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Knowledge representation and descriptive terminology management

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Faber, P. 1999. Conceptual analysis and knowledge acquisition in scientific

translation. Terminologie et Traduction 2: 97-120.

DESCRIPTIVE TERMINOLOGY MANAGEMENT IN SCIENTIFIC

TRANSLATION
Pamela Faber
University of Granada

0. Introduction

Pragmatics is the study of how utterances acquire meaning in particular

communicative contexts. In other words, it is the use of language as communication as
opposed to the language as a formal system. Many studies on pragmatics restrict
themselves to the analysis of the variations in meaning of an utterance in different
contexts, or how the canonical meaning of a linguistic expression changes when it is
used in a specific context. However, pragmatics has a much wider scope since it
studies languages from different perspectives that are directly related with the
following aspects of the communicative event:

(i) Participants: text sender and receiver

(ii) Context of the utterance (shared knowledge)

(iii) Speaker intention (goal that the text-sender wishes to achieve)

(iv) The utterance as a speech act.

Logically, pragmatics and translation are closely intertwined. The translator uses
at least five different types of knowledge in his work (Arnold apud Moreno 1997):

(i) Source language knowledge

(ii) Target language knowledge

(iii) Knowledge of mappings between the two

(iv) Knowledge of the subject of the text, both general and specific.
 2

(v) Knowledge of the cultural context, social conventions, and speech acts
of the speakers of both languages. This includes “knowledge of the
knowledge” of the speakers and the relation that they can have with each
element in the communicative context.

This last type of knowledge (which is the domain of pragmatics) is what permits the
translator to act as a real mediator and thus be sure that the target text has the same
effect on the receiver as the source text. To a certain extent, it assures the transmission
of the message, adjusting it to the communicative context and culture of the receiver.
[Not surprisingly, this type of knowledge is the most difficult to codify in MT.]

In translation the communicative context is obviously extended to include two

more sets of participants as well as two languages and their respective cultures. The
translator becomes the first receiver and the second text-sender. The client who
initiates the communicative act is also an important factor to be taken into account,
since his necessities and demands evidently influence the context of the text and the
transmission of the message. Describing the meaning of a text from any of these
perspectives inevitably means talking about pragmatics.

Since it is so vast, pragmatic meaning is very difficult to pin down. Most of

what is written about pragmatics is full of vagueness and lack of precision since it is
virtually impossible to analyze and classify all types of potential contexts, extracting
from them all of the generalizations, which are valid for a theory of translation.
Communication in action depends on an infinite number of possible variants which do
not easily lend themselves to formalization.

1. Pragmatics and scientific translation

As has been mentioned, many studies in pragmatics are centered around the
communication of texts, both written and oral. However, I am going to speak of
something here that has not been studied as yet: the role that specialized language or
terminology plays in the activation of pragmatic meaning in scientific translation.
More specifically, we are going to examine, how it is related to the receivers’
 3

understanding of the source text. (It should not be forgotten that one of the receivers
of the source text is also the translator.)

It is a truism that in translation, the communicative context is very important,

among other things because in the context are the elements that will help the translator
decode the source text and see the intentionality of the text-sender. The translator has
a double role to fulfill. Obviously, part of translation competence lies in the capacity
of the translator to understand the in the same way as the text-sender. The analytical
process for any task of natural language understanding basically is the following:

(i) morphological analysis: the assignment of one or various tags to the

entry string

(ii) syntactic analysis: transformation of the string in structures that show the
way in which the words are related

(iii) semantic analysis: the assignment of meaning to the structures thus

generated

(iv) integration in discourse: variation of the meaning of a sentence in

accordance with the preceding and following sentences, as well as the
text as a whole

(v) pragmatic analysis: reinterpretation of the representation thus obtained to

determine its meaning with a specific communicative context.

Naturally this analysis does not happen in such a clear sequence. Our minds more or
less follow this process. However, they do not only go in one direction by continually
go back and forth to verify and adjust data. Although in order to speak of
comprehension, we would have to take all of the modules into account, we are going
to restrict ourselves to the last one, that of pragmatic analysis. This type of meaning
adjustment is carried out in function to context, which includes, among other
elements, the participants in the discourse.

In order to reconstruct the meaning of the source text with the means provided
by the target language, the translator must not only know the extent of his own
 4

knowledge, but also what the other participants know (or are capable of knowing).
Perhaps this type of reconstruction is easier to study because it is in direct relation
with the result (the translation). However, the understanding of the source text is also
an important part of the translation process and also entails reconstruction, but in this
case, a reconstruction of conceptual systems.

2. Terminology management and the translator

It can be said that all translators are to some extent, terminologists, and in that
sense, are a bit like Molière’s bourgeois gentilhomme, who made the surprising
discovery that he could speak in prose. The specialized terms in a translator’s (or
anyone’s) mental lexicon and the conceptual relations that constitute the storage
network encode his/her knowledge of that particular domain.
Everyone is aware (or should be) that the elaboration of the TT is a
reconstruction, but what is somewhat less studied is the fact that the comprehension
process of the translator-receiver is also a reconstruction as well, though not so much
of textual meaning, as conceptual systems. In specialized translation, the
comprehension process of the translator is something like the reconstruction of the
entire skeleton of a brontosaurus on the basis of only a few bones. Starting from the
most explicit elements of the text (in the scientific text, this would be its terminology),
translators begin their detective work, first by situating the terms of the text within
their respective conceptual systems, and secondly, by expanding their own knowledge
base to the necessary levels to include them.
Needless to say, technical translators must know how to do this rapidly
knowledge for their work. This naturally means terminology management, but of a
type that is descriptive rather than prescriptive. Wright and Wright (1997: 147)
underline the difference between systematic terminology management that is subject-
field-driven vs. the more ad hoc descriptive terminology management, which is text-
driven. The differences between the two appear in the table below:
 5

