AlexBlackman Posted May 17, 2011 at 09:08 PM Report Share Posted May 17, 2011 at 09:08 PM 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imron Posted May 17, 2011 at 11:45 PM Report Share Posted May 17, 2011 at 11:45 PM 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renzhe Posted May 17, 2011 at 11:49 PM Report Share Posted May 17, 2011 at 11:49 PM 对象 for Object in Object Oriented Programming Wow, that's hilarious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imron Posted May 18, 2011 at 12:09 AM Report Share Posted May 18, 2011 at 12:09 AM Other terms are quite nice though e.g. 指针 for pointers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbuchtel Posted May 18, 2011 at 02:48 AM Report Share Posted May 18, 2011 at 02:48 AM 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xiaocai Posted May 18, 2011 at 10:58 AM Report Share Posted May 18, 2011 at 10:58 AM 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murrayjames Posted May 19, 2011 at 04:19 AM Report Share Posted May 19, 2011 at 04:19 AM 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted May 19, 2011 at 02:15 PM Report Share Posted May 19, 2011 at 02:15 PM Ha, I like 和声小调音阶 and 升F七降九! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexBlackman Posted May 28, 2011 at 10:11 AM Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2011 at 10:11 AM 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and select your username and password later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.