Looking for technical English-Chinese dictionaries

[Olle Linge]

Hi everybody! it looks likely that I will be translating a fairly advanced piece of software from English to Chinese. It's not something I'll start doing immediately, but I thought I'd start looking for suitable resources right away. In short, I'm looking for dictionaries (or other resources) suitable for translating technical English into Chinese.

The program is designed for motion analysis and mainly contains terms related to cameras, optics and video sequences, but also technical terms in general related to presentation of data, coordinate systems, image enhancement and so on.

I'm looking for any kind of resource that would help me accomplish this, including but not limited to paper dictionaries, online resources, paid electronic dictionaries and so on. I did search through old threads here on Chinese Forums, but since different areas might have different resources, I thought I'd start a new thread.

[shiyatan]

Hi Snigel! It seems that I am looking for exactly the same kind of resources. I just started working for a software company and need to translate vocabulary related to video, cameras, vision and other technical stuff. Although noone has replied in this topic, I am curious if you managed to find some valuable resources that you could recommend. Would be extremely helpful. Thanks in advance!

[gato]

I'd recommend the combination of the 21st Century E-C dictionary in Pleco and Baidu.com.

Check the dictionary first, then baidu it to double check the usage.

[tooironic]

Honestly, most professional translators search for the required term on Google first, or scour the glossaries posted on proz.com when desperate.

There are a couple of decent technical paper dictionaries available for English-Chinese that you can find in Chinese bookshops and online, but just bear in mind that some may be out of date, inaccurate, or use translations that are not officially recognised in the field.

[muyongshi]

Honestly, most professional translators search for the required term on Google first, or scour the glossaries posted on proz.com when desperate.

I agree. Along with this, TaoBao has proven useful as a cross check to make sure I have both the word and correct meaning. Many sellers also post detailed descriptions and things akin to a user manual which can be helpful to your overall vocabulary.

Just remember to be thorough and cross reference a lot for accuracy.

[OneEye]

I've found youdao to be very helpful. Wikipedia, too. Find the article, change the language. Lots of great vocabulary to be had that way.

I do a lot of translations for a computer manufacturer, and I often find it helpful to check things previously posted on their website when I can't find the right word. This is especially helpful when it's a proprietary something or other (with a copyrighted name) that they've forgotten to tell me about.

[roddy]

It is worth looking for paper dictionaries - there are often very specialised ones produced by the relevant universities or printing presses.

But generally I also would look for this stuff online. You just need to be aware that incorrect translations are out there, and get copy and pasted very rapidly, so even an error can turn up a ton of supportive Google results.

[Olle Linge]

Just for the record, I ended up using Youdao quite a lot, plus some Wikipedia and Google if all else failed. Youdao was much, much more useful than I thought!

[OneEye]

Yup, it's pretty awesome. My boss recommended it to me, and it's always my first stop.