()

Systematic Terminology Management Ad Hoc Terminology Management

 Collect terms and concepts from global Identify terms occurring in isolated
field texts
 Construct a concept system of systems  Create starter term entries
 Craft well-structured definitions  Document available contexts
 Create term entries  Research greater context, within time
restrictions
 Link entries to conceptual structure,  If time and opportunity allow it,
reflecting the concept system(s) reconstruct the concept system based
on available fragments.

It is even advisable that translators themselves be the ones to carry out this work
because structuring concepts helps them to assimilate the thematic content of the text
as well as to dominate the relevant linguistic means to express that content, both in the
SL and the TL. Although translators often cannot dedicate a great deal of time to
terminology simply because there are deadlines to be met, the elaboration of
terminographic entries which systematize related concepts can only facilitate the
translation process.
In ideal conditions, terminology management is carried out by extracting a list of
terms taken from representative publications in the field in question, developing
systems of concepts, and thus establishing relations of correspondence between two or
more languages. Reality, however, is often quite different. In actual practice, the
analysis and organization of terminology is often motivated purely by the text that
must be translated, and this is done parallel to the translation process. The translator
takes the text as a model of the world, and uses it to elaborate a partial reconstruction
of the underlying conceptual systems within the text.
We are going to examine the translation process insomuch as the existing
relation between the translator and the source text. The two texts that I am going to
use to exemplify this relation belong to an inventory of texts on CancerNet that
provide information in English and Spanish for physicians as well as patients about
 6

different types of cancer, symptoms, causes, treatments and possibilities of survival.

The first text is directed to health professionals, and the second to patients and their
families. Although both describe the most virulent type of lung cancer (small-cell lung
cancer), we shall see how each message is adapted to the needs, knowledge, and
expectations of their respective receivers and most differ from each other in their
pragmatic components, more specifically in the knowledge projected onto the
potential receivers.

2.1. Communicative context in specialized communication

Part of the analysis done by any good translator necessarily entails a
consideration of the communicative context in which the text and its translation are
inserted. In a model of scientific communication, both the sender and the receiver are
specialists, who are working in the same field. Both form part of a communicative
situation in which the sender wishes to transmit a certain message in order to modify
the knowledge base of the receiver in some way. Since context is so all-important in
translation, it is necessary to take a look at the communicative frame represented by
the following diagram:

()

knowledge
linguistic form

SENDER text RECEIVER

purpose

intentions
expectations

The motivation of the sender is translated into an intention that in some way becomes
an explicit or implicit part of the meaning of the text. In any act of scientific
communication, the global intention is to inform. The effect of the message can be
limited to modifying, adding to, or confirming what the receiver already knows.
 7

Alternatively, its objective may be to evoke linguistic or extralinguistic reactions, such

as approval, confirmation, rejection, or other types of modifications in the receiver’s
behavior.
Based on his/her expectations of the receiver’s knowledge and feelings, the
sender selects the elements for his message that will best achieve his goal: more
specifically, he selects the best level of language, configures the linguistic expressions
chosen for the text, and finally transmits the message to the receiver. In informative
speech acts, the sender generally has more knowledge about the topic of discourse
than the receiver because otherwise, there would be no effective transfer of
information. In order for this transfer to be successful, the receiver must at the same
time recognize that the sender has sufficient authority in the knowledge domain. The
selection of content and the way it is encoded depends, at least in part, on the power
relation existing between the participants in the speech act.
If we apply this model to the texts on lung cancer, we find the following points
of contrast:

()
knowledge
(1) = sender
(2) < sender

linguistic form
(1)impersonal, technical,
(2) personal, basic

SENDER text  RECEIVER

(1) health professional purpose (1) physician
(2) health professional (2) patient

intentions
(1) (2) informative

expectations
(1) receiver = physician, not
directly affected by the
illness
(2) receiver = person directly
affected by the illness
 8

In the first text, the sender and receiver (both health professionals) possess the same
level of knowledge. As shall be seen, this is evident in the extensive use of specialized
medical terms, the absence of definitions, and even of any explicative contexts.
In the second text, there is obviously not the same equality, since the sender is
a health professional and the receiver, a patient. In the text directed to patients, there
are no terminology problems because the sender takes into account the receiver’s lack
of expert knowledge. The difference in receiver is also evident in the fact that
everything is much more personal from the use of the second person to the detailed
description of the diagnostic tests, not only in reference to their effectiveness, but also
the extent to which they affect the well-being of the patient.
In the first text, this type of information is superfluous because the
physician/health professional is familiar with these tests and knows what they consist
of. The fact that they are more or less personally uncomfortable for the patient is not
relevant to the specialist, who is logically more concerned with the effectiveness of
the results.
Apart from the obvious difference in expert knowledge, another important
difference resides in the role that the illness plays in the communicative context. In the
first text, , the physician (receiver) wishes to obtain information so that he can make a
more informed decision about the treatments that he can give to his patients.
Obviously, he is not directly affected by the illness:

()
channel
sender receiver
message
(illness)

In the second text, the receiver is directly implicated because the topic of discourse is
the illness affecting him. This is a crucial factor in the structure and content of the
text.

