Teaching science and technology translation through a methodological strategy

Resumen

El objetivo de este trabajo es la elaboración de una estrategia metodológica para la enseñanza de la asignatura Traducción Científico-Técnica en el 4to año de la carrera Lengua Inglesa con Segunda Lengua: Francés. La misma se basa en el enfoque basado en tareas y en los principios didácticos para la enseñanza de la traducción. La muestra es de 5 y profesores y coincide con la población. Se usaron métodos teóricos: Histórico-lógico, Analítico- sintético, Inductivo-deductivo y Sistémico-estructural; además se usaron métodos empíricos y sus técnicas correspondientes: observación, observación participativa, entrevista, análisis de documentos, triangulación y validación por criterio de expertos. También se utilizaron métodos matemáticos y estadísticos. Como resultado de esta investigación se obtiene un constructo de traducción y una estrategia metodológica para mejorar el proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje de la asignatura Traducción Científico-Técnica.

Palabras Clave: estrategia, estrategia metodológica, enfoque basado en tareas, principios didácticos.

SUMMARY: The aim of this paper is to elaborate a methodological strategy for the teaching of Science and Technology Translation in 4th year of English Language majors. It is based on the task-based approach and the didactic principles for the teaching of translation. The sample consisted of 5 teachers and coincides with the population. There were used theoretical methods: Historical and logical, Analytical and synthetical, Inductive and deductive, Systemic and structural; and empirical methods and its corresponding techniques: Observation, Participant observation, Interview, Analysis of documents, Triangulation, Assessment by experts. There were also used mathematical and statistical methods. Expected results of this paper are a construct of translation and methodological strategy for the improvement of the teaching and learning process of Science and Technology Translation.

Keywords: strategy, methodological strategy, task-based approach, didactic principles.

Introduction

Through years the teaching of English has become a prime need due to the importance of English as international language. From World War II and taking into account the role the United States of America as the leading nation of the latest advances in science, technology and economy, international relations became stronger and English the most used language for international communication. The urgency of using new concepts and updated terminology emerged as a result of science and technology sudden developments. These led to the emergence of new terms for specific fields.

In every society the mission of the university is to maintain a permanent attitude of changing and transformation. Its challenges: helping the socio-economic change and the promotion of sustainable human development; contributing through teaching and research to the organization of modern society as well as being more closely involved in efforts to reduce poverty; protecting the environment and improving the organization of services. That is why the university as a social institution plays a major role in every society because it represents its interests. So, the syllabi of disciplines and subjects taught at the institutions of higher education must be closely linked to the aforementioned, but also the knowledge of the English language, what will allow a better professional performance and most suitable scientific update which is manifested in competence. The latter is today an important concept to be considered. It implies greater integration among strategy, learning styles, work and organizational culture, together with the management of information and knowledge. It provides potential in people and their development. Competency-based performance management focuses on development and seeks what people are capable of doing in the future (Muñoz & Vega López, 2001).

This leads to the need for curriculum models that, based on their methodologies, allow the improvement of curricula in higher education to achieve these purposes. The transformation that is currently taking place in Cuban universities must acquire a strategic and leadership position to contribute effectively to this educational change and assume a more active role in the teaching-learning process.

Universidad Central ¨Marta Abreu¨ de Las Villas (UCLV) graduates professionals on English Language with a second foreign language: French that become teachers, interpreters and translators. Translation is a subject taught in the English Language curriculum since it opened in 1982, and is included in the discipline Translation and Interpreting. New curriculum D has been implemented to fulfill the quest of the Ministry of Higher Education towards the development of the university course English Language with a second foreign language: French student"s competences for the future. This implied new subjects such as specialized translations. Within curriculum D six translation subjects are taught: Introduction to Translation, Sociocultural Translation, Science and Technology Translation, Official Documents Translation, Socio-economic Translation and Journalistic Translation. This research focus on Science and Technology Translation due to the identified difficulties:

The insufficient methodological preparation for the teaching of the subject Science and Technology Translation;
the lack of methodological orientations in the syllabus for the teacher to teach the subject Science and Technology Translation;
the lack of printed updated bibliography on the topic;
the identification of lexical, syntactical, stylistic and writing aspects of science and technology texts;
the application of translation techniques to this kind of texts;
the complexities in the knowledge of historic, social, cultural and thematic reality in which the text is produced.

