Maritime Language Analysis

Translation is not simply a matter of finding other words with similar meanings but of seeking appropriate ways of saying things in another language. Maritime English and maritime Romanian use different linguistic forms, but these forms represent only one of the aspects of the differences between the two language systems in question. The most fascinating are the cultural meanings that are intricately woven into the texture of the language and it is the translator’s task to catch and render them accordingly. The translator’s awareness of the source culture (ST) and target culture (TL) is of utmost importance so much the more as the experiences conditioning daily life, the historical, social realities, traditions, customs, beliefs and feelings

We have detected few instances of culture specific concepts in maritime language. Some of these concepts are totally unknown in the target culture (TC) because they reflect a reality specific to the source culture (SC) only. This is the case of the collocation shipping bill (i.e. The shipping bill is the main document required by customs authority for clearance of goods for shipment), which in the Dicţionar de Business Englez – Român (2002: 630) is explained as a “formular utilizat de autorităţile vamale britanice, ȋnainte ca mărfurile să poată fi exportate din Regatul Unit al Marii Britanii şi este necesar şi la scoaterea bunurilor dintr-un antrepozit vamal”. Thus, this collocation does not have a direct Romanian equivalent, in which case the translator can resort to the stategy of borrowing or s/he can resort to modulation, obtaining the phrase permis/ aviz de

However, studying the languages (i.e English and Romanian) involved in the process of translation, as well as the genre involved, the maritime translator can produce a TT that, according to its function, keeps meaningful balance between the ST to TT, creating a TT that is target-text oriented. In translations there are more or less adequate “modulations” or “adaptations” resulting in “cultural shifts”. And a translation where foreign elements are not adapted will appear as an “overt translation” (House 1997: 29) “which allows the translation receptor a view of the original through a foreign language while clearly operating in a different discourse world”. This in maritime translation is inadequate, since the purpose of translating, here, is simply to continue a scientific communication across the language border. Science means communication among scientists regarding their respective view on the objects (Kalverkämper 1998: 31). Maritime translation requires the formulation of communicatively adequate technical texts in the other language. This includes clarity, precision and linguistic economy, as the key function of LSP (Language for Specific Purposes) is the specification, condensation and anonymity of the propositions (Gläser 1998: 206. Schmitz (: 580) considers