German–English–German Technical Translation

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This glossary from trans-k provides an explanation to many of the terms frequently used in connection with translation and interpreting. Whether you need to communicate effectively with translators or translation companies, or just want to know what Unicode or translation memory are all about, you’ll find the answers here. The German translations link to the corresponding term in the German glossary. Abbreviations are listed separately at the end of this page. If you can’t find the information you are looking for, the Resources for Translators and Resources for Business pages contains links to many other useful websites, including most of the organizations and products mentioned here.

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Accredited translator

Translator who has received accreditation from a professional institute such as the ITI or the ATA. Accreditation – a requirement for association membership – is usually issued on the basis of examination and experience. A rough German equivalent would be staatlich geprüfter Übersetzer (who has passed a state examination) or staatlich anerkannter Übersetzer (who has passed a state-recognized examination). Unlike the Diploma in Translation issued by the Institute of Linguists, the German  Diplomübersetzer has graduated in translation at degree level.

Ad hoc interpreting

Spoken translation between two languages in informal conversations between two or more people. Used, for example in business meetings, for phone calls, during site visits and social events. The term is sometimes used loosely to include consecutive interpreting.

Adaptation    Adaption

Modifying a text to make it suitable for a different purpose, target readership, region or country. Regional adaptation is a part of localisation. In translation, the adaptation can be carried out, for example by the translator, an editor or a copywriter. Whether it is best to adapt the source text before translation or the translated target text depends on the situation.

A language    A-Sprache

The mother-tongue or language of habitual use of a translator or interpreter. (cf. B language and C language)

Atril

Publisher of the Déjà Vu translation memory program.

Audience  -> Target audience

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Background text    Hintergrundtext

Text in the source or target language providing background information about the subject matter of the text to be translated.

Background information    Hintergrundinformationen

Information relating to the subject matter of the source text or the topic of discussion. Facilitates the translator’s or interpreter’s task by providing context, terminology, definitions, etc.

Back translation    Rückübersetzung

A literal translation of a translation. Helps a translation consultant determine whether the original meaning has been preserved in the target language.

Bilingual (adj or n)   zweisprachig (adj), zweisprachige Person (n)

Someone with communicative skills in two languages. The term is often reserved for someone with native or near-native proficiency in two languages. Bilingualism is one of several required abilities of a translator or interpreter.

B language    B-Sprache

A language that a translator or interpreter can speak, read and write almost as well as their native language (or A language), and well enough to translate into as well as out of. (See also C language)

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Calibrated page  -> Standard page

Certified translation    beglaubigte Übersetzung

A translation that has been reviewed by a translator or translation company and considered an accurate and correct reflection of the source text. To have legal status, certification must be performed before a notary public.

C language    C-Sprache

A language that a translator or interpreter can read and understand well enough to translate out of, but cannot write or speak well enough to translate or interpret into. (See also A language and B language.)

Computer-aided translation (CAT), computer-assisted ~, machine-aided or -assisted ~     computerunterstützte Übersetzung

Translation with the aid of computer programs, such as translation memory, terminology management and localisation tools, designed to reduce the translator’s workload and increase consistency of style and terminology. Not to be confused with machine translation!

Conference interpreter    Konferenzdolmetscher

Interpreter with highly specialised skills who provides simultaneous interpretation of a speakers words in one direction only from one language into another.

Conference translator    Konferenzübersetzer

Consecutive interpreting    Konsekutivdolmetschen

Oral translation of a speaker’s words into another language when the speaker has finished speaking or pauses for interpreting. More formal than ad hoc interpreting and used, for example in formal business meetings, for negotiations, training sessions or lectures. (cf. simultaneous interpreting)

Controlled language    kontrollierte Sprache

Language with a restricted vocabulary and restricted rules of formulation. Used, for example, in technical documentation to make the text easier to understand for users or for non-native speakers and to facilitate machine translation.

Copywriting    Werbetexten

Writing of advertising or publicity copy. It cannot be stressed too strongly that advertising copy will not translate satisfactorily due to the different cultural contexts and advertising cultures of other countries and regions. Adverts for foreign countries should therefore always be produced in those countries. There are some advertising agencies who provide this service.

