation and Interpreting Professionals (APTRAD). It is one of the more recent translator associations and has a code of conduct adopted in the last six years. The objective of this paper is to determine which theoretical definitions of ethics are reflected in the codes of conduct and to discuss their usefulness for translators in their daily practice. The paper ends with recommendations for changes to codes of conduct to make them more relevant to practising translators.

The changing face of contemporary translation studies through polydisciplinary lenses: Possibilities and caveats

This paper offers a meta-reflection of contemporary translation studies (TS) through tracing its polydisciplinary tensions which are approached as both formative forces as well as hindrances. Taking a form of an argumentative essay employing the methods of a reflexive introspection, synthesis and evaluation, the principal aim is to address the potentials and controversies in present-day TS which are connected to its polydisciplinarity. This is a result from the aftermath of Snell-Hornbys integrated approach (1988/1995), TSs cultural and ideological turns as well as cognitive, sociological, anthropological, technological and economic twists. Four major strands of the consequences of the polydisciplinarity in TS are addressed: (a) the clash between the focus on the epistemological core of TS as an antidote to the expanding boundaries of the meta-discipline and embrace of reciprocal interdisciplinarity; (b) the tension between academia as Ivory Tower and practice-minded language industry; (c) the diffusion of the outer boundaries of TS and erasure of its inner boundaries; (d) a multitude of different conceptualizations of TS foregrounding either the abstract or practical. Following TSs inward orientations, two outward turns are suggested, i.e. promoting its relevance to other disciplines and reaching out to translation practice, in tune with Zwischenbergers approach (2019). A continuation of the outward turns may be seen in Gentzlers post-translation studies focusing on the study of pre-translation culture and after-effects of translation in the target culture. Although the paper does not tend to conceptual extremes, it suggests that authentic transdisciplinary TS should be mindful of a constructive and mutually enriching dialogue with donor disciplines and interlacement between theory and practice, with a focus on real-world issues, becomes imperative in order to make TS viable.

Polish-English LSP Dictionaries in Translation Work: Labour-Law Terminology from the Polish Labour Code in Terminographic and Translation Practice

The purpose of the article is to show the applicability of selected Polish-English LSP dictionaries in legal translation work. The paper analyses how well labour-law terminology, found in the Polish Labour Code, is covered in Polish-English LSP dictionaries and compares them to equivalents selected by Agnieszka Jamroży, the author of an English translation of the Polish Labour Code. Based on a collation of the English equivalents present in the reviewed resources, the author presents some conclusions as to what the studied dictionaries lack and what terminographers should focus on when compiling a labour-law dictionary that would be more useful to translators and other users. Essentially, the article presents the Polish labour-law language system and labour-law corpus, legal terms and labour law in the context of LSP dictionaries. The methodology is then outlined, followed by the findings from the review of the selected dictionaries and an example translation of the Polish Labour Code. Certain labour-law terms particularly stood out, and these have been reviewed in detail in the paper: they are documentacja pracownicza, wymiar czasu pracy, norma czasu pracy and dobowy wymiar czasu pracy. The publication ends with conclusions and findings on the applicability of Polish-English LSP dictionaries in legal translation work and implications for creating a labour-law dictionary for translation purposes based on the research.

Revisiting translation in the age of digital globalization

Globalization has gone digital and presents a new type of connectivity virtually today. Digital globalization has transformed the landscape of translation theory and practice, exerting considerable influence on translation studies and the profession of translators. The translation practice evolves with the change of literary expectations driven by the digital revolution. New translation modes have been cultivated by incorporating two essential features of the age, known as technology and participation. Against this backdrop, Chinese web fiction is going global with establishing and developing overseas volunteer translation websites. With this in mind, this paper analyzes the translation model of Chinese web fiction with respect to digital globalization and argues that the fan-based volunteer translation has emerged as a new paradigm that features the “user participation turn” in translation studies.

Application of corpus technologies in teaching specialized translation

Corpus technologies (corpora of English and Ukrainian texts and tools for their processing) represent modern specialized discourse and facilitate searching for and comparing different units of translation, which makes them a useful tool for both practicing and trainee translators. The purpose of this article is to determine the role and place of corpus technologies in teaching specialized translation on the example of the oil and gas industry. Comparative and parallel text corpora are characterized. The paper reveals methods of applying mono- and bilingual comparative and parallel corpora and corpus managers for acquiring knowledge about genre-stylistic features of texts; developing skills to distinguish a term and determine its collocation profile and semantic preference; analyze translation techniques; translate collocations, complex noun constructions, verbal phrases, and abbreviations. Examples of relevant exercises and tasks that should be performed at the translation training stage are given. Further research should be aimed at integrating corpus-based tasks into the translation practice stage involving the implementation of a translation project.

Appearances

This article re-evaluates the theoretical import of networks of signification, one of Antoine Berman’s twelve deforming tendencies in translation. Taking Jane Eyre as a case study, the article considers character description as an example of a Bermanian network and traces the physical appearance of the novel’s characters across its six Russian translations. Character description represents a network that is traceable, depends on the reader’s ability to construct a visual mental image over the course of a narrative, has a tangible impact on characterisation, and remains relevant throughout a novel. It thus offers a concrete illustration of the relevance of networks of signification as a model for the systemic interpretative potential of translation variation. This analysis paves the way for further study of Bermanian networks and the ultimate integration of this concept in translation practice.

Translating official documents from French to English in Uganda

Although underexplored in Africa, the translation of official documents presents a revelatory context for examining translation practice and theory. Through a sociolinguistic and pragmatic lens, this study explores how translating official documents by focusing on linguistic equivalences without taking into account national institutional systems can be misleading. The argument is made that sociolinguistic variables and Grice’s pragmatic maxims are essential in enhancing translation effectiveness. A sample of 151 pairs of source and target documents dating from 2011–2017 was purposively selected. This corpus from nineteen Francophone countries covers three broad categories: Education, Legal, and General Administrative Correspondence. Nineteen translators and fourteen end-users were also interviewed regarding the translation effectiveness of corpus examples. Data is analyzed using sociolinguistic and pragmatic criteria. Finally, the analysis is positioned within the broader scholarship on translation studies to demonstrate how this approach expands our knowledge regarding effective translation.