Translation of Patent Documents: Language of Descriptions and Claims

Year 2019, Volume , Issue 27, 220 - 241, 31.12.2019

Gülden TANER

https://doi.org/10.37599/ceviri.584725

Abstract

Technical advancements and new inventions highlighted the importance of technical translation, particularly patent translations as a specialised sub-field. In this respect, translation of patent application documents has emerged as a practice requiring specialisation, especially because the translated text is bound by the legal rules and restrictions in language use. The regulations governing the writing and wording of Claims and the textual characteristics in the patent documents require more attention. The main aim of this study is to provide a description of the general textual characteristics of patent documents as a subfield of technical translation, and particularly to provide examples to illustrate the characteristics of Claims with reference to related legal requirements. The focus of analysis is on English and Turkish language pair. The linguistic, contextual, structural and terminological properties of Turkish and English patent documents are introduced; then, Turkish and English versions of Claims are compared, to exemplify different sentence structures and translation requirements pertaining to specific textual conventions in TL. In the analyses of the translations, discussions centre not only on the translation itself, but also on what governs the translators’ decision process in terms of technically appropriate and legally acceptable text characteristics. It is claimed that it is not merely the technical and terminological knowledge, but in fact the expertise in this specific genre and style of writing that brings quality in the translation of patents. The discussions regarding the translation process and examples of textual conventions might be beneficial for professional and prospective translators who are interested in the translation of patent documents.

Keywords

patent translation, technical translation, claims, specifications, description

Patent Metinlerinin Çevirisi: Tarifname ve İstemlerin Dilsel Özellikleri

Abstract

Teknik ve teknolojik gelişmeler ve yeni buluşlar, hem teknik çeviri hem de özelinde patent çevirilerinin önemini arttırmıştır. Bu açıdan, patent başvuru dokümanlarının çevirisi, çeviri kuramcıları ve profesyonel çevirmenler tarafından, özellikle de çeviri metin yasal sınırlamalara maruz kaldığı için sıklıkla tartışılan bir kavramdır. İstemlerin yazımı ve stili ile ilgili yönetmelikler yanında patent disiplinindeki metin geleneği, patent çevirisini özel dikkat gerektiren bir alan kılmıştır. Bu çalışmanın temel amacı yürürlükteki mevzuatla da ilintili olarak, teknik metin olarak değerlendirilen patent metinlerinin genel özellikleri ile ilgili bilgi vermek ve özellikle de İstemlerin çevirisiyle ilgili örnekler sunmaktır. İlk olarak İngilizce ve Türkçe patent metinlerinin dilsel, bağlamsal, yapısal ve terimsel özellikleri açıklanmış, sonrasında örnek istemler üzerinden patent başvurularının İngilizce’den Türkçe’ye yapılan resmi onaylı çevirileri orijinal metinlerle karşılaştırılmıştır. Bu sayede farklı yapılardakı İstem türleri tanıtılmış, aynı zamanda çevirisi için Türkçe patent metni geleneğinde kullanılan kalıplar örneklendirilmiş ve çeviriler işlevsel açıdan da değerlendirilmiştir. Bu makalede sunulan teknik çeviri ve patent belgelerine dair incelemeler ve çeviri örnekleri alanda çalışan çevirmen ve çevirmen adayları için bu alan hakkında bilgi sağlaması açısından faydalı olacaktır. 

Keywords

teknik, patent, çeviri, istem, tarifname

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