Secondary Term Formation For Chinese Integrated Units: A Case Study

Technical translation distinguishes itself from other types of translation by itsuse of technical terms, taking up5%~10%of the whole text. Term translation, in fact,is a secondary term formation process based on conceptual analysis. This explainswhy this paper is devoted to a study of secondary term formation for eighteenintegrated units innovated and manufactured by PetroChina Changqing OilfieldCompany (PCOC). The study starts with Chinese term naming principles and theirlogic through background knowledge research. Then secondary terms formation isintroduced in light of the logical relationship within and between the words so as toattain a better understanding of the concept relations. Based on relevant comparabletexts and in light of the rules of term formation such as consistency, linguisticeconomy, as well as client requirements, the thesis assesses the quality of the eighteentranslations. The theoretical framework of the study is from terminology rather thanlinguistics which hopefully would shed light on the assessment system of termtranslation, improve the quality of term translation, and make contributions to thedeconstruction, reproduction and dissemination of technical terms.