Zur Übersetzung technischer Begriffe im Bereich der Waffenkunde

• Main Author: Wallin, Magnus
• Format: Others
• Language: German
• Published: Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för språk och litteratur, SOL 2011
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-14173

The purpose of this work is to examine the translation of technical language from German into Swedish within the field of small arms. The analysis is based on translation of a selected part of a specialist reference book on the historical development of small arms which was printed in East Germany in 1979. The work is divided into two major parts. The work is divided into two major parts. The first part is referred to as theoretical background and here the author gives a thorough description of major concepts related to technical language such as denotative equivalence, lexical gaps and the construction of terms. In the second part the author analyses the original text and the translation in regard to these concepts. Also, to some extent, different logical and hierarchical relations between terms are discussed. One main focus lies on the analysis of lexical gaps whereby various methods used for closing these gaps are thoroughly discussed. In relation to this, the author also focuses on different contextual and cultural preferences and adaptations when it comes to the terminological naming of small arms and their components. Another central topic is how technical terms are constructed when it comes to small arms. More specifically the focus lies on language-specific properties regarding nominal compositions between various parts of speech, but also on the use of metaphors. From the analysis several conclusions can be drawn. In most cases it is possible to translate a technical term with a corresponding term in the target language. Lexical gaps mainly emerge when we are dealing with a type of small arm that is popular in one country but hardly exists in the other. Another conclusion is that there are several possibilities to construct technical terms. It is quite common that the German nominal composition differs from the Swedish one. Also, metaphors can be translated with certain flexibility.