Dealing with Ambiguity: An Analysis of Pym's Recommendations to Retrieve Ambiguities of Terms Related to Translation Studies
Débora Montenegro Pasin, Heloísa Orsi Koch Delgado, Vanessa Silva Fischer
Abstract
Recent times have seen a vast expansion in specialized translation degree programs. However, as any nascent
discipline, several of its nomenclatures are still ambiguous or inaccurate, compromising understanding and
applicability in the classroom. That being considered, this article aims to analyze, qualitatively, the
recommendations provided by Prof. Anthony Pym in his “Tentative Glossary” of terms used by academics in
Translation Studies classes. Such glossary includes 141 terms based on his doctoral students’ doubts when
dealing with Translation Terminology. The present paper analyzes 15 of those terms, which were selected
randomly and divided into three categories (ambiguous, standard and abstentious) regarding (lack of) ambiguity
aiming at simplification for teaching practices. Concluding, it is learned that contextualization can decrease
misunderstandings; a further study in the light of Corpus Linguistics field in order to align possibilities is
suggested.
Full Text: PDF