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Hence, technical translation is geared at making the translation of the technical text
consumer friendly. As such, anyone reading the translation will easily, properly and
effectively understand the target text as if he was reading the original or source text.
The translator very often than not is the intercultural or cross-cultural technical writer
(Göpferich, 1993). Mossop (1998:40) describes translation as being a process with five tasks
and three stages of production. The five tasks are:
Interpreting the source text
Composing the translation
Researching on the source text and his translation
Revising the translation
Deciding the implications of the commission
Approaches to translation
1. Source oriented approaches
a) Equivalence
The relationship between two entities with similarities, equalities or sameness in terms
of any number of potential equalities.
Levels of equivalence
Denotational meaning
Connotational meaning
Textual Norms
Pragmatic meaning
Types of equivalence
Formal equivalence, which has to do with form and content (Formal Correspondence).
Dynamic equivalence, in which the target text ought to have the same effect on the
audience as the source text had own its audience.
b) Functionalism
An ideology based on the extralinguistic, pragmatic and communicative factors of
translation. Functionalism however, presented some problems, such as
The function of the target text cannot be attained through an analysis of the
source text.
Determining the type of text from the text is a quasi-impossibility.
Conclusion
Various translation techniques exist, but not all can be applied to all types of texts.
According to the Skopos theory, no theory of translation explains technical translation. Free
or faithful translation may be required, depending on the type of text. So, while translating,
dynamism is advised (switching between free and literal translations in sentences or blocks of
paragraphs.) A communicative approach should be used. Thus, when translating technical
texts, the needs and wants of the target audience should be considered.