Progress and complexity of the scientific, technological and social development imposes new challenges to science in finding methods to approach reality from the perspective of change and transformation. Inspired by this perspective, in Pedagogy, as science of education, movements and trends from different theoretical approaches have tried to overcome the limitations and shortcomings of traditional Pedagogy. Thus, during the last decades of the 20th century the task-based approach has been widely spread for the teaching of translation.

The task-based approach was originally developed for teaching languages; Hurtado Albir (1999: 46-58) took the baton from authors like Nunan (1996), Zanon (1990) and Estaire and Zanon (1994) to apply it to the didactic of translation, and Sevilla Muñoz (2002) took a small step toward completion and put into practice the task-based approach in the training of science and technology translators.

For Zanon, in the field of language teaching, the characteristics of a task are: be representative of communication processes in real life; be identifiable as unit of activity in the classroom; to be intentionally directed towards language learning; to be directed to an objective, a structure and sequence of work (Zanon in Hurtado Albir, 1994: 48).

Hurtado Albir (1999: 56), based on the above mentioned characteristics, proposes the definition of task as a unit of work in the classroom, representative of the translation practice, which is intentionally directed to the learning of translation and is designed for a specific purpose, structure and sequence of work.

Through a task it is possible to establish relationships among the various elements of the educational context: personal: teachers and students; non personal: objectives, contents, methods, means, forms of teaching and evaluation. At the same time, a task is a unit that allows you to design a course, establishing a sequence of tasks within a framework in which to plan, formulate, implement and evaluate. Thus, the task-based approach is a methodological model and, at the same time, a way to design the curriculum that integrates all elements of the learning process in a classroom communicative environment.

[…] There has not been a development of specific didactic which involves the training of translators and interpreters. Research in didactics of translation is light years away from what has been done in other didactics. It suffers from, at first instance, a lack of research regarding curriculum design […] (Hurtado Albir, 1999, 10). The didactic methodology is faulty in the sense that methodological strategies for the teaching of Science and Technology Translation is little developed.

One aspect that strongly calls the attention when analyzing the phenomenon of technology translation is that despite being a lot more used than any other translation in the professional market, it has received a low bibliographic contribution in contradiction with that primacy […]. Moreover, little has been published on how to teach it, an area in which the vacuum is quite surprising, especially if it is considered how necessary it is to train professionals to deal with the huge technological and scientific translations generated in Spanish. (Jimenez Serrano, 2002, 205).

Hence the following scientific problem was identified:

How to improve the teaching and learning process of Science and Technology Translation Subject in 4th year majors of English Language with a second foreign language: French

The domain of the research work is the Methodology for translation teaching and the field of action is a methodological strategy for the teaching of Science and Technology Translation.

The overall aim of the research is to elaborate a methodological strategy for the teaching of Science and Technology Translation in 4th year majors of English Language with a second foreign language: French.

The research specific objectives are stated as follows:

To determine the theoretical and methodological foundations of teaching Science and Technology Translation for 4th year majors of English Language with a second foreign language: French, focusing on the task-based approach.
To assess the current methodological situation of translation teachers of English Language with a second foreign language: French to teach the subject Science and Technology Translation.

Theoretical foundations in the teaching of translation. General overview on Translation Studies

Translation Studies have been addressed as a less important activity in scientific research. During the 1950s and 1960s translation was defined by equivalence and the task of Translation Studies was to describe the modalities of that relation (Vinay and Darbelnet 1958, Malblanc 1963). Romance terms to refer to translation were to translate, to carry across, to transfer, and in order to take into account space and time.

For Baker (1998) effective translation concerns reproducing in the target language the closest possible equivalent of the source language message, however the extent to which this happens on the type of text being translated. Baker (1988) states that translation is a very young discipline in academic terms, thus it requires further investigation. Furthermore is expressed: "if translation is ever to become a profession in the full sense of the word, translators will need something other than the current mixture of intuition and practice to enable them to reflect on what they do and how they do it. They will need, above all, to acquire a sound knowledge of the raw material which they work with: to understand what language is and how it comes to function for its users."