() channel
sender receiver
 9

message
(illness)

Throughout the text for patients, there is a very optimistic orientation, and the
virtually non-existent possibilities of long-term survival are never mentioned. The
author of the text even goes so far as to triumphantly announce the existence of
treatments.

() There are treatments for all patients with small-cell lung cancer.

This optimistic perspective is reinforced by the description of the functions of

different treatments:

()
 surgery (taking out the cancer)
 radiation therapy (using high-dose x-rays or other high-energy rays to kill
cancer cells)
 chemotherapy (using drugs to kill cancer cells)

The use of predicates such as take out and kill make one think, at least subliminally,
that the three types of treatment are effective and really do what they are supposed to.
For example, something bad which is taken out, normally is not put back in again. In
the same way, our common sense tells us that something that is killed, disappears
more or less definitively. The text never specifies the extent to which this is actually
the case, or if in this context, there is any deviation from the default values.
This is in direct contrast with the text for physicians in which the truth is stated
very baldly:

() Without treatment, small cell carcinoma of the lung has the most aggressive
clinical course of any type of pulmonary tumor, with median survival from
diagnosis of only 2-4 months
 10

() In small cell lung cancer, the majority of patients die of their tumor despite
state-of-the-art treatment.

In fact, these texts transmit information in such a radically different way that a patient
who happened to click on the wrong web page would probably think that he had
landed on another planet, or at the very least, would think that a totally different
illness was being described.
In the text for physicians, the patient is also mentioned very generally as an
anonymous collectivity. The patients are present, not as people that can experience
pain, but strictly in function with their possibilities of survival, percentage-wise. In
contrast, in the text for patients, the sender not only takes into account the receiver’s
level of knowledge, but also his position in the medical event, both in the
configuration and structure of the text. For example, instead of describing the
subtypes, and recent research results, it catalogues symptoms, diagnostic tests, and
treatment options, all of which directly affect the patient. The description of a
bronchoscopy is the following:

() If you have symptoms, your doctor may want to look into the bronchi
through a special instrument, called a bronchoscope, that slides down the
throat and into the bronchi. This test, called bronchoscopy, is usually done
in the hospital. Before the test, you will be given a local anesthetic (a drug
that makes you lose feeling for a short period of time) in the back of your
throat. You may feel some pressure, but you usually do not feel pain.

The fact that the patient in his role of affected entity is the main focus in the text is
evident in the predicates throughout the text and the propositional information they
encode, which points to the patient as possessor.
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()
symptoms cough
chest pain
wheezing
shortness of breath
coughing up blood
hoarseness
swelling in face and neck

patient HAS bronchi

throat

bronchial examination

physician CAUSES bronchoscopy instrument bronchoscope

the patient to HAVE location hospital
local anesthetic

pressure  pain

When this information is structured in the form of a conceptual network like the
above, it is easier to carry out the transfer of meaning from one language to another
through the substitution of conceptual designations in one language to those of
another. Even at this very basic level, it also permits us to see which conceptual
systems have been activated within the text.
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()
síntomas tos
dolor en el tórax
silbido en la respiración
falta de aliento
tos con sangre
ronquera
hinchazón en la cara y el cuello

paciente TIENE bronquios

garganta

examen de los bronquios

médico CAUSA broncoscopia instrumento broncoscopio

que el paciente TENGA lugar hospital
anestésico local

sensación de presión  dolor

In the text for physicians, this type of basic information is not given, simply
because it is not necessary. However, in the case of the patient, it does respond to the
needs of the receiver who connects to CancerNet to get information, and thus modify
his knowledge, adding this information to that which he already has. As we shall see,
this means a modification of conceptual structures at different levels.
The translator as the first receiver and second sender in the translation process
should take these factors into account when he reformulates the meaning of the source
text in the TL, according to the evaluation standards of specialized communication:
economy, precision, and adequacy. The precision and adequacy can present a problem
because the translator must elaborate a TLT from the perspective of an expert
informing other experts, when most of the time he lacks expert knowledge.

2.2. Terminology and technical translation

One of the translator’s first tasks is to define the domain/subdomain to which
the text belongs, as well as the conceptual systems activated within its content.
However, at least in the perception of the receiver, what makes a text more or less
specialized is basically its terminology. Effectively, the terms of a text are what
 13

determines the text’s domain, and also what gives it its technical content. The
selection of a terminology base with an appropriate structure plays an important role
in the selection of contents, as well as in the transmission of the message.

2.2.1. Concepts and conceptual systems

As all of you know, terms represent concepts. Concepts are organized in a given
domain in structured sets called conceptual systems that reflect the vision of reality
within a discipline or area of professional activity. Correspondingly, each conceptual
system is a structure that can contain various subclasses of concepts.
In order to understand what a term means, it is also necessary to understand the
conceptual system it belongs to. This is important because terms can only truly be
used in a discourse (without any fear of mistake), if the sender has the term and its
configuration in his knowledge base. Two important aspects of a system of concepts
are:
 Its static organization represented by terms and their interrelations.
 Its dynamic potential for the accommodation of new concepts within the
system.
In a conceptual system, there are two categories of conceptual relations:
hierarchical and non-hierarchical. Hierarchical relations are the following:
 The relation between a generic term and more specific ones. For example, in
our texts, the most important of the various hierarchical concepts activated is
that of malignant tumors.
 Meronymic or part-whole relations. The superordinate concept is the whole
and the subordinate concepts are its parts. An example of this type of
hierarchy is that of the human body.
Although hierarchical relations have been studied in depth, non-hierarchical
relations certainly have not. This type of relations are of great importance in dynamic
knowledge representations because they enhance conceptual structure by enriching
networks (as we have seen in our rolesets) and codifying the multiple and various
relations one concept can have with others. Examples of such relations are the
following:

