THE KEY TO TECHNICAL TRANSLATION I THE KEY TO TECHNICAL TRANSLATION VOLUME ONE CONCEPT SPECIFICATION by MICHAEL HANN JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY AMSTERDAM/PHILADELPHIA 1992 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hann, Michael. The key to technical translation / by Michael Hann. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. Contents: v. 1. Concept specification - v. 2. Terminology/lexicography. 1. Technology-Translation into English. 2. Translating and interpreting. I. Title. T11.5.H36 1992 428' .02'0246-dc20 92-23779 ISBN 1-55619-471-4 (set hb)/l-55619-472-2 (set pb) (US alk. paper) CIP 1-55619-467-6 (hb vol. 1)/1-55619-468-4 (pb vol.1) (US alk. paper) 1-55619-469-2 (hb vol.2)/l-55619-470-6 (pb vol.2) (US) alk. paper) ISBN 90 272 2122 7 (set hb)/90 272 2123 5 (set pb) (Eur alk. paper) 90 272 2118 9 (hb vol.l)/90 272 2119 7 (pb vol.1) (Eur alk. paper) 90 272 2120 0 (hb vol.2)/90 272 2121 9 (pb vol.2) (Eur alk. paper) © Copyright 1992 - John Benjamins B.V. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publisher. John Benjamins Publishing Co. · P.O. Box 75577 · 1070 AN Amsterdam · The Netherlands John Benjamins North America · 821 Bethlehem Pike · Philadelphia, PA 19118 · USA ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks for assistance in the publication of this manuscript are due above all to my friend and former boss Professor Juan C Sager of the University of Manchester (UMIST). Grateful thanks are due to the British Department of Education and Science for a research fellowship in the mid seventies, which enabled me to acquire the programming and other skills necessary for this book. Thanks for many helpful comments and improvements are also due to Dr Paul Foster of the Johannes-Gutenberg Universität (FAS), to Messrs Richard Schneider and Jürgen Herber for their invaluable help in producing a camera-ready disk version of the book, and to Frau Ingrid Helbing of the German Nuclear Research Centre (KfK) for assistance in proof-reading. Apologies are due to the many ladies reading this book for my insistence on referring to the translator everywhere as "he" and to anyone with a phobia about capital letters in English. Engineering fields such as Electronics, Automobile Ignition or Chemical Engineering are capitalised throughout. Occasionally this makes the odd English sentence look more like German, but on the whole it avoids repetition and ambiguity. In the case of technical acronyms such as fet, mosfet, ac/dc, CAD, RAM, the use or non-use of capitals depends upon what is more usual in the respective field rather than any linguistic conventions. Note: The standard symbols Ω, Å, μ, μF, μΑ, α-/β-/γ-, in the contexts ohm, angstrom, micron, microfarad, microamp, alpha/beta/gamma radiation, have been avoided in the manuscript to simplify editing processes. PREFACE Volume 1 presents a systematic introduction to the basic concepts underlying all areas of modern science and technology, with regard to the problems involved in translating from German into English. English technical terms originating from general language (e.g. stress, strain, tension) or those commonly misunderstood by translators (such as Kapazität: capacity, capacitance, capacitor) are defined clearly, using simple examples without mathematics. Even those linguists with no experience of technology or technical translation can acquire an important basic understanding of areas such as Physics, Chemistry, Semiconductors, Computers, Electronics, Materials Science, Machine Technology, Automobiles, Electrical Engineering and Nuclear Technology. Volume 2 is a practical handbook for translators and consists of several bilingual glossaries. The book has some particularly interesting lexicograph­ ical features, including: the "Collocation Dictionary" - a glossary of general nouns, adjectives and verbs used in different technical contexts, and the "Polyseme Dictionary" which, among other things, highlights and distinguishes German polysemes, such as: Gehäuse: case, casing, housing, boss, chamber Rolle: roll, reel, castor, pulley Netz: net, network, mains, gauze A further feature of the book is the bilingual "Technical Thesaurus" which supplements the information of Volume 1. The thesaurus entries are defined in terms of one another using hierarchic/semantic relations. The book is mainly intended for German/English technical translators (both directions) - professional, free-lance translators and interpreters, language students and university teachers. It will also interest the following groups: viii The Key to Technical Translation, Vol. 1 i) technical translators from other languages into English (Volume 1); ii) German-speaking technologists and scientists requiring a sound basic