Technical translation

Klaus Schubert
University of Hildesheim
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
2004 “Linguistic aspects of the translation of scientific and technical texts.” In Übersetzung/Translation/Traduction. Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft 26.1, Harald Kittel, Armin Paul Frank, Norbert Greiner, Theo Hermans, Werner Koller, José Lambert, Juliane House and Brigitte Schultze (eds), Vol. 1, 619–635. Berlin & New York: de Gruyter.  TSBGoogle Scholar
Byrne, Jody
2006 Technical Translation. Usability Strategies for Translating Technical Documentation. Dordrecht: Springer.  TSBGoogle Scholar
Durieux, Christine
1988 Fondement didactique de la traduction technique. Paris: Didier Erudition.  TSBGoogle Scholar
Göpferich, Suanne
1998 Interkulturelles Technical Writing: Fachliches adressatengerecht vermittteln. Ein Lehr- und Arbeitsbuch. Forum für Fachsprachen-Forschung 40. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar
Hann, Michael
1992 The Key to Technical Translation. Vol. 1–2. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: Benjamins.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Horn-Helf, Brigitte
1999 Technisches Übersetzen in Theorie und Praxis. UTB 2038. Tübingen & Basel: Francke.  TSBGoogle Scholar
2010 Konventionen 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
Risku, Hanna
2004 Translations management: Interkulturelle Fachkommunikation im Informationszeitalter. Tübinger: Narr.Google Scholar
Rothkegel, Annely
2010 Technikkommunikation. Produkte, Texte, Bilder. Wien: Huter & Roth / Konstanz: UVK Verlagsgesellschaft.Google Scholar
Schmitt, Peter A
1999/2006 Translation und Technik. Tübingen: Stauffenburg.  TSBGoogle Scholar
Wright, Sue Ellen and Leland D. Wright Jr
(eds) 1993 Scientific and Technical Translation. Amsterdam & Phildadelphia: Benjamins DOI logoGoogle Scholar