()
 14

Relation Example
CAUSE-EFFECT smoking—malignant tumor
ACTIVITY-PLACE treatment—hospital
OBJECT-FORM cancer cell—oat cell
PROCESS-METHOD diagnostic test—bronchoscopy
METHOD-INSTRUMENT bronchoscopy—bronchoscope

Notwithstanding, specialized texts never reflect entire systems of concepts. Such

texts are generally written for receivers with expert knowledge, and thus use concepts
at more specific levels of the domain without explicitly referring to those at more
general levels. Only a fragment of the conceptual system is mentioned in the text, but
the translator must reconstruct an important part, if not all of it, in order to obtain a
comprehension of the content similar to that of the ideal receiver, in this case, a
physician with expert knowledge.
As we have seen, the sender selects textual content in accordance with his
expectations about the ideal receiver. The presupposed knowledge is implicit in the
extensive use of medical terms without definitions. In the case of specialized
communication, the existence of a nomenclature (terms and standardized expressions
that the sender knows that the receiver will recognize and understand) is useful to
assure shared knowledge.
In the text for doctors, there are various examples of this, such as the
enumeration of possible treatments and the combinations of drugs in chemotherapy
(cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, lomustine, vincristine, etoposide) as well as
diagnostic tests and body parts. For example, the text for doctors frequently uses very
specialized anatomical terms without any sort of explicative context (e.g. hemithorax,
mediastinum, supraclavicular lymph nodes.), whereas the text for patients even
defines very basic terms such as lung.
Each term can be said to contain the pragmatic feature of its membership in a
particular domain, and refers either implicitly or explicitly to other related terms, as
well as to the whole structural configuration of the domain. In both texts, we can see
that their respective terms activate the following conceptual systems.
 15

()

Systems activated: texts for physicians Systems activated: text for patients

1(phys) Types of cancer 1(pat) Types of cancer

2(phys) Body parts: specific level 2(pat) Body parts: general level
3(phys)  3(pat) Symptoms
4(phys)  4(pat) Analysis
5(phys) Types de tumor 5(pat) 
6(phys) Tumor as a process 6(pat) Illness as a process
7(phys) Treatment: negative side effects 7(pat) Treatment: solution

The systems activated are different in both texts. Even when the systems have the
same label, they are different insofar as the level of knowledgeencoded. For example,
in the text for physicians, system 1(phys) is activated by the term carcinoma, and
refers to the different types of cancer according to their body location. Further on in
the text, this hierarchy expands to more specific levels: it takes the classification of
malignant tumors in general as a starting point and works down to those in the lungs.
The following diagram shows the section of the hierarchy activated in the text for
physicians:

()

cancer

bones, muscles, cells forming the epidermis blood, bone, bone, lymphatic system
tissue on the skin, throat, lungs, marrow, spleen
and certain organs

sarcoma carcinoma leukemia lymphoma

text

However the comprehension of the information necessarily means the reconstruction

of the rest of the system in order to situate carcinoma in the context of other related
concepts. In contrast, in the text for patients, the reference to the illness inevitably
remains at the more general level of the hierarchy, followed by the name of the
affected organ, in this case, the lung:
 16

()

cancer

liver stomach breast lung prostate brain .... ....

non-small cell small cell

text

The knowledge necessary for the comprehension of the text for patients is very basic
since the receiver is not an expert. However, in both texts, the process of
comprehension is similar because both activate knowledge structures through the use
of terms.

3. Terminology and context

It is necessary to distinguish between the term as part of a specialized text and the
term as a terminographic entry. Dubuc and Lauriston (1997: 80) call this the
distinction between the term en vitro y en vivo.

For a term to be a term, it must be the designation of an object belonging to a

specialized field of knowledge. Actually all terms refer to knowledge described by a
sublanguage. Many times the boundary between general and specialized langauge is
not clear. As we have seen in the texts, terms can belong to different levels of
specialization and there is often a degree of overlapping between the two. This can be
seen even at the level of its definition (term en vitro).

3.1. Definitions and knowledge representation

It is a little-known fact, but nevertheless true, that a definition (both of word and
term) is a kind of knowledge representation. Getting a glimpse of the patterns
underlying the codification of meaning signifies analysing lexical-conceptual structure.
In this respect, each lexicographical or terminological dictionary definition (when
elaborated correctly) can be considered a mini-knowledge representation, and in this
respect, is also a translation of our perceptions of reality.
 17

In reference to terms, a very important part of concept designation is its

definition because in such a definition, a term’s relations with other terms should be
encoded, though this is often not the case. A definition represents a term in vitro as
opposed to a term in vivo (as it occurs in an actual text). First, we are going to look at
the term in vitro:

3.1.1. The term in vitro

A definition can be said to have a pragmatic meaning in that it signals
membership in a specific knowledge domain, and is the expression of the set of
characteristics of a concept. A terminological definition SHOULD provide the link
between the concept and term because through the elaboration of the definition, its
reference is fixed, while at the same time, its relations with other concepts are made
explicit within the knowledge structure.
Whereas a general or encyclopedic definition describes a concept giving all of
its functions in the different domains it can conceivably belong to, a terminographical
definition provides the identification of a concept within a specialized domain. For
example, cancer is a concept that can be considered part of general language, as well
as part of medical terminology, and as such, has two kinds of definitions, one
lexicographical and the other, terminographical.

