A Basis for Scientific and Engineering Translation

Book excerpt: This e-book (on CD-rom) and the accompanying handbook attack many of the most crucial difficulties encountered by both native and non-native English speakers when translating scientific and engineering material from German.The e-book is like a miniature encyclopaedia dealing with the fundamental conceptual basis of science, engineering and mathematics, with particular regard to "terminology." It provides didactically organised dictionaries, thesauri and a wide range of microglossaries highlighting "polysemy, homonymy, hyponymy, context, collocation, usage" as well as grammatical, lexical and semantic considerations essential to accurate translation. It also supplies a wide variety of "reference material" and "illustrations" useful to self-taught professional technical translators, translator trainers at universities, and especially to student translators.All the main branches of industrial technology are examined, such as "mechanical, electrical, electronic, chemical, nuclear engineering, " and fundamental terminologies are provided for a broad range of important subfields: "automotive engineering, plastics, computer systems, construction technology, aircraft, machine tools."The handbook provides a useful introduction to the e-book, enabling readers proficient in two languages to acquire the basic skills necessary for technical translation by familiarity with fundamental engineering conceptions themselves.