The author coincides with these ideas although considers appropriate the proposal of the following construct: "to translate is to convey a message accurately from the source language into the target language, paying special attention to the cultural shifts between source and target societies." The focus should first be on content and then mirroring the style of language used. Besides, translation is not an easy content to define, nor an easy skill to master. In translation there is a tension between the need to convey meaning accurately, and the need to convey the style and feel of the source language text. Meaning has to take precedence over style.

The teaching of translation is an area of prime importance because it gives the chance to future translators to receive the proper training to perform as skillful professionals. Though translation has changed the world through time, contributing to the development of people, translation teaching really began in the 20th Century. Translation professors have the duty of developing translator"s skills and educating professionals, who will help the humankind become global. Thus, it is very important to consider the translation teaching method to be used.

New Tendencies in Translation Teaching

If Translation Studies are compared to the time when this activity began, it is clear that Translation Studies are quite new. Reviewing Santoyo (1987), the first translation studies began in the mid-20th Century in Geneva and Sorbonne, using traditional approaches. Newmark (2001) belongs to the authors representing the traditional approach, which bases his methods on translation manuals, traditional language teaching and the translation practice. He describes translation methods depending on how close they are to the source or to the target language. Authors like Vinay and Daberlnet (1995) represent contrastive approaches that describe direct and oblique translation methods, based on linguistic approaches. López and Minett (2001) are also representative of this contrastive approach, and contrasted linguistic aspects between source and target languages.

Subsequent to these traditional and purely linguistic approaches, there was a big step in translation teaching, changing to the functional approach. Nord (2009) stresses that the teaching of translation should be similar to the real practice of translation. This author proposes the functionalist approach that includes criteria to select texts to be translated in class, how to classify translation problems and procedures, how to monitor students" progress, and how to evaluate translations. In order to complement Nord"s ideas Gile (2009) assures that translation teaching should be focused on the translation process, rather than on the analysis of translation errors. He proposes class discussions about basic translation concepts such as: communication, quality, fidelity to the message, understanding, and knowledge acquisition by using sources of information. Gile makes reference to a first learning stage where students meet concepts and basic models, while receiving feedback from their professors.

Analyzing these theories it is found that Kiraly (1995) referred to a vacuum in translation pedagogy by stating that there are no clear principles to promote it: "…courses in translation skills instruction are usually not based on a coherent set of pedagogical principles derived from knowledge about the aims of translation instruction, the nature of translation competence, and an understanding of the effects of classroom instruction on students' translating proficiency."

The author considers that a good translation should not be read as a translation. The particular qualities or attributes of the target language should be respected and adhered to it. If the translation reads as if it was originally written in the target language then this is the evidence of the skills of the translator.

On the other hand, translation can never recreate a text that is totally equivalent to the original text in the source language because languages are all different in form, structure, sound, accent, and lexical resources.

Translation must involve contextual equivalence as well as or instead of word for word equivalence. Languages have words that are not translatable into other language except for paraphrasing. The translator must consider not only the meaning of each individual word as the author intended, but the meaning of sentences, paragraphs, and the text as a whole.

Rapid developments in science and technology during the second half of the 20th century have led to the need of creating appropriate terminology in these fields in many languages. It demands a major level of competences in translation.

Communicative competence

The communicative competence has been analyzed by specialists from different areas of knowledge. Chomsky (1965) argues that communicative competence is the implicit or explicit knowledge of the language system that allows the development of language skills for the production of a language. For Crystal (1999) it is constituted by the person's knowledge of the rules that govern the proper use of the language in a given social situation. According to Hymes (1972) communicative competence includes the intuitive domain that the native speaker possesses to use and interpret the language appropriately, in a process of interaction and relationship with the social context.

Stern (1983) points out that communicative competence is one that provides the speaker with the necessary mastery of the language and about the language, which means:

Intuitive command of the forms of the language.
Intuitive command of linguistic, cognitive, affective and sociocultural meanings.
Ability to use the language with the utmost attention to communication and minimal attention to form, creativity in the use of language.

