Modelización conceptual en la traducción científica y técnica

Abstract

Translation is a complex cognitive activity that involves a wide range of competences. Although linguistic competence is undoubtedly one of them, it is far from being the only one. In the translation of scientific and technical texts, knowledge of two languages and their respective grammars is not sufficient unless translators also know how to dynamically represent the concepts within the text in meaningful conceptual structures within the wider context of the specialized domain in question. This article explains how the knowledge in technical texts can be modeled in prototypical event frames through bilingual corpus analysis in English and Spanish, and translation correspondence achieved. Event structure is a non-linear cross-textual element construct that contributes to texture in specialized discourse. The modeling of the event or events in a domain is useful because it gives the translator a place to start from, or a relational structure or framework which he/she can use to insert concepts, and thus gain an overall understanding of the field. Knowledge about the structure of specialized events also provides a common framework for specialists which allows them to deal with new texts in their field of knowledge.