Court interpreter    Gerichtsdolmetscher

Interpreter with special subject knowledge, providing interpretation during legal proceedings. Requirements regarding accreditation and certification for court interpreting vary from country to country.

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Déjà Vu

Translation memory program, published by Atril.

Desktop publishing (DTP)

DTP is sometimes offered by translators and translation companies/agencies as a value-added service to provide a one-stop solution for customers’ publishing needs. They will usually have the special equipment required to handle languages that use different typescripts.

DIN 2345

German standard specifying requirements for translation contracts, published April 1998. Has been replaced by European Standard EN 15038:2006 Translation Services – Service requirements.

Dominant language  -> Language of habitual use

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Editing  -> Revising

EN 15038

European standard “Translation Services – Service requirements”, published in 2006. Overview and purchase.

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Freelance translator    freiberuflicher Übersetzer, freischaffender ~

Self-employed translator, who may undertake work for translation agencies, localisation companies and/or directly for end clients. Often specialises in one or more particular fields, such as legal, financial, commercial or technical.

Free translation    (1) freie Übersetzung, (2) kostenlose Übersetzung

1. Translation in which more emphasis is given to the overall meaning of the text than to the exact wording (cf. literal translation); 2. Translation completed free of charge. Offered by some translation companies – often online, and usually using machine translation programs. Can be used for gisting, but never of a sufficient quality for publication without comprehensive revision by a human translator.

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Gisting

Producing a rough or outline translation of a text to provide an insight into the subject and overall content of the source text. Being less expensive and less time-consuming than a “proper” (or “custom”) translation, gisting can be used, for example, to determine whether a text contains useful information before a custom translation is commissioned. The term gisting is sometimes used in connection with machine translation, which is used by some translation providers for that purpose.

Globalisation, globalization    Globalisierung

The process of developing and manufacturing products intended for worldwide distribution. Most commonly applied to software, but also used for websites and other publications and products, it covers two aspects: internationalisation and localisation.

Glossary    Glossar

An invaluable tool for the translator. Beside making use of the wealth of specialised mono- and multilingual online-glossaries on the Internet, most translators compile and maintain their own subject-, customer- and project-specific glossaries. Companies publishing documentation in several languages can also benefit from maintaining multi-language glossaries of their own. This not only makes tranlators’ work easier, but – by reducing the amount of terminology research required – speeds up subsequent translation projects. In addition, it ensures consistent and correct terminology usage in all languages. Some translators and most translation companies offer glossary compilation and maintenance, either as a separate service or as part of a translation agreement. (See the Resources for Translators page for lists of online glossaries and dictionaries.)

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Inbound text

Text intended for internal use, generally not seen by people outside the originating organisation. Includes internal correspondence, memos, work instructions, etc.

Internationalisation, internationalization    Internationalisierung

The process of designing or redesigning a product (e.g. software) to allow its localisation for other countries with a minimum of changes to its text content or program code. Internationalised software applications, for example, store their text in external resource files and use character encoding methods (such as Unicode) that support character sets for many different languages.

Interpreter    Dolmetscher

Provides oral (spoken) translation of a speaker’s words from one language into another. (cf. translator)

Interpreting, interpretation    Dolmetschen

The act of rendering spoken words from one language into another. (cf. translating; see also simultaneous interpreting, consecutive interpreting)

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Keystroke    Anschlag

Often used as a measure of line or page length in defining the size of a translation job. Includes all visible characters as well as spaces and line breaks/paragraph marks. (See also standard line and standard page.)

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Language combination  -> Language pairing

Language Engineering    Sprachdatenverarbeitung

The Euromap Report, published in 1998 on behalf of the EUROMAP Consortium, defines language engineering as “the application of knowledge of written and spoken language to the development of systems able to recognise, understand, interpret, and generate human language”. These language technologies include computer-aided translation, speech recognition and synthesis, as well as semantic searches and information retrieval.

Language of habitual use; similar: dominant language

The language that a person is most familiar with, usually the language spoken in the country in which the person lives. More appropriate than mother-tongue ( Muttersprache) as a measure of a translator or interpreter’s ability to work into the given language. In German, the term native speaker is used in this context.