() Cancer: general language definition

[LONGMAN DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND CULTURE]

can-cer n. (a serious medical condition caused by) a diseased growth in the body, which may cause
death. Cancer is a common cause of death in Western countries and is a disease that people are
very frightened of getting: lung cancer.

[COLLINS COBUILD ENGLISH LANGUAGE DICTIONARY]

cancer. 1. Cancer or a cancer is a serious disease in which cells in a part of a person’s body increase
in number rapidly in an uncontrolled way, producing abnormal growths. Nicholas was dying of
lung cancer…These rays falling on unprotected fair skin can produce cancer.
2. A cancer is a situation which you consider to be evil and unpleasant and which is becoming
rapidly more common and widespread; a formal use. EG. What was happening was a sickness, a
cancer in society that could not be helped.

[OXFORD ADVANCED LEARNER’S DICTIONARY]

can-cer n. 1. (a) diseased growth in the body, often causing death; malignant tumour: Doctors found a
cancer on her breast. (b) disease in which such growths form: lung cancer
cancer of the liver.
2. (fig.) evil or dangerous thing that spreads quickly: Violence is a cancer in our society.

[DRAE]
 18

cáncer m. Pat. Tumor maligno, duro o ulceroso, que invade y destruye los tejidos orgánicos animales
y es casi siempre incurable. |2. n. p. m. Astron. Cuarto signo del Zodiaco, de 30º de amplitud, que el Sol
recorre aparentemente al comenzar el verano. | 3. Astron. Constelación zodiacal que en otro tiempo
debió de coincidir con el signo de este nombre, pero que actualmente, por resultado del movimiento
retrógrado de los puntos equinocciales, se halla delante del mismo signo y un poco hacia el Oriente. |
4. adj. Referido a personas, las nacidas bajo este signo del Zodiaco.

[VOX]
cáncer 1 m. Masa de tejido anormal que se forma en determinadas partes del organismo y que se
puede extender a otras partes del cuerpo hasta causar la muerte. 2. fig. Vicio o elemento que destruye
una sociedad.

() Cancer: specialized language definition

Black’s Medical Dictionary

CANCER is the general term used to refer to a malignant tumour, irrespective of the tissue of origin.
“Malignancy” indicates that (i) the tumour is capable of progressive growth, unrestrained by the
capsule of the parent organ and/or (ii) capable of distant spread via lymphatics or the blood stream
resulting in development of secondary deposits of tumour known as ‘metastases’. Microscopically,
cancer cells appear different from the equivalent normal cells in the affected tissue. In particular they
may show a lesser degree of differentiation (i.e. they are more ‘primitive’), features indicative of a
faster proliferative rate and disorganized alignment in relationship to other cells or blood vessels. The
diagnosis of cancer usually depends upon the observation of these microscopic features in biopsies, i.e.
tissue removed surgically for such examination.
Cancers are classified according to the type of cell from which they are derived as well as the
organ of origin. Hence cancers arising within the bronchi, often collectively referred to as ‘lung cancer’,
include both adenocarcinomas (derived from glandular epithelium) and squamous carcinomas (derived
from squamous epithelium. Sarcomas are cancers of connective tissue, including bone and cartilage.
The behaviour of cancers and their response to therapy vary widely depending on numerous other
factors such as growth rate, differentiation in cell and characteristics and size at the time of
presentation. It is entirely wrong to see cancer as a single disease entity with a universally poor
prognosis.

[DTCM (Diccionario terminológico de ciencias médicas)]

cáncer Tumor maligno en general y especialmente el formado por células epiteliales. La
característica básica de la malignidad es una anormalidad de las células, transmitida a las células hijas,
que se manifiesta por la reducción de control del crecimiento y la función celular, conduciendo a una
serie de fenómenos adversos en el huésped, a través de un crecimiento masivo, invasión de tejidos
vecinos y metástasis. La proliferación celular en los tumores malignos no es totalmente autónoma;
además de la dependencia del cáncer respecto del huésped para su irrigación sanguínea, su crecimiento
se afecta por las hormonas, los fármacos y los mecanismos inmunológicos del paciente. Los cánceres se
dividen en dos grandes categorías de CARCINOMA y SARCOMA.

Both types of definitions, each in its own way, is an attempt at representing the set of
basic characteristics, parameters, and knowledge relations. The entries in the
specialized dictionaries logically include more characteristics (composition, process,
result, types) because the knowledge base of the receiver is greater. For example, both
the English and Spanish specialized definitions refer to the process of uncontrolled
cellular growth, as well as the conceptual structure of types of cancer that includes
carcinoma and sarcoma. These definitions also presuppose a knowledge of the
distinction between malignant and benign tumor.
 19

() [TRANSPARENCY]

MALIGNANT BENIGN
TUMOR TUMOR

encapsulation -- +
anaplasia + --
mitosis + --
invasive + --
metastasis + --
growth (-control) + --
differentiation -- +

Although both the terminographic and the lexicographic definitions have basically the
same genus (the nucleus of the definition) that signals the membership of the concept
in the domain of MALIGNANT TUMOR, the similarity ends there. The definitions of the
DRAE and VOX describe the possible meanings that the word can have in general
language. As can be observed, different lexicographers can have very different visions
of the meaning of the same word. The definition that appears in the Dictionary of the
Real Academia is undoubtedly the worst of the lot. It tells us that its author has a vivid
interest in Astronomy and has somewhat antique standards concerning whether we are
talking about two different words or different meanings of the same world. I am
referring to cancer has a disease, or cancer as a constellation/zodiac sign. Worse yet,
is the value judgement in the medical meaning, “casi siempre incurable”. In this
respect, the value judgements of the English dictionaries are a little less dramatic,
though still too negative for modern times.
This divergence of definitional criteria, which is so frequent in Lexicography, is
unacceptable in Terminology because ideally, a good terminographic definition only
refers to a single concept.

