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The translation of computer terms - A brain teaser?!
Thread poster: Monika Martens
Monika Martens
Monika Martens
Local time: 02:33
Italian to Albanian
+ ...
In memoriam
Aug 13, 2002

The new electronic terms in general and computer terms in specific have entered in every language.

The fact that these terms come from English creates a bit of a difficult situation when it comes to translating these terms to other languages. These words are new and creating a new term for these words in a certain language it sure isn’t easy.

Most of them are taken from English, changed a bit, “grammatically habituated” to a certain language and are used like that. For ... See more
The new electronic terms in general and computer terms in specific have entered in every language.

The fact that these terms come from English creates a bit of a difficult situation when it comes to translating these terms to other languages. These words are new and creating a new term for these words in a certain language it sure isn’t easy.

Most of them are taken from English, changed a bit, “grammatically habituated” to a certain language and are used like that. For example the verb “chat” has for equal in Dutch - “chatten”, word that in itself doesn’t make any sense unless it is used in connection with having a conversation in one of the many electronic chat rooms overall in the Internet.

What is happening is that this word is being used more and more and not only in this context. The same can be said for words like: edit – editen etc.

Judging from the fact that Dutch is a Germanic language, and there are a lot of words in common with English, the use of these terms still makes sense and it’s consider probably a matter of using “fancy” words, meanwhile that the language has terms that could very well be used to describe a certain action. The situation is not this bright when it comes to other languages like Albanian. Albanian language has almost nothing in common with English. There are only a few words whose spelling sounds a bit like the English one, let say the word “computer” – kompjuter in Albanian. These simple notions are used in every language, adding prefixes or suffixes and creating this way a word in that specific language. But what when it comes to other more complicated terms and the translation of them in languages that have not much in common with English? Let say “I proofread” – this verb would have for Albanian equivalent – “korrigjoj, permiresoj”. But these two verbs are used more in the context: the teacher reads and evaluates the work of a student” and: somebody improves himself, his mistakes, his performance in something (reflexive verb), or improves the work of somebody else(not very common use - permiresoj)…

Would it be appropriate to use this word for computer terms and which one is better?

Is it a matter of personal choice to use this or that translation or create a new -more related to this specific case- word… And with this I am not even coming close to real “brain teasers” like hardware, software, etc when the lack of specific terms compels a translator to try to find a “round about” translation, using more than one word, trying to keep near to the real meaning that he knows very well but how difficult to express it with words …I have a hundred examples of these terms, but as I am sure I am not the only one facing this problem I will now close it with a greeting for all you hoping to hear something about this topic soon.

Best regards

Monika Martens






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Monika Martens
Monika Martens
Local time: 02:33
Italian to Albanian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
In memoriam
not interesting enough I guess Aug 14, 2002

well, I am new here around, I will learn how to get attention

greetings Monika
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kbamert
kbamert  Identity Verified
Local time: 02:33
French to German
+ ...
it's interesting - just difficult to give some answer Aug 19, 2002

and you got attention, 234 people viewed your posting... and I think there are not many people having Albanian in their language combination...
 
Monika Martens
Monika Martens
Local time: 02:33
Italian to Albanian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
In memoriam
yeah, you are right... Aug 20, 2002

I was only joking when I said the words about the topic not being interesting

You are right: we all know this thing happens and we all have examples of it, but when it comes to a certain language combination that is not our specialty we rather keep quiet.

Thanks for your answer .

Greetings Monika


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The translation of computer terms - A brain teaser?!







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