Language pairing, language combination    Sprachpaar, Sprachkombination

The languages between which a translator or interpreter works.

Language service provider (LSP)   Sprachendienst, Sprachendienstleister

Provider of translation and other language-related services that may include typesetting, publishing, project management, internationalization and language teaching (cf. translation company).

Liaison interpreter    Verhandlungsdolmetscher

Interpreter who provides – usually consecutive – interpretation between two languages in both directions. May be affiliated to the host company and act as facilitator in negotiations or undertake some PR activities.

Linguistic adaptation  -> Adaptation

Literal translation, transcription    wörtliche Übersetzung

Translation that closely adheres to the wording and construction of the source text. A literal translation of continuous text usually appears “stilted” and unnatural and is therefore to be avoided unless there is a specific reason for translating literally. (cf. free translation)

Literary translator    literarischer Übersetzer

Translator specialising in the translation of literature, such as fiction, biographies and poetry.

Localisation, localization    Lokalisieren

The process of adapting a product (usually software, but also, for example, websites) to a specific locale, i.e. to the language, cultural norms, standards, laws and requirements of the target country.

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Machine-aided translation  -> Computer-aided translation

Machine translation (MT)    automatische Übersetzung

1. Translation produced by a computer program; 2. Use of a translation program to translate text without human input in the actual translation process. The quality of machine-translated text, in terms of terminology, meaning and grammar, varies depending on the nature and complexity of the source text, but is never good enough for publication without extensive editing. Machine translation (usually using highly customised MT programs) is occasionally used by some translators and translation companies to assist them in their work, but rarely to translate entire documents. Some search engines interface with a translation program to provide translations of websites. To get an idea of what MT can and cannot do, visit Babelfish, which provides a free online MT service (see Resources for Business page). Not to be confused with computer-aided translation!

Mother-tongue    Muttersprache

One’s native language. Often used as an indicator of a translator or interpreter’s ability to translate into a particular language. Because a person who has lived in another country for many years (perhaps from childhood) may be more fluent in their “new” language than they are in their original mother-tongue, the terms language of habitual use, dominant language and native language are often used instead.

MultiTerm

Terminology program. Developed by Trados, now published by SDL International. A component of the Trados translation memory program, but also available as a separate product.

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Native language  -> Mother-tongue

Native speaker    Nativespeaker

A person with native-speaker competence in a particular language.

Native-speaker competence    muttersprachliche Kompetenz

Oral and written command of a language equivalent to that of a person who not only learned the language as a child and has continued to use it as his/her language of habitual use, but who also has had some language training.

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ÖNORM 1200, ÖNORM 1201

Austrian standards specifying requirements for translation services and translation contracts respectively. Published in 2000. Can be ordered online at www.on-norm.at.

ÖNORM 1202, ÖNORM 1203

Austrian standards specifying requirements for interpreting services and interpreting contracts respectively. Published in 2002. Can be ordered online at www.on-norm.at.

Outbound text

Text intended for publication, i.e. for a readership outside the originating organisation. Essentially designed to sell products and services. Includes PR articles, brochures, catalogues, advertising copy, etc.

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Parallel text    Paralleltext

Text in the source or target language that is comparable to the text to be translated in terms of subject matter or text type. Includes previous translations of the same type of text.

Plain English    bürgernahe Sprache

A form of English that is clear, concise, direct, and natural. Advocated by an increasing number of people as a style of language that should be used by authors of technical texts – such as user manuals, legal documents, articles and speeches –, plain English is easier and more enjoyable to read than legalese or texts laden with technical jargon and complex sentences for both experts and laypersons. (Ffi. see the Style Guides page.)

Proof-reading, proofreading    Korrekturlesen

Strictly, checking a proof before printing to ensure that no mistakes have been made in typesetting. The term is often used by translators in the sense of revising. When typesetting a translated text, it is advisable to let the translator who performed the translation proofread the typeset document, especially when the text is written in a language foreign to the typesetter.

