The Translation of Neologisms

THE TRANSLATION OF
NEOLOGISMS
BY Meibis González V.24/02/2020 by Meibis M. González V.

THE TRANSLATION OF NEOLOGISMS
Neologisms as well as terms from the social sciences, slangs, dialect,
and transferred words are one of the non-literary and biggest
problems for translators. Neologisms cannot be accurately
quantified because many are short-lived particular inventions, and
some are also not totally accepted.
Another problem is that the media and commercial interest exploit
people´s liking for neologisms. Some e.g. are:
(Coke, Tipp-Ex, Colgate, Corn-Flakes,
Kotex, Tesa, Bic, Schweppes, etc.)
24/02/2020 by Meibis M. González V.

THE TRANSLATION OF NEOLOGISMSNeologisms, the same as other expressive components of
'expressive' texts (unusual syntactic structures, collocations,
metaphors, words peculiarly used are rendered closely, if not
literally, but where they appear in informative and vocative
texts, they are normalized or toned down (except in striking
advertisements.

Kinds of Readership
envisages three types:
• Expert Readership
• Educated Readership (they may require additional explanations
of the SL word culture)
• Ignorant Readership (they might need
Linguistically, technical and cultural
Explanations of the SL word at
various levels)

The great majority of neologisms are words derived by analogy from ancient Greek
(increasingly) and Latin morphemes usually with suffixes such as -ismo, -ismus, -ija,
etc., naturalized in the appropriate language.
Latin Word Definition English Derivatives
villa villa, house villa, village, villager
alta tall, high, deep altitude, altimeter, alto
antiqua antique, old antique, antiquity, ancient
longa long longitude, longevity, long
magna large, great magnify, magnificent, magnitude
sub under subway, subterranean, suburban
corna horn cornucopia, cornet, clavicorn
est is estate, establish, essence
habere have have, habit, habitual
casa small house casino

Something to Ponder about Neologisms
It is helpful to distinguish the serious derived neologisms of industry from the sharp
ingenious derived neologisms (blends in particular) created by the media, including
the advertisers, which may be short-lived. Whether they are permanent or not, the
translator has to consider their function (advertising? neatness? phonoaesthetic
quality?) before deciding whether to re-create them in the TL or to translate the
completed component of the blends.

1. OLD WORDS WITH NEW SENSES
• Old words with new senses tend to be non-cultural and nontechnical
• They usually start as a metaphor.
• They are usually translated either by a word that already exists in the
TL, or by a brief functional or descriptive term.

2. New Coinages
New coinages are usually brand and trade names. These are usually
transferred unless the product is marketed in the TL culture under another
name; or the proper name may be replaced by a functional or generic term,
if the trade name has no cultural or identifying significance. Example: Revlon
may be translated by a selection of various components ('Revlon', iipstick',
'fashionable American1).
e.g.'Bisto', 'Bacardi', schweppes'
(onomatopoeic), )
• It should be replaced by the
same or equivalent morpheme
• Use of phonoaesthetic
equivalents
24/02/2020

3. Derived Words
Derivations (meaning)
Derivation is the formation of a new word or inflectable
stem from another word or stem. It typically occurs by the
addition of an affix.
The derived word is often of a different word class from
the original. It may thus take the inflectional affixes of the
new word class

Derived Words…
• In principle, in fiction, any kind of neologism should be recreated:
• if it is also phonoaesthetic, it should be given phonemes producing
analogous sound-effects
• In some countries this process has been combatted and through-
translation by way of the TL morphemes has been preferred.
• Normally, they have naturalized suffixes

Derived Words…if it is a derived word it should be replaced by the
same or equivalent morphemes. Before doing this:
1. First, he has to consult the appropriate ISO (International Standards
Organisation) glossary, to find out whether there is already a recognized
translation
2. Second, check whether the referent yet exists in the TL culture
3. Third, check how important it is, and therefore whether it is worth
'transplanting' at all.
After those steps, it is justified in transplanting:
It would be necessary to use inverted commas.

4. Abbreviations
Abbreviations have always been a common type of pseudo-neologism,
probably more common in French than in English. ('fab, Video). Unless
they coincide (prof, bus) they are written out in the TL.

5. Collocations
• Collocations are groups of words (noun compound or adjective plus
noun) that are commonly used together.
• They are particularly common in the social sciences and in computer
language.
Examples: Rush hour, soft drinks, catch a cold, etc.

