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Re: Questions about Translating Acronyms and Initialisms
Subject:Re: Questions about Translating Acronyms and Initialisms From:Janet_Hughes -at- ahm -dot- honda -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 29 Nov 2000 18:21:55 -0800
Rick wrote ...
---snip ---
1. Some acronyms or initialisms, like NATO, are translated; but many others
are not. Does anyone know of some more-or-less systematic way that I (a
non-translator) can find out for any given acronym whether it should be
translated or not? Is there some place online or some reference tool that
would contain that information?
--- end snip ---
Rick,
When to translate an acronym is heavily influenced by your target audience. For
instance, we translate our technical bulletins into Spanish. Our target audience
are trained technicians, so we do not translate many of the acronyms, such as
DTC (Diagnostic Trouble Code), VIN (Vehicle Identification Number), and SM (Shop
Manual), because our audience is very familiar with the meaning of the acronyms.
If we were writing for our training group however, we would translate all of
these acronyms, because they may be something a new technician would not be
familiar with.
Other acronyms are translated. For example, P/N (Part Number) becomes N/P in our
flavor of Spanish. You said you are not a translator. We've developed our own
dictionary over several years in cooperation with the translation house we use.
Does your company have a translator they use on a regular basis? Ideally, you
should be working with them to develop your dictionary, and they should be as
familiar with your target audience as you are. If you don't have a translator,
contact me off-line and I'll put you in touch with the company we use.
As for your 2nd question, I can't help you there.
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