Savignon (1997) highlights the dynamic nature of communication as well as that of communicative competence and refers that communication occurs in an infinite variety of situations, so that success in the performance of a given role depends on the understanding of the context and prior experience of a similar situation.

Páez (2005) systematizes as communicative competence the knowledge, the linguistic, psychological, cultural, pedagogical and social skills and abilities that allow the teacher to develop communication in the foreign language in a functional and interactive way and according to the situation, the purpose, the roles of the participants and the communication objectives to be achieved in their classroom, in a process in which a teaching meaning is negotiated. This author's ideas about the identification of communicative competence in the teacher partially coincides with the researcher"s, thus she adapted them to the translation teacher, who manifests communicative competence when:

Possesses the ability to produce the foreign language with correction;
applies the relevant communicative strategies for each moment and communicative situation;
develops ability to manage language resources, transmits and receives information, handles functions, notions and communicative situations depending on the factors that intervene in the educational communication act;
is able to control the formal structure of the language, knows its constitutive elements from the morphological, syntactic, stylistic, lexical and grammatical point of view, that allow him to develop his grammatical and textual skills;
knows the registers in that language, its intonation patterns and its rhythm; uses the stylistic resources and the linguistic variants of the language that is taught adapting them in a particular way to the context and to the possibilities and needs of the students throughout the whole process;
knows the culture of the people expressed in the language that teaches and transmits that culture to its students.
possesses linguistic competence, which demonstrates the ability to decoding and using correctly the rules and forms of the foreign language as well as the knowledge about the language and theories of communication, for which particular attention should be given to sociolinguistic factors (register, naturalness, cultural reference and language variant handling) which mediate the communication process in the classroom, also the norms and discursive strategies that are revealed in written communication, thus valid for educational communication.

In this sense Cross (1995) presents several indicators of the linguistic competence that contribute to evidence the linguistic performance of the translation teacher. It properly performs if it is able to:

Produce the foreign language with correctness.
Understand the complexities in historical, social, cultural knowledge and the thematic reality in which the text is produced.
Identify the lexical-syntactic, stylistic and writing aspects of science and technology texts.
Apply the strategies of a relevant translator in each moment or situation.
Manipulate language resources: transmit and receive information, handle functions, notions and communicative situations depending on the educational activity.
Control the formal structure of the language, know its grammatical, morphological, syntactic, stylistic and lexical elements.
Know the registers of the language.

Didactic competence

Ponce (2014) states that the concept of didactic competence is associated with the ability to design, organize and implement didactic strategies and activities in accordance with the level of students, as well as the ability to recognize individual differences in them. Furthermore, she points out that the competent teacher must be able to, based on its experience and application of the principles, approaches and methods of teaching-learning process of language, adapting the content to be taught to the styles and learning strategies of its students. In addition, the competent teacher should be able to monitor its own teaching performance and select among several possibilities the most appropriate and effective option for each of the situations presented to him in the classroom.

Gallardo (2005) also defines the didactic competence of the foreign language teacher as a complex psychological configuration of affective-motivational and cognitive nature that manifests itself during the direction of the teaching-learning process and according to the individual and collective needs of the students, in accordance with the objective and subjective conditions in which the process is carried out, with a communicative competence whose content and form are high moral values required by the citizen of the country in question. This author proposes a group of subcompetencies which in turn conform the indicators of didactical competence in foreign languages. The researcher adapted these sub-competences to the didactics of Science and Technology Translation. These are:

To have full command of the language taught.
To have the ability and skill to manage the teaching- learning process.
To apply approaches, methods, techniques and teaching procedures depending on the learning styles and strategies of their students.
To know and apply individual and group work techniques.
To understand and apply theories about curricular design and acquisition of translation techniques and translation competence.

From the above, it is evident that the teaching competence of the translation teacher has as essential components for the effective performance of its pedagogical activity the linguistic and didactic competence.

It should be noted that although competencies are manifested in performance, methodology for its achievement has been very little addressed, especially in the area of Science and Technology translation.

