Algiers 2 University

Faculty Of Foreign Languages

English Department

Module ; translation Unit : 04

Topic :Translation of Economic Texts
Combination: English-Arabic Semester 05
Lecturer : Miss. Abdelli

Aims of the course

This course aims at:

 Presenting the main concepts related to the field of economics and the characteristics
of economic texts
 Clarifying the problems resulting from the process of translating economic texts.
 Learning the principle and suitable techniques for translating the economic texts.

The economic translation is a specialised translation, it deals with specialised

texts related to the economics such as banking, finance, business, economy. The
need for economic translation has doubled during the last 30 years as
globalisation and internet advent have opened the borders of the world to the
free market and online stock exchange. This new situation have been followed
by an urgent need for communication between the economic agents worldwide.
Translation came to ease the communication. However translation process is
tricky and time-consuming, why it requires extensive knowledge and good
concentration to understand the meaning of its terms, expressions, sentences
structures and metaphors.

What is economics

Economics is a discipline that is related to study of production and consumption

as well as transfer of wealth. It is subdivided into:

Microeconomics, which deals with industries and economic activities on the

individual level, and macroeconomics, which is the study of the economics of
the entire country or the international market.

Characteristics of economic translation

 The economic language is full of terms and expressions borrowed from
other fields such as literature, politics, navigation, martial, and medical
field.
 The economic language is of two types, formal economic writing used in
academic writing, official reports, business letter and regulations. And
journalistic economic writing used in advertisement and news articles.
 In the case of Arabic, a big number of the economic terms and
expressions are borrowed from English mainly American as the USA
leads the global economy.
 The translator of economic texts should be bilingual and specialised in
economy so as he can a accurate and correct product.
 The translator must have extensive knowledge of the history of economy,
the evolution of its terminology, so as he will not misuse the terms and
expressions when transferring them in another language.

Stages of economic translation

The translation of economic texts, as any other translation, goes through
three stages
Decoding: the translator reads the Source text, tries to comprehend its
meaning by decoding specific terms and expression found in it, figure out
the author’s intent and willing, and the purpose of the text.
Recoding: the translator transfers the grasped meaning by using
translation strategies and procedures.

Encoding: the translate rewrites the text in the target language by paying
attention to the specifities of the target language, and cultur, and the
expectancy of the target readers.

Problems and solutions related to translating of economic texts

* Specialised terms have a meaning which is sometimes different from the

common meaning known for the words used in a general context.
Background knowledge behind the specialised terms and concepts is, thus,
necessary to understand the specific meaning. Non- specialised translator
may find it difficult to grasp this meaning and transfer it to the target
language.
*Economic collocations which refer to two terms that co-occur may pose
problems for the translator who may fail to find the equivalent collocations in
the target language .In order to solve the problem, the translator must have a
contrastive knowledge, that is to say to know the specific register, and the
way in which the collocation is used in the target text.

*Neologism: translator may face new terms newly coined, or existing terms
with newly acquired sense, for which there is no equivalent in the target
language. To solve this problem scholars suggest several procedures,
naturalisation, descriptive terms, literal translation, and functional term for
the newly coined terms. Transference with inverted commas, TL derived
word for the existing terms.

Economic text may include number, figure, so the translator must be careful
and make sure to reproduce the same exact information expressed in signs
found in the source text, without making any changes.

Text 01

Translate the following text into Arabic

Economic Systems and the Basic Economic Decisions

The way that a society makes the three basic decisions depends on its
economic system. An economic system is a particular way of organizing the
relationship among businesses, household and the government to make
choices about what good services to produce, how to produce them, and who
will get them.

Economists often classify economic systems into three basic types or models:

*Market economies,

*Planned economies ,and

*Mixed economies

In market economies, individual buyers and sellers make the basic economic
decisions as they communicate through prices in marketplaces. Planned
economies emphasize collective decision making: Government planners
represent economic participants. A mixed economy combines elements of
planned and market economies.

While today, all economies are mixed economies, it is helpful to understand

the basic model that underlies a particular mixed economy .