Technical translation

Klaus Schubert

Table of contents

Technical translation is a type of translation. In this term, the word ‘technical’ refers to the content of the documents, not to the tools used. Due to the semantic ambiguity of the English adjective ‘technical’, the term can relate to content either from technology and engineering or from any specialized domain. In this article, the term is understood in the narrower sense. In the broader sense, the activity is also called ‘specialized translation’. Much of what is said here about technical translation equally holds for specialized translation and to some extent also for specialized communication in general.

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References

House, Juliane
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Further reading

Brekke, Magnar
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Byrne, Jody
2006Technical Translation. Usability Strategies for Translating Technical Documentation. Dordrecht: Springer.  TSBGoogle Scholar
Durieux, Christine
1988Fondement didactique de la traduction technique. Paris: Didier Erudition.  TSBGoogle Scholar
Göpferich, Suanne
1998Interkulturelles Technical Writing: Fachliches adressatengerecht vermittteln. Ein Lehr- und Arbeitsbuch. Forum für Fachsprachen-Forschung 40. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar
Hann, Michael
1992The Key to Technical Translation. Vol. 1–2. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: Benjamins.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Horn-Helf, Brigitte
1999Technisches Übersetzen in Theorie und Praxis. UTB 2038. Tübingen & Basel: Francke.  TSBGoogle Scholar
2010Konventionen technischer Kommunikation: Makro- und mikrostrukturelle Kontraste in Anleitungen. Forum für Fachsprachen-Forschung 91. Berlin: Frank & Timme.Google Scholar
Kastberg, Peter
2007“Cultural issues facing the technical translator.” The Journal of Specialised Translation 8: 104–109. http://​www​.jostrans​.org​/issue08​/art​_kastberg​.pdf [Accessed 26 April 2010].  TSBGoogle Scholar
Olohan, Maeve
2009 2nd edition. “Scientific and Technical Translation.” In Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, Mona Baker and Gabriela Saldanha (eds), 246–249. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
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Rothkegel, Annely
2010Technikkommunikation. Produkte, Texte, Bilder. Wien: Huter & Roth / Konstanz: UVK Verlagsgesellschaft.Google Scholar
Schmitt, Peter A
1999/2006Translation und Technik. Tübingen: Stauffenburg.  TSBGoogle Scholar
Wright, Sue Ellen and Leland D. Wright Jr
(eds) 1993Scientific and Technical Translation. Amsterdam & Phildadelphia: Benjamins DOI logoGoogle Scholar