Study On It Terms And Their Translation

With the advent of the Information Age, IT terms are coming into everyday life at an amazing speed. Information Technology, originated from abroad (especially in USA), is being introduced into China on a large scale. In this process, the massive translation of IT documents is both inevitable and indispensable. As a major component, IT terms are the focus in IT documentation translation. Based on the theoretical and practical analysis of the IT terms, this article aims at providing guidance to the IT term translation, thus facilitating the introduction of information technology into China.This paper is divided into eight parts. Part one is an introduction to the social and technical background of IT term study and achievements the predecessors have gained. It also declares that the purpose of this paper is to provide guidance to translation practice, and to achieve social benefit in IT terminological study.The second part is a lexical analysis of IT term study. By first determining the connotation and denotation of IT terms, the scope of study and objects to be studied is specified. The characteristics and status of IT terminology in language are illustrated, followed by a detailed morphological study and an exploration into the source of IT terminology. Also in this part the metaphor used in the IT terminology formation is discussed together with its importance.The third part is a semantic study of IT terminology. It is pointed out that the difference between IT terminology and language for general purposes (LGP) lies in the approach: LGP study is from vocabulary to concept, while terminological study is from concept to vocabulary. The conceptual abstractness, the semantic homonymy and the univocal meaning, which are the main semantic characteristics of IT terminology, are also discussed.The fourth part mainly discusses the register characteristics of IT terminology and the reasons for its emergence and existence. The sexual difference in IT terminology use is discussed, followed by a discussion of differences between IT terminology and language for general purposes from the communicative view.Based on the linguistic analysis, the fifth part is devoted to the criteria and methodology in IT terminology translation while the necessity of translation is demonstrated.The sixth part is an exploration into the confusions and errors in current IT tern translation and the social and personal factors leading to them. The necessity of standardized translation is discussed. With the direction of communication theory, this part discusses the different roles that the communicators (editors and translators), the recipient (audience) and mass media play in IT term translation and standardization, as well as the interaction between these factors.The seventh part discusses the future trends in IT terms, IT term translation and standardization from both the observation of the author and the factual evidences.The eighth part summarizes the whole paper.