Translation of Terminology in Social Sciences and Production of terms in Turkish

Translating terms from one language to another is the highlight of theoretical translation, and often requires the translator to use different levels of creativity. In the Ph.D. program of Interlingual and Intercultural Translation Studies at Yıldız Technical University, Turkey, within the framework of the “Theoretical Translation in Social Sciences” class taught by Prof. Sündüz Öztürk Kasar, a project aiming to fulfill the need of theoretical terms in Turkish and train translators who will work especially in the field of translation studies is conducted. Within this context, every student follows the project’s stages, which are as follows: choosing a book from this field; making a list of the book’s terms; choosing a chapter to translate from the book, thereby testing the Turkish equivalents within the context; studying with the instructor outside class hours to review the translation, particularly the terms, and to evaluate their appropriateness within the context; and presenting the final version of the project in class. In this study, Vinay and Darbelnet’s Stylistique Comparéé du Français et de l’Anglais is taken as an example, along with its English translation, Comparative Sylistics of French and English. Using these books, the project’s stages are applied to illustrate the diverse situations translators can encounter during the theoretical translation process. Consequently, different levels of need experienced in theoretical translation, as well as different levels of creativity required to fulfill these needs, are determined, designated, and defined.

Keywords

Theoretical translation, creativity, Jean Paul Vinay, Jean Darbelnet, Comparative Sylistics of Frenc