Academic texts play a unique role in the lives of people around the world. These texts are unlike any other documents. Academic works span a number of genres, styles, and purposes. From theoretical to technical, and from liberal arts to the hard sciences, these texts are meant to shape thought and challenge imagination. They are meant to inspire and indoctrinate, to editorialize and to entertain.<\/p>\n
The very nature of an academic text provides some serious challenges<\/a> for translators, and some fields of study encompass many more complex issues than others. While all translations require diligence, academic texts are in a league of their own.<\/p>\n Consider the variations in style and content. The hard sciences (physics, chemistry, geology, etc) are highly technical in nature. Concepts are predominately universal and do not vary based on region or language. Literary fields, however, are filled with colloquialisms and figurative language that is often very hard to convey from one language to another. Subject matter<\/a> that makes sense in one culture may be completely lost on another. Social sciences bring in yet more challenges. Topics cover ideologies and concepts that vary with time and place and rarely mean the same thing from one country to the next.<\/p>\n There is not a single list of all the challenges a translation service faces when preparing an academic text for translation. Many questions must first be answered.<\/p>\n The answers to these questions will determine the extent to which machine-assisted translation systems<\/p>\n can be used on a document. The more technical and universal the text, the more beneficial CAT services are to the translator. Texts that have less lexical standardization and clarity are not as well suited for this type of translation service.<\/p>\n Many texts in the humanities, especially the social sciences pose special challenges. These texts often deal with terms, ideas and concepts that are understood in a single region, were understood during a particular period or have highly contrasted meanings within conflicting cultures. This means that many times the standard adjustments made to localize a document and create cultural relevance would not be applied to these texts.<\/p>\n There is also the temptation to modernize text. When dealing with history or past eras, putting modern concepts, ideas, beliefs, or even lexical and grammatical items could be considered anachronistic.<\/p>\n Most translators want their documents to read like an original document. Academic texts often do not lend themselves to this luxury. The very nature of academic texts often implies that the target audience is reading the document to learn something and must adjust themselves to the document and not the other way around. In this case, it is okay for the translation to actually sound like it is a translation.<\/p>\n Before you translate an academic text, there are a number of things you want to consider that many other translation services do not have to worry about.<\/p>\n There are many challenges involved in translating academic texts. Even still, they are translated successfully every day. When choosing a translation service<\/a>, you need to know the questions that need to be asked, the answers you need to hear, and the service that need to be provided in order to ensure your project meets your academic translation needs.<\/p>\nChallenges of Academic Translation<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\n Text style<\/td>\n Number of Charts, Graphs, etc.<\/td>\n Period Language<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Text format<\/td>\n Audience<\/td>\n Ideological adjustments<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Purpose<\/td>\n Degree of acculturation<\/td>\n Cultural adjustments<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Notes to Consider Prior to Translation<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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