Sociocultural competence

Roméu (2006) refers to cognitive-communicative and sociocultural competence as the psychological configuration that comprises the cognitive and metacognitive aptitudes to understand and to produce meanings, the knowledge about the linguistic and discursive structures and the aptitudes to interact in the diverse sociocultural contexts, with different purposes. Thus, the cognitive and metacognitive processes are articulated as well as the mastery of the discursive structures and the sociocultural performance of the individual, which implies the integral development of the personality (cognitive, affective-emotional, motivational, axiological and creative). Furthermore, she expresses that this competence is achieved when the students become efficient communicators.

From the researcher"s view, who shares Roméu"s thoughts, the previously stated evidences that in the training of future translators it is essential that students master the languages they work with as well as the sociocultural features surrounding them to become proficient translators.

Translator"s competence

Translation competence is a complex concept and several authors in the field of Translation Studies have addressed it. Wilss looks at translation competence as "an interlingual supercompetence […] based on a comprehensive knowledge of the respective SL and TL, including the text-pragmatic dimension, and consists of the ability to integrate the two monolingual competencies on a higher level" Wills, 1982: 58). Bell defines translation competence as "the knowledge and skills the translator must possess in order to carry out a translation" (Bell. 1991:43). Hurtado Albir defines it as "the ability of knowing how to translate" (Hurtado Albir. 1996: 48). PACTE research group (Process of the Acquisition of Translation Competence and Evaluation) defines translation competence as the underlying system of knowledge required to translate (PACTE, 2011).

In his words Bell expressed: "The translator must, as a communicator, possess the knowledge and skills that are common to all communicators but, in two languages" Bell (1991: 35-36). It would mean that translators would have to possess communicative competence, based on source and target language knowledge, text-type knowledge, area and contrastive knowledge, which would back the following four areas of knowledge and skills: grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence and strategic competence in two languages, though the author insists on the idea that the knowledge and the skills mentioned above are not enough to become a translator. The definition of translation competence proposed by PACTE research group (which is conducted by Amparo Hurtado Albir) is the most integrative and the most widely used nowadays.

From the author"s view, the system of knowledge required to translate have to be acquired during the teaching-learning process of translation in which the teacher of translation uses the task-based approach to make students put into practice the knowledge they have of the source and target languages and the skills they have to accomplish different task successfully in order to enrich their translation competence.

In addition, the continuous training of the translation teacher has not been diversified into methodological strategy based on the task-based approach, regardless of whether there are proposals that seek to establish a close relationship between the necessities of upgrading of the teacher and the professional capacities of the work context in which he interacts, with a view to enhancing the professional competences for a better teaching work.

The Task-based approach in the teaching of translation

In syllabus organization many aspects should be considered. Some supporters like Breen (1987); Long (1985); Nunan (1989); Prabhu (1987) suggest using tasks as central elements that form the basis of daily and long-term lesson plans. Such an approach to syllabus design has become known as task-based instruction (TBI). The rationale for the employment of communicative tasks is based on contemporary theories of language learning and acquisition, which affirm that language use is the driving force for language development Long (1989); Prabhu (1987). For example, advocates of such theories like Pica, Kanagy, and Falodun (1993) suggest that, as Norris et al. (1998) put it, "the best way to learn and teach a language is through social interactions. [. . . they] allow students to work toward a clear goal, share information and opinions, negotiate meaning, get the interlocutor"s help in comprehending input, and receive feedback on their language production. In the process, learners not only use their interlanguage, but also modify it, which in turn promotes acquisition" (p. 31). In other words, it is not the text one reads or the grammar one studies but the tasks that are presented that provide learners a purpose to use the grammar in a meaningful context. This gives task design and its use a crucial role in shaping the language learning process.

Numerous contending definitions of tasks exist. Many of these definitions focus on different aspects of what constitutes a task. Long (1985) refers to a task as "piece of work undertaken for oneself or for others, freely or for some reward. Thus examples of tasks include [. . .] filling out a form, buying a pair of shoes, making an airline reservation, [. . .], finding a street destination and helping someone across the road. In other words, by "task" is meant the hundred and one things people do in everyday life, at work, at play, and in between" (p. 89).

Nunan (1989) provided another well-known definition. He considers a task as "any classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing, or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form" ( p. 10).

