MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY IN TRANSLATION TRAINING: FUNCTIONAL AND STYLISTIC ASPECT

Abstract

This study continues the series of the authors’ methodological researches in the field of translation training. The goal of our research at this stage is to examine the lexical and discursive features of medical terminology, the general description and analysis of which will form the foundation for further development of translation methodologies for medical texts of various genres and styles. The syncretic nature of our research, specifically its translation focus within the general linguistic framework of medical sublanguage terminology, has determined its methodology. In particular, within the framework of functional and stylistic analysis, we employed contextual analysis methods to study the usage of terminology in different contexts, as well as the method of stylistic modeling to evaluate the stylistic role of medical terms in texts of various genres and functional styles, following M. Lacroix and S. Randal (Lacroix, 2014). Terminological analysis was conducted within the methodology of John Swales’ theory of specialized languages (Swales, 1990), and, in the aspect of translation studies, focused on identifying methods of equivalently rendering healthcare terminology in intercultural communication, following R. Cappelli (Cappelli, 2020). The result of our research is an analytical-synthetic description of the functioning of medical terminology in texts of various functional styles and the selection of appropriate translation strategies based on the pragmatic aspects of the terms. Specifically, it is proposed to translate medical terminology into the scientific style using dictionary equivalents while contextually analyzing specific cases of polysemy, homonymy, and neologisms. In the business style, contextual explanations may be provided, considering the recipients’ thesaurus. In the journalistic style, emphasis should be placed on pragmatic influence, while in conversational style, de-terminalization is possible, and in artistic style, a creative approach to terminological connotations is necessary. Ethical norms of translation remain critically important in all styles.