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Readership  -> Target readership

Revising    revidieren, überarbeiten

Reading a text to identify errors, inconsistencies, incorrect grammar and punctuation, poor or inappropriate style, and, in the case of a translation, conformance with the source text, and making appropriate changes and corrections to the text. In general, the number of revision stages is proportional to the demands on the text quality: a translation intended for publication may, for example, be revised by the translator and by one or two third parties (e.g. the author, a subject expert, a second translator, an editor), whereas an internal memo may not require any revision after translation. (What exactly revising and editing entail and how they differ is the subject of much debate. What is important is that the person commissioning the work communicates clearly what is expected of the editor.)

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SDL

Publishers of the SDL Trados CAT suite, which consists of the former products Trados and SDLX.

Simplified English (SE)

A set of writing rules and a dictionary of controlled vocabulary aimed at improving the readability of technical documentation. Developed by the Association of European Airlines (AEA), it is also used to write texts for translation using machine translation tools.

Simultaneous interpreting    Simultandolmetschen

Oral translation of a speaker’s words into another language while the speaker is speaking. The interpreter usually sits in a booth and uses audio equipment. (cf. consecutive interpreting)

Software localisation  -> Localisation

Source language    Ausgangssprache

Language in which the text to be translated is written.

Source text    Ausgangstext

The text to be translated.

Specialised language competence    fachsprachliche Kompetenz

Familiarity with the relevant subject matter and command of its special language conventions.

Standard line    Normzeile

A standard measure of the size of a text. The standard line length varies from country to country. In Germany, for example, it is usually 55 keystrokes, in Belgium 60. Translation projects are often priced on a per line basis.

Standard page, calibrated page    Normseite

A standard measure of the size of a text, used esp. in the publishing industry and in literary translation. The standard page length may vary from country to country and depending on the sector, but is generally in the region of 1500 to 1800 keystrokes. Translation projects are sometimes priced on a per page basis, although – except in the case of literary translation – this practice is becoming less common, being replaced by the standard line.

Sworn translator    vereidigter Übersetzer

A translator who has taken an oath and can therefore produce certified translations.

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Target audience    Zielpublikum

The group of people that an interpreter addresses. Used mostly in connection with simultaneous interpreting. Sometimes used (incorrectly) in the sense of target readership

Target language    Zielsprache

Language into which a text is to be translated.

Target readership    Zielleserschaft

The group of people for which a text is translated, for example subject experts, novices, prospective customers. It is important to specify the target readership when commissioning a translation so that the translator can choose an appropriate style and vocabulary.

Target text    Zieltext

The translation, i.e. the result of the translation process.

Terminology extraction (TE)

The creation of a corpus of monolingual or multilingual subject-specific terminology by extracting individual terms and phrases from a body of text.

Terminology extraction tool (TET)

A computer program that provides functions to assist with or automate the extraction of terminology from a body of text.

TermStar

Terminology program published by Star. A component of the Transit translation memory program, but also available as a separate product.

Text function    Textfunktion

The function served by a text, e.g. to sell a product, to provide instruction on the use of a product, to convey information about an event. It is important to specify the text function when commissioning a translation to so that the translator can choose an appropriate style and vocabulary.

Text type    Textsorte

Class of text (e.g. abstract, news report, light fiction, commentary) with specific characteristics of style, sentence formation, terminology, etc.

Text style  -> Text type

TMX

Standardised translation memory exchange format, designed to allow easier exchange of translation memory data between tools and/or translation vendors with little or no loss of critical data during the process. Supported by the latest versions of most leading translation memory programs. (For a full specification, go to www.lisa.org/tmx/tmx.htm)

Trados

Former publishers of translation memory program of the same name. Now part of the SDL Trados CAT suite.

Transcription  -> Literal translation    Transkription

Transit

Translation memory program published by Star.

Translating, translation    Übersetzen

The act of rendering written text from one language into another. (cf. interpreting)

Translating competence    übersetzerische Kompetenz

Ability to render text into the target language correctly in terms of language, subject matter and idiomatic style, having regard to the text function of both the source text and the target text.

Translation agency    Übersetzungsbüro

Provides translation and interpreting services, acting as middleman between customers and freelance translators. May offer value-added services such as typesetting, publishing, project management.