3.1.2. The term in vivo

 20

If we look at terms within the text, we find that contexts are important because
in the same way that terms are members of concept systems implicit in the text, they
also are also related to other units explicitated in the text:

()
Because of the frequent presence of occult metastatic DISEASE, chemotherapy is the

cornerstone of TREATMENT for limited stage small cell lung cancer.

Regarding the relations of elements within the same sentence, treatment is the generic
term for chemotherapy, which at the same time presupposes the implicit presence of
treatments which are also possible choices.

()
TREATMENTS

liver stomach breast lung prostate brain bladder .... .... ....

non-small cell small cell

chemotherapy radiotherapy surgery clinical trials

In the same way that disease is the generic term for small cell lung cancer, its
specification occult metastatic implies another type of non-hierarchical conceptual
relation, that of process and result.
 21

() Cancer as a process

Cancer = change in the DNA of a cell [cell growth (- control)]

pre-cancerous stage

(up to 30 years)
benign (non-cancerous)

tumor

malignant (cancerous)

metastasis (secondary tumor)

Even in the structure of the text, systematic representations are important for the
transmission of the message. Table () compares the sections in both texts regarding
treatments. In the text for patients, this section is clearly explicative. Its structure is in
direct contrast to the corresponding section in the text for specialists.

()

Physicians: treatment options Patients: treatment options

1. Clinical trials 1. Treatments

1.1. Evaluation areas 1.1. chemotherapy
1.1.1. new drug regimens 1.2. radiotherapy
1.1.2. variation of drug doses 1.3. surgery
1.1.3. chemotherapy combined
with surgical resection of
primary tumor/ radiotherapy
1.2. Results of recent research

Textual configuration also reflects communicative context. In the text for

patients, there are four paragraphs. The first introduces the topics of the other sections
of the text. First it starts with new information (i.e. the existence of treatments),
which then becomes given information, or the topic, of the following paragraph where
the focus is on the description of each treatment option.
 22

Evidently the text for specialists does not begin with the same type of
presupposition because it would not be informative as physicians are already aware of
the existence of these treatments. The new information, which constitutes the starting
point of the message, is the existence of clinical texts that consist in the
administration/use of experimental drugs, new doses of standard ones and/or
combinations of drugs already in use, and finally, the combination of more than one
treatment in order to improve the patient’s possibility of survival. As a result, the texts
for physicians begins where the text for patients ends because in the text for patients,
there is scarcely any mention of clinical tests, which are more advanced variations of
the basic treatments described. In the same way, the configuration of the specialist text
reflects the fact that there is no need to signal the change of topic so clearly.
In the translation, such cognitive structures of knowledge are important. A good
translator is capable of going beyond syntactic structures, which are specific of each
language, and of acquiring a multi-dimensional version of the text. This implies the
capacity to process textual information from various perspectives due to the double
role that the translator plays in the act of communication.

4. The medical event

The concept of frame is also fundamental in a any model of textual

comprehension in translation. A frame is a complex data structure that represents a
stereotyped situation. This type of representation facilitates the comprehension of
many events in our life because we project frames onto situations we find ourselves in
so that we can understand them better.
The concept of frame can also be applied to textual structure because the
structure of a text is better and more rapidly recognized if a translator has in his
mental closet a wide inventory of textual skeletons. These text frames can be of
varying length, from a single definition to an entire scientific treatise. Obviously, in
scientific, and especially medical, translation, there is more than one type of text, and
the terminology varies accordingly.
For example, medical translation covers a wide range of text types from articles
for the general public to textbooks, instructions for the use of medicines, and
specialized articles in medical and scientific journals. Logically, the translator should
 23

be familiar with these different text frames. (The texts that I am going to give as an
example are both medical texts with different levels of specialization.)
These texts are divided into the following sections:

()
PHYSICIANS PATIENTS

1(phys) Prognosis 1(pat) Description

2(phys) Cellular classification
3(phys) Stage information
4(phys) Treatment option overview
5(phys) Limited stage small cell lung
cancer
6(phys) Extensive stage small cell lung
cancer
7(phys) Recurrent small cell lung cancer
2(pat)
3(pat) Stage explanation
4(pat) Treatment option overview
5(pat) Limited stage small cell lung cancer
6(pat) Extensive stage small cell lung
cancer
7(pat) Recurrent small cell lung cancer

