Technical translation – expectations, challenges, practice

Abstract

This article addresses the issue of the challenges faced by a translator and proofreader of historical papers as technical texts. The theoretical part includes various, albeit scarce, definitions of technical translation and jargon and serves to classify historical texts as technical ones. The practical part is a discussion of the problems faced by the translator and proofreader of the book entitled Sacred Space in the State of the Teutonic Order in Prussia. The author describes the challenges connected with providing a coherent volume composed of 14 chapters, each written by a different scholar, in terms of editing, terminology, style, grammar, and discrepancies between the Polish and English languages. The article ends with a set of tips which are meant to facilitate the work of translators of technical texts and include creating a glossary of specialist terminology, developing appropriate translation and linguistic competence, applying various translation techniques, following (and/or) preparing a stylesheet, and collaborating with authors, editors, and publishers.