Skehan (2001) summarizes the parameters for a task activity in which "(a) meaning is primary, (b) learners are not given other people"s meanings to regurgitate, (c) there is some sort of relationship to comparable real-world activities, (d) task completion has a priority, and (e), the assessment of tasks are done in terms of outcome" (pp. 12-13).

From these definitions, regardless of the various interpretations, several common design features can be identified. These features include: All three definitions emphasize the importance of focus on meaning. This criterion supports the notion that conveying an intended meaning is the essence of language use. Long (1985) and Skehan"s (2001) definitions emphasize the use of real-world tasks or activities that are comparable to authentic task behavior. Performing real-world tasks also necessitates the use of real language to accomplish these tasks. Skehan (2001) further suggests that task performance often involves achieving a goal or an objective, or arriving at an outcome or an end product. In the meantime, Nunan"s (1989) definition makes specific reference to the classroom environment and points out that task performance may involve employing a single skill or a combination of several skills. His description recognizes the pedagogical needs for focusing on skills in isolation in language learning.

One of the challenges of task-based learning and instruction is that engaging students in a variety of tasks is necessary to promote acquisition. Students have many pedagogical needs which often necessitate a different approach to teaching. Here lays the salient of teaching translation by using the task-based approach. With it students must get appropriate of the skills needed to perform as qualified translators.

Hurtado Albir (1999), based on the previously mentioned characteristics, proposes a definition of task adapted to the teaching of translation. She defines it as a unit of work in the classroom, representative of the translation practice, which is intentionally directed to the learning of translation and is designed for a specific purpose, structure and sequence of work.

Authors like Sevilla Muñoz (2002) have applied this concept to the didactic of science and technology translation. He claims that through a task it is possible to establish relationships among the various elements of the educational context: personal: teachers and students; non personal: objectives, contents, methods, means, forms of teaching and evaluation. At the same time, a task is a unit that allows you to design a course, establishing a sequence of tasks within a framework in which to plan, formulate, implement and evaluate. Thus, the task-based approach is a methodological model and, at the same time, a way to design the curriculum that integrates all elements of the learning process in a classroom communicative environment.

That is why the researcher proposes a methodological strategy, grounded on the task-based approach.

Theoretical aspects on Science and Technology Translation

A definition of scientific and technical translation can be something as simple as: "It is the translation of texts of scientific and technological nature." the difficulty comes up when trying to define scientific and technical texts. The characterization of these texts, which have led to a type of specialized translation, seems paramount in the teaching-learning process, because students, future professional translators must know the object of study and how to work on the efficient implementation of the techniques and strategies for scientific and technical translation.

Science and Technology Translation can also be defined as "one in which the translator works with scientific and technical texts, understood as those dealing with knowledge from observation and study of reality (science) or the application of such knowledge (technologies) and whose purpose is the transmission of such knowledge" Sevilla and Sevilla (2002: 231).

In the literature consulted to carry out this research (Bédard, 1986; Alvarez, 2001; Gamero, 2001), the author found that while it is clear that there are differences between what is known as science and what is considered as technical, there is no consensus in how to call texts dealing with these fields of knowledge. Some authors working with specialty languages refer to them as technical and scientific texts (Hurtado, 2003, Gamero, 2001), while others call them scientific and technical texts (Alvarez, 2001) or technical and scientific. We consider it is necessary to mention some of those authors to explain these differences in naming and, simultaneously, clarifying those between the concepts of science and technology.

Gamero (ibid), who claims that most of the times technical-scientific translation (or scientific-technical) has been considered as a unit, both in research and teaching. In an attempt to clarify the differences between scientific and technical texts, Gamero (ibid.) defines the science and technology as follows: "science is a set of theoretical knowledge, and technology, the application of such knowledge industrial exploitation (technological sciences) or soil exploitation (agricultural sciences)". The definition proposed by Bédard (1986) regarding science, pointing more to the study of the natural than that of theory. However, it is very similar to Gamero (ibid), in concerning the definition of the technical; in his words "science have as object the study of natural realities (the subsoil, substances, the stars, life …). In opposition, techniques concentrate on objects (machines, instruments …) made by man.

