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Learning TechSpeak in a New Language?

Posted by Cliff on from the technological-idioms-in-non-english dept.

dlthomas asks: "I'm a tech worker moving to a country where English is not the primary language. While I've found lots of resources for learning the language, I'm wondering what resources people know of for learning technical jargon (and any unique grammatical constructions) in languages other than English. I'm personally looking for Latin-American Spanish, but would still be interested in seeing broader discussion."

6 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting observation by vga_init · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I don't think this qualifies as "jargon," but I found it interesting when asking a Chinese friend of mine to teach me some Mandarin that the term for computer translates literally to mean "electronic brain." That's a lot cooler than the English etymology.

    1. Re:Interesting observation by trs9000 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      and to that point: a friend related to me how in icelandic "computer" is a compound word composed of the two words "number" and "prophet".... very interesting indeed!

  2. Tech Taxonomy? by TFGeditor · · Score: 2, Interesting
    "We don't have much of our own jargon, we mainly use the English words or some simple translation/neologisms."

    This is true in most non-English languages, but it makes me wonder if the worldwide spread of tech calls for a standardized naming convention for technology, similar to the taxonomic system for plants and animals. Under this system, a black widow spider is "Latrodectus mactrans" no matter the local language. Ergo, a "server" might become "Servius filum" or whatever.

    --
    Ignorance is curable, stupid is forever.
  3. Latin american spanish by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 3, Interesting
    English terms are fairly common. A few to know are:

    red == network (or any old kind of net)
    teclado = keyboard
    ratón == mouse, but everybody I know says mouse.
    tarjeta == card
    disco duro == hard disk
    programador == programmer

    Many are obvious: Computadora, programa, cable.

    Plain English ones:
    hub, router, server, web, internet, dvd & cd (usually pronounced as the english letters!)

    I'm sure I'll think of a bunch more right after I post this. One not really technical but odd: a VCR is (at least around here) a "vay achay" as in the spanish pronunciation of the letters V H. Similarly, a BMW is a bay emmay.

  4. Observation by mobby_6kl · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The country I now live in has a different language from my mother tongue, and it's not English :)
    Just as with the 'normal' language, I learned all the tech terms by observing. After you get the basics of the language just read tech magazines or books, surf the local tech web sites, talk to computer nerds or listen to them talk. You can try visiting computer-related eshops which have pictures and just browse randomly, noticing the categories various things are listed under or descriptions given.
    For example, if there is a picture of a memory module with the following description:
    "ECC awoseihgna 266MHz pijsdae (aikjrst PC2100), sjlfdg 2GB."
    It should be obvious that "awoseihgna" means registered, "pijsdae" means memory, "aikjrst" stands for standard or compatible, and "sjlfdg" is size or capacity. Note: sample words created by dropping hands on keyboard.
    It (everything, not just the eshop thing) worked for me, and I think the talking/listening part is very important, as A) you will hear the pronunciation and B) many things have completely different 'official' and commonly used names, like box vs. computer in English but with 100:1 usage ratio.
    Hope this helps.

  5. Re:barrapunto.com by dlthomas · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Free and effective, we seem to have a winner. I'll definately start reading it. Thanks a bunch!