Open AccessTranslating a pandemic: A corpus study of COVID-19 multi-word terminology in EU press releases
Author(s) -
Aleksandra Tomaszewska,
Natalia Zawadzka-Paluektau
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
beyond philology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2451-1498
pISSN - 1732-1220
DOI - 10.26881/bp.2020.4.01
Subject(s) - terminology , covid-19 , variation (astronomy) , pandemic , linguistics , institutionalisation , word (group theory) , political science , history , computer science , biology , virology , medicine , philosophy , law , outbreak , physics , disease , pathology , astrophysics , infectious disease (medical specialty)
The study employs a parallel English-Polish corpus to investigate how COVID-19 multi-word terms are handled in translations of EU press releases. Translation techniques are examined at four levels of analysis: (1) term variation, (2) institutionalization, (3) domestication/foreignization, and (4) degree of transfer of information. The results are discussed in regard to the characteristics of COVID-19 terminology and its, often neological, instability, which manifests itself in high levels of terminological variation, inconsistent use of recommended institutional equivalents, and varied degrees of information transfer between SL and TL. The findings are also reviewed in light of the nature of press releases which, as an essential link in the transmission of knowledge from EU institutions to citizens, prompt the use of domesticating techniques.