knowledge of technical English; iii) readers interested in applications of the methods of General Linguistics (Semantics, etc) to technical language; iv) computer scientists involved in the design of software for lexicograph­ ical applications. VORWORT Band 1 stellt eine systematische Einleitung in die Grundbegriffe aller Gebiete der modernen Wissenschaft und Technik im Hinblick auf Probleme der Fachübersetzung aus dem Deutschen ins Englische dar. Englische Fachtermini, die aus der Gemeinsprache stammen (z.B. stress, strain, tension) oder solche, die von Übersetzern häufig falsch verstanden werden (z.B. Kapazität: capacity, capacitance, capacitor), werden durch einfache Beispiele ohne Mathematik klar definiert. Das Buch vermittelt auch Lesern, die keine technischen bzw fachsprachlichen Erfahrungen besitzen, wichtige Grund­ kenntnisse aus Fachgebieten wie Physik, Chemie, Halbleiter- bzw Computer­ technik, Elektronik, Werkstoffswissenschaften, Maschinenbau, Automobil-, Elektro- und Kerntechnik. Band 2 ist ein Handbuch für die Fachübersetzungspraxis. Er besteht aus zweisprachigen Fachglossaren. Besonders interessant vom lexikographischen Gesichtspunkt sind das sogenannte "Collocation Dictionary", d.h. ein Glossar von gemeinsprachlichen Substantiven, Adjektiven und Verben in verschied­ enen technischen Zusammenhängen, und das "Polyseme Dictionary", das auf die Mehrdeutigkeit von Wörtern wie Gehäuse: case, casing, housing, boss, chamber Rolle: roll, reel, castor, pulley Netz: net, network, mains, gauze aufmerksam macht. Der zweisprachige "Technical Thesaurus" ist ein weiteres Merkmal dieses Buches und ergänzt die Informationen vom Band 1. Die Einträge im Thesaurus werden durch eine Gegenüberstellung hierarchischer bzw semantischer Beziehungen definiert. In erste Linie ist das Buch für Fachübersetzer Deutsch/Englisch (beide Richtungen) gedacht, sowie für Dolmetscher, Sprachdozenten und Stud­ enten. Es dürfte aber auch folgende Gruppen interessieren: χ The Key to Technical Translation, Vol 1 i) Fachübersetzer, die aus anderen Sprachen ins Englische übersetzen; ii) Ingenieure, Techniker und Naturwissenschaftler, die ihre Kenntnisse der englischen Grundfachsprache erweitern wollen; iii) Sprachwissenschaftler, die sich für Anwendungen der Methoden der allgemeinen Linguistik (insbesondere der Semantik) auf die Fachsprachen interessieren; iv) Informatiker, die Software für lexikographische Anwendungen herstellen. CONTENTS Acknowledgements v Preface vii Vorwort ix Contents xviii Introduction 7 1 Layout 8 2 Objectives 10 Access Guide 13 1 Translation Approaches 13 2 Global Index 15 3 Term Lists, Diagrams 15 4 Term Index 17 5 Information Retrieval 18 Chapter 1: Physical Quantities 21 1.1 Basic/Derived Quantities 22 1.1.1 Mass, Weight 22 1.1.2 Work, Energy, Power 23 xii The Key to Technical Translation, Vol 1 1.1.3 Coulomb, Kelvin, Candela, Mol 23 1.2 Scalar/Vector Quantities 24 1.3 Magnitude, Direction 26 1.4 Mechanical Quantities 26 1.4.1 Speed, Velocity, Acceleration 27 1.4.2 Power, Performance, Efficiency 28 1.4.3 Impulse, Momentum 29 1.4.4 Stress, Strain, Tension 29 1.4.5 Moment, Torque, Torsion 30 1.5 Units, Symbols 31 Fig. 1 Mechanical Quantities 33 Chapter 2: Basic Electricity 35 2.1 Voltage, Current 35 2.2 Resistor, Resistance, Resistivity 37 2.3 Direct/Alternating Current 38 2.4 Capacitor, Inductor, Transformer 39 2.5 Power, Wattage, Rating 41 2.6 Resistance, Reactance, Impedance 42 2.7 Scalar/Phasor Quantities 44 2.8 Transmission Cables 45 Fig. 2A Electrical Quantities 47 2B Electrical Terms 48 Chapter 3: Materials Science 51 3.1 Atomic/Mass/Group Number 52 3.2 Properties of Elements 53 3.3 Isotope, Nuclide 54 3.4 Atomic Bonding 55 3.5 Ion, Plasma 56 3.6 Material Properties 57 Contents xiii Fig. Extract from the Periodic Table of Elements 58 3B Common Elements 58 3C Atomic Constituents/Interatomic Bonding 60 Chapter 4: Nucleonics 61 4.1 Radioactivity 61 4.2 Particulate/Electromagnetic Radiation 62 4.2.1 Radiation Energy 64 4.2.2 Wave/Particle Duality 64 4.3 Radio-substances 65 4.4 Matter/Anti-Matter 66 4.5 Fission, Fusion, Decay 67 4.6 Nuclear Power 68 Fig. 4A Broad Electromagnetic Spectrum 69 4B Decay Transitions of U-238 69 4C Elementary Particles 70 4D Oscillation/Wave/Radiation 71 4E Nuclear Fission/Fusion 72 Chapter 5: Semiconductors 73 5.1 Semiconductor Devices 73 5.2 Semiconductor Materials 74 5.2.1 Donor Injection 75 5.2.2 Acceptor Injection 76 5.2.3 PN-Junction/Transition 76 5.3 Conduction 77 5.3.1 Intrinsic/Extrinsic Conduction 78 5.3.2 Quantum Mechanics 78 5.3.3 Energy Gap, Mobility 79 Fig. 5 Semiconductor Materials 81 xiv The Key to Technical Translation, Vol 1 Chapter 6: Electronics 83 6.1 Active/Passive Devices 84 6.2 Modules/Discrete Components 85 6.3 Transducers 86 6.4 Switching Devices