Use and translation of abbreviations and acronyms in scientific texts

Abstract

Most new concepts both in the Russian and English languages are expressed using phrases or compound words, because such complex words make it possible to represent a particular concept with completeness and accuracy. But multicomponent terms—complex words and phrases—are cumbersome; therefore, there is a need to abbreviate them in one way or another. In some cases this leads to the use of short versions of the term in the form of only one main component, while in others, various types of abbreviations are used, which can save time. However, their imprecise or incorrect translation can change or confuse the intended meaning. The paper discusses the differences in using abbreviations and acronyms in British and American scientific texts, as well as difficulties of their translation and optimal strategies of interlanguage adaptation. The investigation is performed using various research techniques, including a comparative method, a continuous sampling method, semantic structure analysis, and contextual analysis. It is shown that the existing modern classifications of abbreviations greatly differ in linguistic scientific literature and lexical units are abbreviated using various methods. It is found that there exist various traditions of their usage in scientific and technical texts. It is demonstrated that various standards for introducing, spelling, and punctuating abbreviations and acronyms in British and American scientific journals pose additional difficulties in the work of a translator in the field of science and technology, provokes translation errors and requires the use of normalization and explication as the main strategies for their translation. The paper may be of interest for those who translate scientific texts for British and American readership.