Both texts have similar superstructures, which differ in sections 1, 2 and 3. In the text
for patients, there is no section which corresponds to cellular classification. It is also
significant that in section 1, the title has been changed to description instead of
prognosis, given that the content of this section is too depressing to be included. In
section 3, the knowledge of the receivers is taken into account, and explanation has
been substituted for information. The basic differences between the two texts in
English and Spanish are due to the difference in the ideal reader. Although in both
cases, the basic function is to inform (explaining signifies informing, but at a more
elementary level), this function is always in consonance with two distinct
communicative contexts.
As we have already seen, understanding the text is not only a matter of
understanding the words in it, but also of understanding the various types of
conceptual structures that it makes reference to. In the same way that texts have a
frame that helps the receiver to classify them as one type of text or another, there is
also a kind propositional macrostructure that at the same time designates a pattern of
knowledge of the world. In this case, I am referring to the frame of the medical event
which both texts activate through their terms. This type of event would have the
following canonical schema:
 24

()

AGENT-1 DISORDER LOCATION-1

PROCESS RESULT PATIENT

AGENT-2 TREATMENT LOCATION-2

INSTRUMENT

The terms in each text give us the key for and helps the reader to understand the type
of perspective that each represents. The codification of medical terminology activates
various types of representational schemas, all of which can be derived from the
description of the same micro-cosmos. Within the subdomain of oncology, concepts
can be subdivided into the following groups: cosmos.

1. SYMPTOMS

2. SURGICAL PROCEDURES

3. DRUGS

4. SIDE EFFECTS

5. RISK FACTORS

6. DIAGNOSTIC TESTS

7. BODY PARTS

8. TUMORS

9. TREATMENTS

10. MEDICAL INSTRUMENTS

 25

Although this type of classification is used in Oncology, it is also fits perfectly into the
frame of the general medical event.

5. Conclusion

Although translations generally reflect the content of the source text, perhaps one of
the most frequent problems is when the translator is too influenced by the form.
Copying form is not a good idea even when the languages come from similar cultural
contexts. It is true that it is more comfortable to proceed with the automatic pilot, but
this way the translator risks translating without truly understanding the text. Even in
fairly simple texts, important mistakes can occur. For example, in the following text
extract, it is obvious that the translator has made exactly such a mistake.

()

INFORMATION FOR PATIENTS INFORMACIÓN PARA PACIENTES

Treatment by stage Tratamiento por etapa

Treatment for small cell lung cancer El tratamiento para cáncer de pulmón de
depends on the stage of the disease, células pequeñas dependerá de la etapa de la
your age, and your overall condition. enfermedad, su edad y estado de salud en
You may receive treatment that is general. Usted podría recibir un tratamiento
considered standard based on its considerado estándar que se basa en su
effectiveness in a number of patients efectividad en varios pacientes en estudios
in past studies, or you may choose to anteriores o usted podría optar por formar
go into a clinical trial. Most patients parte de una prueba clínica. No todos los
are not cured with standard pacientes se curan con terapia estándar y
therapy and some standard algunos tratamientos estándar podrían
treatments may have more side tener más efectos secundarios de los
effects than are desired. For these deseados. Por estas razones, las pruebas
reasons, clinical trials are designed clínicas están diseñadas para encontrar
to find better ways to treat cancer mejores maneras de tratar a los pacientes
patients and are based on the most con cáncer y se basan en la información más
 26

up-to-date information. Clinical actualizada. Se están llevando a cabo

trials are going on in most parts of pruebas clínicas en varias partes del país
the country for most stages of para el tratamiento de la mayoría de las
small cell lung cancer. If wish to etapas de cáncer de pulmón de células
know more about clinical trials, call pequeñas. Si usted desea obtener mayor
the Cancer Information Service at 1- información sobre estas pruebas, llame al
800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237); Servicio de Información sobre el Cáncer al
TTY at 1-800-332-8615. 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237); TTY
1-800-332-8615, en los Estados Unidos.
 27

ASPECTOS DE LAS OPCIONES DEL TRATAMIENTO: ASPECTOS DE LAS OPCIONES DE

[PACIENTES] TRATAMIENTO [MÉDICOS]

