Electronic Corpora as Translation Tools: A Solution in Practice

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Vigdis Jensen
Birthe Mousten
Anne-Lise Laursen

Abstract

Small bilingual text corpora from a source and target language can be important sources of specialized language tracking for translators. A corpus platform can supplement or replace traditional reference works such as dictionaries and encyclopedia, which are rarely sufficient for the professional translator who has to get a cross-linguistic overview of a new area or a new line of business.  Relevant internet texts can be compiled ‘on the fly’, but internet data needs to be sorted and analyzed for rational use.  Today, such sorting and analysis can be made by a low-tech, analytical software tool.  This article demonstrates how strategic steps of compiling and retrieving linguistic data by means of specific search strategies can be used to make electronic corpora an efficient tool in translators’ daily work with fields that involve new terminology, but where the skills requested to work correspond to being able to perform an advanced Google search. We show the different steps in setting up and working with an ad-hoc corpus, illustrated by means of the software AntConc applied on the SEO area.

Article Details

How to Cite
Jensen, V., Mousten, B., & Laursen, A.-L. (2012). Electronic Corpora as Translation Tools: A Solution in Practice. Communication & Language at Work, 1(1), 21–33. https://doi.org/10.7146/claw.v1i1.7236
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Articles
Author Biographies

Vigdis Jensen, Translator and Proofreader at LocaLsoft S.L., Málaga in Spain.

Vigdis Jensen, Master’s degree in Spanish. Currently employed as a translator and proofreader at LocaLsoft S.L., Málaga in Spain.

Birthe Mousten, Department of Language and Business Communication, Aarhus University, Denmark

Birthe Mousten, PhD, M.Eng., external lecturer at BCom, Aarhus University. Teaches technical translation and general business courses at the university. Offers courses in technical writing and translation as well as legal writing and translation for trade and industry professionals.

Anne-Lise Laursen, Department of Language and Business Communication, Aarhus University, Denmark

Anne Lise Laursen, Associate professor, Spanish LSP. Coordinator of Spanish studies at BCom, Aarhus University. Teaches translation of financial texts. Research areas lexicography, contrastive linguistics and corpus linguistics.