IT terminology and translation: Cultural, lexicographic and linguistic problems

Abstract

The research tackles the computer linguistic terminology used wrongly or vaguely by Arab computer users in academic institutions and by English Arabic translators. To serve the purpose of this research, we inserted and/or  contextualized a number of computer linguistic terms in texts or contexts. The terms were heavily used in word processors or statistical packages. Five translators were requested to translate those texts. Simultaneously, we reviewed the computer books taught in two Arab countries which are Jordan and the UAE because these countries have witnessed good educational developments. After filtering out the translators' products from English into Arabic and after investigating the computer terminologies, we found that many computer terms are problematic. We classified the types of problematic vocabulary items and then tabulated them under four categories. Those were the vague, inaccurate, unchangeable and statistical ones. We also found that those problematic words were difficult to translate because of the Arabic culture or the inefficiency of English Arabic Bilingual dictionaries. The research ends up with a number of research and practical recommendations.