Lecture on Terminology: From Theory to Practice
Dr. Nuwar Diab, Program Coordinator of the B.A. in Translation Program, organized a lecture on May 22 on “Terminology: From Theory to Practice,” presented by Dr. Andrée Affeich.
The lecture addressed the importance of terminology in the careers of translators. Often translators are faced with scientific and technical terms to which they cannot find equivalents in bilingual dictionaries, so they have to create terminology. To do so, translators should first know more about the principles of terminology and how terminologists work.
Dr. Affeich started her talk with an overview of the origin of terminology. Next, she explained how a translator may gain access to a large number of conceptual traits in order to understand a concept and render it in another language. Finally, Dr. Affeich discussed the tools translators may use to extract terminology. She highlighted a four-step process of terminology extraction, namely the compilation of a corpus, the extraction of term candidates, the validation of term candidates by a specialist, and the creation of terminological records.
The event was attended by the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Nashat Mansour; Associate Chair of Humanities, Dr. Nada Saab, as well as faculty and students from the Arabic, English, and Translation programs at the Department of Humanities.