Existen tratamientos para todos los pacientes con cáncer de pulmón de En cáncer de pulmón de células
células pequeñas. Se emplean tres clases de tratamiento: pequeñas, la mayoría de los pacientes
muere de su tumor a pesar de recibir los
(i) cirugía (extracción del cáncer) tratamientos más adelantados. La
(ii) radioterapia (uso de rayos X de alta energía u otros rayos de alta mayoría de las mejoras en supervivencia
energía para eliminar células cancerosas) en cáncer de pulmón de células
(iii) quimioterapia (uso de medicamentos para eliminar las células pequeñas se atribuye a las pruebas
cancerosas). clínicas que han intentado perfeccionar
la mejor terapia disponible y aceptada.
La quimioterapia es el tratamiento más común para todas las etapas de El ingreso de estos pacientes en dichos
cáncer de pulmón de células pequeñas. La quimioterapia puede tomarse estudios es sumamente deseable.
en forma oral o puede administrarse en el cuerpo con un aguja en una
vena o músculo. La quimioterapia se considera un tratamiento sistémico Las áreas de evaluación clínica activa en
ya que el medicamento se introduce al torrente sanguíneo, viaja a través cáncer de pulmón de células pequeñas
del cuerpo y puede eliminar las células cancerosas fuera de los incluyen nuevos regímenes de fármacos
pulmones, incluyendo las células cancerosas que se han diseminado al compuestos de agentes estándar y
cerebro. nuevos, variación de las dosis de los
fármacos en los regímenes actuales y el
La radioterapia consiste en el uso de rayos X de alta energía u otros estudio de los posibles beneficios que se
rayos de alta energía para eliminar células cancerosas y reducir tumores. pueden lograr agregando a
La radioterapia para el cáncer de pulmón de células pequeñas por lo quimioterapia de combinación la
general proviene de una máquina fuera del cuerpo (radioterapia de haz resección quirúrgica del tumor
externo). Puede emplearse para eliminar las células cancerosas en los primario o radioterapia al tórax y a
pulmones o en otras partes del cuerpo donde el cáncer se haya otros sitios. Existe controversia en
diseminado. La radioterapia también se puede emplear para prevenir el cuanto a si el aumentar las tasas de
crecimiento de cáncer en el cerebro. Este procedimiento se llama dosificación de los regímenes de
radioterapia craneal profiláctica (PCI). Debido a que PCI puede afectar vanguardia comúnmente usados arriba
las funciones del cerebro, el médico le ayudará a decidir sobre esta clase de los niveles que producen una
de radioterapia. La radioterapia puede emplearse sola o con cirugía y/o modesta cantidad de toxicidad producirá
quimioterapia. una mejor supervivencia. Los estudios
retrospectivos están llenos de
Puede emplearse cirugía si el cáncer se encuentra solamente en un dificultades metodológicas y muestran
pulmón y en los ganglios linfáticos cercanos. Debido a que este tipo de resultados inconsistentes.[1] Esta
cáncer de pulmón generalmente no se encuentra en un pulmón situación se establece mejor en pruebas
solamente, la cirugía sola no se usa a menudo. Ocasionalmente, la clínicas aleatorias. Un estudio aleatorio
cirugía puede usarse para ayudar a determinar exactamente que tipo de prospectivo de la enfermedad en etapa
cáncer de pulmón tiene usted. Si en definitiva a Ud. se le somete a una extensa no sugiere ninguna ventaja en
cirugía, el médico puede extraer el cáncer usando alguna de las aumentar las dosis estándar de etopósido
siguientes operaciones: más cisplatino.[2] Ni se ha mostrado
claramente que la quimioterapia con la
Resección por cuña en la que se extrae sólo una parte pequeña del intensidad empleada en regímenes de
pulmón. trasplante autólogo de médula ósea
Lobectomía en la que se extrae una sección completa (lóbulo) del mejore la supervivencia en pacientes
pulmón. con cáncer de pulmón de células
Neumonectomía en la que se extrae todo el pulmón. pequeñas.[3,4]

Durante la cirugía, el médico también extraerá ganglios linfáticos para

determinar la presencia de células cancerosas.
 28

TREATMENT OPTION OVERVIEW TREATMENT OPTION OVERVIEW

[PATIENTS] [DOCTORS]

How small cell lung cancer is treated In small cell lung cancer, the majority of
patients die of their tumor despite state-of-
There are treatments for all patients with small cell lung cancer. Three kinds of the-art treatment. Most of the improvements
treatment are used: in survival in small cell lung cancer are
attributable to clinical trials which have
(i) surgery (taking out the cancer) attempted to improve upon the best
(ii) radiation therapy (using high-dose x-rays or other high-energy rays to kill available, accepted therapy. Patient entry
cancer cells) into such studies is highly desirable.
(iii) chemotherapy (using drugs to kill cancer cells).
Areas of active clinical evaluation in small
Chemotherapy is the most common treatment for all stages of small cell lung cell lung cancer include new drug regimens
cancer. Chemotherapy may be taken by pill, or it may be put into the body by a composed of standard and new agents,
needle in the vein or muscle. Chemotherapy is called a systemic treatment variation of drug doses in current regimens,
because the drug enters the bloodstream, travels through the body, and can kill and study of the possible benefits of adding
cancer cells outside the lungs, including cancer cells that have spread to the surgical resection of the primary tumor or
brain. radiotherapy to the chest and other sites to
combination chemotherapy. Controversy
Radiation therapy uses x-rays or other high-energy rays to kill cancer cells andexists over the issue of whether increasing
shrink tumors. Radiation therapy for small cell lung cancer usually comes from athe dose rate of commonly used front-line
machine outside the body (external beam radiation therapy). It may be used to killregimens above levels that produce modest
cancer cells in the lungs or in other parts of the body where the cancer has spread.toxicity will produce improved survival.
Radiation therapy may also be used to prevent the cancer from growing in the brain.Retrospective studies are plagued by
This is called prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI). Because PCI may affect yourmethodologic difficulties and show
brain functions, your doctor will help you decide whether to have this kind ofinconsistent results.[1] The issue is best
radiation therapy. Radiation therapy can be used alone or in addition to surgerysettled by randomized trials. A prospective
and/or chemotherapy. randomized study in extensive stage disease
does not suggest any advantage to increasing
Surgery may be used if the cancer is found only in one lung and in nearby the standard doses of etoposide plus
lymph nodes. Because this type of lung cancer is usually not found in only one cisplatin.[2] Even chemotherapy of the
lung, surgery alone is not often used. Occasionally, surgery may be used to help intensity used in autologous bone marrow
determine exactly which type of lung cancer you have. If you do have surgery, transplant regimens has not clearly been
your doctor may take out the cancer in one of the following operations: shown to improve survival in patients with
small cell lung cancer.[3,4]
Wedge resection removes only a small part of the lung.
Lobectomy removes an entire section (lobe) of the lung.
Pneumonectomy removes the entire lung.

During surgery, your doctor will also take out lymph nodes to see if they contain
cancer.

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