• Collocations might represent
problems if they don´t have a
recognized translation - if they do not
exist, you have to transfer them (if
they appear important) and then add a
functional - descriptive term - you
have no authority to devise your own
neologism
• The essence of a collocation is
perhaps that at least one of the
collocates moves from its primary to
a secondary sense, and therefore, for
standardized terms, literal
translations are usually not
possible

6. Eponyms
• It is the name of an object or activity that is also the name of
the person who first produced the object or did the activity.

1. When eponyms refer directly to the person, they are translated without
difficulty
2. If eponyms refer to the referent's ideas or qualities, the translator may
have to add these qualities or ideas.
3. When eponyms are derived from objects, they
are usually brand names, and can be transferred
only when they are equally well known
and accepted in the TL
(e.g., 'nylon', but 'Durex' is an adhesive tape in Australian
English).

7. Phrasal Verbs
• Phrasal verbs are translated by their
semantic equivalents
• Note that phrasal words:
(a) They are often more economical
than their translation;
(b) They usually occupy the peculiarly
register between 'informal* and
'colloquial', while their translations are
more formal.

New 'phrasal words' are restricted to English's facility in
converting verbs to nouns.
Examples:
CARRY OUT
TAKE OVER
TAKE ON
LAY OFF
HAND IN
CALL OFF.

8. Transferred Words
• Newly transferred words keep only one sense of their foreign nationality;
their meanings are less dependent on their contexts.
• (Later, if they are frequently used, they change or develop additional
senses, and can sometimes no longer be translated back 'straight' into
their languages of origin.

• Transferred words are likely to be 'media'
or 'product' rather than technological
neologisms, and, given the power of the
media
• they may be common to several languages,
whether they are cultural or have cultural
overlaps
• They have to be given a functional - descriptive
equivalent for less sophisticated TL readerships.
• Newly imported foodstuffs, clothes
('Adidas, 'Levi', 'Wrangler'), cultural
manifestations (*raga*, *kung fu1), are
translated like any other cultural words,
therefore usually transferred together
with a generic term and the requisite
specific detail depending on
readership and setting,

9. Acronyms
• Acronyms are an increasingly
common feature of all non-
literary texts, for reasons of
brevity or euphony, and often to
give the referent an artificial
prestige to stir people to find out
what the letters stand for.
• Acronyms are frequently created
within special topics and designate
products, appliances and
processes, depending on their
degree of importance

• In translation, there is either a standard equivalent term or, if it does
not yet exist, there is a descriptive term.
• Acronyms for institutions and names of companies are usually
transferred.
• Acronyms are sometimes created or move into common language for
referents that have been in existence for a long time,

Also, the translator must
find acronyms created
simply for the purpose
of one text:
• When acronyms are as important in the
SL as in the TL, they may be different in
both languages
• Acronyms for international institutions,
which themselves are usually through-
translated, usuallv switch for each
language, but some, like 'ASEAN',
'UNESCO', TACT, 'CHRIST, LANC
fcUNICEF 'OPEC' are
internationalisms, usually written
unpunctuated.
• When a national political or social
organisation becomes important, it is
increasingly common to transfer its
acronym and translate its name

Creating Neologisms
• In non-literary texts, you should not
normally create neologisms.
• As a translator- your job is to account for
(not necessarily translate) every SL
word, and you therefore have to guess the
word's meaning:
1. the external evidence (i.e., the
linguistic and situational contexts
2. The internal evidence (the
composition of the word).

Creating Neologisms in a literary text
Firstly, in a literary text, it is a translators duty to re-
create any neologism on the basis of the SL
neologism: in other authoritative texts, it should be
normally done.
Secondly, when translating a popular
advertisement, you can create a neologism, usually
with a strong phonoaesthetic effect, if it appears to
follow the sense of its SL 'counterpart' and if it is
pragmatically effective.
Thirdly, he can transfer an SL cultural word, if for
one reason or another he thinks it important.

Creating Neologisms…in literary text
• If the translator recreates a SL neologism
using the same Graeco-Latin morphemes, it
is necessary to be assured:
(a) that no other translation already exists;
(b) that both the referent and the neologism
are not trivial- and that they are likely to
interest the SL readership.

When creating neologisms…
• The translator should not transfer SL neologisms, say in
computer science, which are evidently recent or devised for
the particular SL text iprogkiek, tabieurs).
• The translator should acknowledge at least with inverted
commas any neologism created. The more formal the
language, the more conservative the translator should be in
respect of neologisms.
• In technology, the translator should not usurp the
terminologist, who usuallv works within a team and is in
contact with the ISO.

Reference
• Peter Newmark. (1988 ) A Textbook of Translation

The Translation of Neologisms

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