Rivista internazionale di tecnica della traduzione = International Journal of Translation
Abstract
After a brief introduction on the importance of pragmatics in the translation of
scientific and technical (sci-tech) texts, which are service texts that are written
in a language for special purposes (LSP) in the context of scientific and technological
disciplines and are directed to a more or less restricted target discursive
community having very specific practical needs and expectations, the concept
of ‘pragmatic equivalence’ will be introduced with specific reference to sci-tech
translation. Having in mind translation as a professional service activity, the article
will deal with the main pragmatic factors exerting a determining influence at
the textual and terminological levels of sci-tech texts, which should also inform
translation decisions in order to achieve pragmatic equivalence at these levels.
These pragmatic factors are ‘situationality’ (i.e. external situational and cultural
factors), on the one hand, and ‘intentionality’ of the ST author and ‘acceptability’
of the TT by its final readers (i.e. internal cognitive factors), on the other. The
last part of the article contains some examples of pragmatic choices made by scitech
translators illustrating instances of the translation strategies that have been
adopted to achieve pragmatic equivalence at the different textual levels.
