New Challenges in the Translation of Terminology for Software Applications

Abstract

English has played a dominant role in the terminology of computers and the New Technologies in the last decades. The growing expansion worldwide of different electronic devices and multitasking smart phones has brought about an increasing number of software applications or apps in the market. Creating multilingual applications is a major challenge for developers and companies as sale revenues are on the rise in this sector. The translation and localisation into Spanish and other languages entails some lexical problems that are analysed in this paper with several examples taken from different apps. The results clearly show a marked tendency towards abbreviated and contracted forms based on length restriction and the unceasing penetration of English terms or Anglicisms into Spanish. Different examples are provided to illustrate the major challenges translators face when localising these terms into Spanish by using different lexical resources. Freedom, creativity, accuracy and precision will be determinant factors in the terminology of software applications for electronic devices in the near future.