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Translating Web Texts: Theory and Practice

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Translating Web Texts: Theory and Practice Translating web texts: theory and practice MA Thesis English Language and Culture Utrecht University June 2009 Megan Hershey Supervised by: 3128695 Cees Koster Ton Naaijkens 1 Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ......................................................................................................... 4 The Lemontree website .......................................................................................................... 4 Chapter 2: The Internet Medium ........................................................................................... 7 What is a website? .................................................................................................................. 7 The nature of web texts .............................................................................................................. 9 Webtext functions ................................................................................................................... 9 Web text structure ................................................................................................................ 10 Writing style .......................................................................................................................... 11 Translating websites.................................................................................................................. 12 Why translate websites? ....................................................................................................... 12 How to translate websites .................................................................................................... 14 Chapter 3: Advertising ........................................................................................................ 16 Advertising texts ........................................................................................................................ 16 Types of advertising texts ..................................................................................................... 16 The web as advertising medium ........................................................................................... 17 Translating advertising .............................................................................................................. 19 Strategies for translating websites ........................................................................................ 19 Determining the target audience .......................................................................................... 20 The use of English in Dutch advertising ................................................................................ 23 Other issues ........................................................................................................................... 25 Chapter 4: Technical writing ................................................................................................ 26 Language for specific purposes (LSP) ........................................................................................ 26 Terminology .......................................................................................................................... 27 Phraseology ........................................................................................................................... 28 Technical texts ........................................................................................................................... 28 Information technology ........................................................................................................ 29 The role of English in technical texts ..................................................................................... 30 Translating technical texts ........................................................................................................ 31 Successful technical translation ............................................................................................ 31 Translating terminology ........................................................................................................ 32 Tools and resources for technical translators ....................................................................... 34 Chapter 5: Translating the Lemontree website ..................................................................... 37 Translation brief ........................................................................................................................ 37 The Lemontree Translation brief........................................................................................... 37 Text analysis .............................................................................................................................. 38 2 Functionalist approach .......................................................................................................... 38 Analytical method ................................................................................................................. 39 Source text analysis ................................................................................................................... 40 Target text analysis ................................................................................................................... 43 Potential translation problems ................................................................................................. 44 Translation checklist .................................................................................................................. 47 Chapter 6: The translation ................................................................................................... 49 Chapter 7: Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 63 Translation problems encountered ....................................................................................... 63 Use of Wordfast .................................................................................................................... 68 Final thoughts ........................................................................................................................ 69 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 70 Appendix I: The Lemontree source text ....................................................................................... 74 Appendix II: Glossary of IT terms used ......................................................................................... 88 3 Chapter 1: Introduction This thesis grew out of a translation project in which I became involved in 2007. Early that summer, I was approached by a Dutch IT company called Lemontree Outsourcing about translating their website from Dutch into English. The company had a number of non‐Dutch clients, including a large German steel conglomerate and a Canadian aircraft manufacturer, and was interested in providing English‐language information about their products and services on their website in order to better serve these clients. Lemontree further hoped that an English‐language version of their website would help generate lucrative contracts with other multinational corporations located within the Netherlands. A quick glance at the existing Dutch version of the website revealed that it was made up of a combination of informative text about the different divisions within the company and the services offered by each division, and persuasive text designed to promote these services and entice potential customers to choose Lemontree above the competition. By virtue of the subject matter, much of the language used on the site was technical in nature. The text was clearly geared toward non‐specialists, but nevertheless made extensive use of IT‐related terminology. I agreed to take on the assignment, which would involve translating nearly the entire website— roughly 4,500 words. The pages listing job openings would be omitted, as Lemontree is not interested in hiring personnel who cannot speak and read Dutch. The company also requested that I provide them with a list of Dutch IT terms I encountered during the translation process and their English translations, which they could then refer to when corresponding with their non‐Dutch clients. As I began to take a closer look at the portion of the website I had been commissioned to translate, a number of questions arose in my mind. Would translating a website be any different from translating the conventional paper‐based texts I had worked on previously? Would Dutch advertising language “work” when transferred into English? And how was I going to deal with the unfamiliar IT terminology? It was at this point that I hit upon the idea of using the Lemontree text as a case study for exploring these questions more thoroughly. The website, with its challenging medium, persuasive language and technical terminology, seemed to lend itself well to in‐depth study. I therefore decided to devote this thesis to examining the types of issues I would face in translating the Lemontree text, which is characterized by a specific textual medium (the Internet), a specific textual function (operative/persuasive), and a specific genre (technical texts). The core of my thesis will consist of a thorough exploration of each of these three topics, followed by a translation‐ focused analysis of the source text, and ultimately the translation
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