Meanwhile, Sevilla and Sevilla (2003), referring to the texts themselves, describe scientific texts as those relating to "a set of disciplines that study the reality of nature "and technological texts (technical) shall make reference to the matters that engage in the practical application scientific knowledge ".

As one can see, the main difference is that science deals with theoretical aspects and is more associated with the phenomena of nature, while technical (or technology) focuses more on implementation knowledge of science. In this particular case, it was decided to address both types of texts (science and technology) as a unit, primarily for pedagogical reasons, although being aware of the differences existing between them:

Technical translation is primarily distinguished from other forms of translation by terminology, although terminology usually only makes up about 5-10% of a text. Its characteristics, its grammatical features (for English, passives, normalizations, third persons, empty verbs, and present tenses) merge with other varieties of language. The central difficulty in technical translation is usually the new terminology.

Terminology in Science and Technology Translation

It is in the practice of translation where it is shown that the restrictive view of the term nature is not enough to solve all the terminological problems of science and technology translator, which is also mirrored in the specific literature on the subject. Bédard (ibid.), for example, advises that some of the features commonly attributed to technical vocabulary (which is rigorous and unambiguous, well established and complete and is used uniformly) are nothing more than myths. Without downplaying the terminology for technical translation, this author advocates a critical attitude by the translator that allows it to intervene constructively to adapt the terminology to the situation and avoid falling into a mechanical translation. Therefore, the technical translator can use terminology without falling into servitude Bédard (1986.) Researching into this skeptical attitude, a number of authors have identified concrete aspects that make the relationship between the term of the source text and the term chosen for the target text more complex.

Accordingly, many works dealing with the role of terminology in the specialized translation focus their attention first on the question of terminology search (e.g. Wright; Wright, 1997). If the concept sought does not exist in the target language or has not yet been coined a name, the translator will have to assume the role of terminologist and to create an appropriate neologism (Arntz, 1993).

Definition of term. Differences between word and term

The Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation explains that terms differ from words in that they are endowed with a special form of reference, namely that they refer to discrete conceptual entities, properties, activities or relations which constitute the knowledge space of a particular subject field. In order to differentiate between general and special reference in linguistic parlance, a distinction is established between terms which have special reference within a particular discipline, and words which function in general reference over a variety of subject fields. And, to increase the specificity of reference, agreements are included on the precise meaning and expression forms of lexical items by means of processes of regularization, harmonization and standardization.

Roman Jakobson supported the idea that "all cognitive experience and its classification is conveyable in any existing language." Therefore, new terms should not represent a major concern for translators. Whenever there is deficiency, terminology may be qualified and amplified by loan-words or loan-translations, neologisms or semantic shifts, and finally, by circumlocutions" Jakobson in Venuti (2000: 115).

Translators usually develop their own individual strategies to overcome difficulties that result from the differences between the languages they work with. It is part of their professional competence "to move freely between the two languages, to be able to move from the thought to the linguistic form and from the linguistic form to the thought in two different ways" Klaudy (2003: 174). They know both cultures, so they can compare the geographical, historical, social and cultural aspects of the language communities concerned. Translators use certain transfer operations and thus they can bridge the gap between different cultures.

The proposal of a methodological strategy with a focus on the task-based approach is an outcome to of the need in evolving sustainable economy in Cuba of an interdisciplinary approach within the fields of Science and Technology and Business.

Conclusions

The construct of translation assumed by the researcher is consolidated in the communicative, didactical, sociocultural and translation competences that teachers of Science and Technology Translation possess.

The methodological upgrading of translation teachers requires the integration of the psychological, spatial and temporal dimensions, starting from the psychological one to achieve a better professional performance.

The proposal of a methodological strategy is an objective, viable and pertinent tool for the methodological training of the teachers of Science and Technology Translation, thus the implementation of the methodological strategy during the first term of the school year 2014-2015 resulted in greater efficiency in the teaching-learning process of the subject Science and Technology Translation.

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Autor:

Leidanys Núñez Zayas

1Lic. I.

Profesora de la Universidad Central "Marta Abreu"
de Las Villas