Key Principles of Teaching Technical Translation to Linguistics Students

The study considers teaching technical translation fundamentals to linguistics students. It is shown that technical translation skills are vital for a successful career management. Special features of technical texts and of a technical translator job are presented. It is emphasized that today a technical translator faces such issues as incorporating visual information (drawings, diagrams, photos) into the translation, factual and language errors in source texts, the translator duty to correct the source text errors, adherence to national and international standards, compliance with the stylistic guides for technical texts in the target language, familiarity with the cultural aspect of technical texts. To train linguistics students in technical translation it is proposed to apply an integrative approach resulting in an integrative translation competence combining skills and knowledge from engineering and linguistic domains. A number of learning strategies for mastering technical translation are proposed: принцип обучения a «simple-to-complex» approach; using real-life content; instruction by professional translators; mandatory use of САТ tools; принцип rejection of verbatim term memorizing. A structure of a technical translation course for linguists is presented. It is divided into three modules and 16 sections. The subject areas are just a baseline and can be expanded. the focus shall be on introducing the basic laws of nature to the students. The conclusion is that linguistics students should be systematically and regularly trained in technical translation through the partnership of universities and professional translators.