In the language services industry, there is common ground between professionals who fully understand the nature of their work and people who, despite being outsiders of this world, form a specific idea of the commercial, social and artistic activity that it entails. For all of us, translation in a broad sense is the action of expressing in one language what has been previously expressed in another. And to do so, both ends of the spectrum recognize that the words in a translated version must reproduce the meaning and sense of the words used in the original text as accurately as possible. As a case in point, when we judge a translation or come across a seemingly translated text (e.g., instructions, technical data sheets, internet publications, machine translated text when visiting websites in foreign languages, etc.), many of us feel the need to analyze the text in our native language, evaluate whether it “sounds good” and, finally, make an overall assessment of the translation. Is there anyone who hasn’t ever said “This is so poorly translated” or “I wonder what the original would say”? This is clear proof that the main purpose of a translation is to communicate effectively and, failing this, the target audience develops a negative impression of the translated product and distrusts the quality of the cross-language activity.
In general, one of the factors that most quickly demonstrates the quality of a translation and, ultimately, success when connecting with the target audience is the translation of terminology. Although terminology can be defined as the set of words specific to a certain profession, science or subject matter, the truth is that we could understand terminology more broadly as the set of words specific to any field and recognizable to the public in contact with that field. As such, we do not restrict terminology to the most conventional areas of expertise, such as science, technology, law and medicine, but instead we establish the existence of terminology in any field, regardless of its technicality. Music has its own terminology, and there are different sets of terms depending on whether we are talking about classical music, Latin pop, music production companies or local folklore. Fashion has its own terminology, and there are different sets of terms depending on whether we are talking about fabrics, interior design styles, past trends or craft workshops. Terminology is the set of words that gives idiosyncrasy to any field, and we can find it anywhere throughout our career as professional translators. For this reason, no specialty should be considered less specific than another or belonging to a lower or less complicated category, since mastering the lexicon of each one is a challenging skill to develop for professional translators and, when handled skillfully, it imparts superior quality to any translated product. And this is what makes the difference between a conventional translation and a superior translation.
That is why we translators take the translation of terms in each of the subjects that we work with very seriously. If writing with good style generates an appealing, motivating overall impression, using proper terminology provides rigor, seriousness and prestige. Therefore, it is common for translators to thoroughly research the area related to the content they are going to translate. There are, of course, translators who already have specific knowledge of a specialty and, on the other hand, there are translators who do not have the same specific knowledge but use many resources to immerse themselves in the topic, fully understand the texts they work with and produce a translation that is functional for both the target context and the target audience. In any case, terminology translations are not usually arbitrary in the world of professional translation. To have a good grasp of it, professionals must consult an endless number of specialized resources, such as multilingual glossaries, illustrated dictionaries, official databases, etc. All these efforts make it possible to accurately convey facts as they are known in each sector.
Terminology in the field of language service provision, however, faces two difficulties that are truly significant today. On the one hand, talking about terminology means talking about synonymy. In fact, more than one word can often be used to indicate a product or a concept. This is due to the coexistence of different varieties of Spanish, the adoption of foreign words arising from trends or necessity, and the inaccuracies resulting from urgent projects. Therefore, it is common for translators to find several translation options to choose from. When making a decision, the most important thing is to study the client, the material on their reference sites and, ultimately, try to connect as much as possible to the audience for whom the translation is intended. Although synonymy has the drawback that the increase in words for the same entity can lead to greater confusion, its lexical richness helps us write texts with our own, much more localized style. On the other hand, translators have to consider the fact that, in the commercial aspect, they translate for a specific client. This client, usually integrated in the sector that the translation relates to, will have some preferred terms that they expect to see used in the translated materials. This means that the task of documentation carried out by the translator is often relegated to the background given the need to respect a series of conventions provided by the client. In some cases, this will be simply a matter of style, but in others it is possible to find terminology databases with an unacceptable level of quality. That is why, whenever possible, it is best to contact the client to inform them of the situation and find the optimal solution for both parties.
Terminology is one of the most important elements when it comes to assessing the quality of a translation. As translators, we must strive to be as rigorous as possible and always bear in mind the needs of our clients and the audience for whom we translate.
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