Is it right to say technical terms are mostly word-for-word translations

[AlexBlackman]

Hi

I'm not too advanced at the moment, but I've noticed many technical words are concept-for-concept translations from English.

Could any expert confirm or deny this? When I started, I was very daunted by the 'fact' that Chinese has entirely new vocabulary for advanced technical terms, whereas they are mostly identical between European languages.

[imron]

In mainland China I've found this is so, and not just in technology fields, but also many areas of finance and business. I've heard colleagues from Taiwan and Hong Kong mention that such terms seem very awkward/weird to them.

What I find annoying about some of these concept-for-concept translations is that sometimes the original translator got it slightly wrong and translated the term incorrectly (e.g. they chose a different emphasis of the original English word than what the technical term means to a native speaker), but the word stuck. e.g. 对象 for Object in Object Oriented Programming.

[renzhe]

对象 for Object in Object Oriented Programming

Wow, that's hilarious.

[imron]

Other terms are quite nice though e.g. 指针 for pointers.

[hbuchtel]

The majority of technical terms in medicine are translated literally, which makes them much easier to understand if you don't speak Latin

For example:

Cochlea - 耳蜗 (literally 'ear snail')

Coracoid process - 喙突 (literally 'beak protrusion')

However some of the translations use terms from traditional Chinese medicine, which can create confusion. Also the majority of modern drugs are translated phonetically, which doesn't provide any clues as to their function or make-up.

[xiaocai]

In mainland China I've found this is so, and not just in technology fields, but also many areas of finance and business. I've heard colleagues from Taiwan and Hong Kong mention that such terms seem very awkward/weird to them.

Their translation sometimes sound funny to mainlanders as well. You just have to get used to it.

[murrayjames]

Like in medicine, terms in music are mostly translated literally.

root - 根音

bass clef - 低音谱号

piano (p) - 弱音

sonata form - 奏鸣曲式

harmonic minor scale - 和声小调音阶

melodic variation - 旋律变奏

F#7b9 - 升F七降九

In practice, though, Chinese musicians still encounter Latin terms like forte, piu mosso, etc in the music. In jazz, some terms like swing or groove go untranslated.

[Glenn]

Ha, I like 和声小调音阶 and 升F七降九!

[AlexBlackman]

The majority of technical terms in medicine are translated literally, which makes them much easier to understand if you don't speak Latin

For example:

Cochlea - 耳蜗 (literally 'ear snail')

Coracoid process - 喙突 (literally 'beak protrusion')

That's something I hadn't thought of... I'm glad I decided to keep going