Translation company    Übersetzungsbüro

Provides translation services using mainly in-house translators. May specialise in a particular field – such as legal, patents or technical – and may offer value-added services such as typesetting, publishing, project management. The term is often used synonymously with translation agency.

Translation environment tool (TET), translation environment (TE)

A computer program, or a suite of programs, that provides functions to aid human translators in their translation tasks. Includes Translation memory, CAT, localisation and terminology management tools.

Translation Manager

1. Translation memory program published by IBM; 2. (Syn.: project manager) person in charge of managing a translation project. In large translation projects, the translation manager is responsible for liaising between customer and translators, coordinating the translation work (which may be carried out by several translators for each language), maintaining the terminology database, ensuring consistency of style and terminology, etc.

Translation memory (TM)    Translation Memory

Computer-aided translation program that stores translated sentences (translation units or segments) with their respective source segments in a database (usually called the “memory”). For each new segment to be translated, the program scans the database for a previous source segment that matches the new segment exactly or approximately (fuzzy match) and, if found, suggest the corresponding target segment as a possible translation. The translator can then accept, modify or reject the suggested translation.

Translator    Übersetzer

Renders written text from one or more languages into an other language, usually into her language of habitual use. May offer additional services, such as desktop publishing or proofreading. (cf. interpreter)

Translator’s Workbench (TWB)

Translation memory program published by Trados.

Transliteration    Transliteration

Transforming text from one script to another, usually based on phonetic equivalences. For example, Russian text might be transliterated into the Latin script so that it can be pronounced by English speakers.

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Unicode

Character encoding standard which, unlike ASCII, uses not 8 but 16 bit character encoding, making possible the representation of virtually all existing character sets (e.g. Latin, Cyrillic, Japanese, Chinese). The use of Unicode simplifies multiple language document and program creation. (See also internationalisation.)

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Voice-over, voiceover

Commentary in, e.g., a film, television programme, video, or commercial spoken by an unseen narrator. Foreign-language voice-over consists of two parts: translating the narrative, whereby, e.g., timing (coordinating the voice with the film sequence) is an important consideration; recording the voice-over, which may be performed by a linguist with special training and/or expertise or by an actor. Voice-over services are provided by some translators and translation agencies/companies.

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Whispering, whispered interpreting    Flüsterdolmetschen

Similar to simultaneous interpreting, whereby the interpreter sits close to the listener and whispers the translation without technical aids.

Word count

A standard measure of the size of a text. Translation projects, for example, are often priced on a per-word (US) or per-1000-word (GB) basis.

Abbreviations

ACPI   Association of Court and Police Interpreters (UK)

AIIC   Association internationale des interprètes de conférence (International Association of Conference Interpreters)

AITC   Association internationale des traducteurs de conférence (International Association of Conference Translators)

AITI   Associate of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting

AITI   Assoziatione Italiana Traduttori e Interpreti (Italian Translators and Interpreters Association)

ATA   American Translators Association

ATC   Association of Translation Companies (UK)

BDÜ   Bundesverband der Dolmetscher und Übersetzer (German Interpreters and Translators Association)

CAT   Computer-aided translation

DTP   Desktop publishing

FIT   Fédération internationale des traducteurs (International Federation of Translators)

GIM   Global information management

IoL   Institute of Linguists (UK)

ITA   Irish Translators’ Association

ITI   Institute of Translation and Interpreting

LISA   Localisation Industry Standards Association

LSP   Language service provider

MIL   Member of the Institute of Linguists

MITI   Member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting

MT   Machine translation

NAATI   National Accreditation Authority for Translators & Interpreters (Australia)

NWTN   North West Translators Network (UK)

SRX   Segmentation Rule eXchange (standardised exchange format for TE segmentation rules)

TA   Translators Association (a division of the Society of Authors)

TE   Terminology extraction

TE   Translation environment

TEnT   Translation environment tool

TET   Terminology extraction tool

TBX   TermBase eXchange (standardised exchange format for terminology databases)

TM   Translation memory

TMX   Translation memory exchange format

TWB   Translator’s Workbench