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A very interesting challenge...
Sep. 25th, 2011 09:55 amThe document I am working on has presented me with an abbreviation, but no expansion of same. This is not a particularly unusual situation for a translator to be in, and if push comes to shove, I would simply transliterate the abbreviation (with, perhaps, a translator's footnote).
That said, I would, of course, first take some time to go see what the Internet might offer as an expansion for the abbreviation. Except that in this case, the abbreviation in question is "ПРИ," which happens to also be a fairly common Russian word. (It would be a bit like trying to find the expansion for the abbreviation "FOR" in English text, as in: "The officers surrendered their sidearms before entering the FOR.")
In other words, the challenge is to find the meaning of a string of letters without directly using that string of letters.
Still, any first try will nevertheless involve using the abbreviation, together with relevant terms (in my case, these would the Russian equivalents of "destructive" and "nondestructive," referring to forms of material testing).
No joy.
At this point, context becomes all-important. The text here calls for "conducting" the ПРИ.
Based on previous experience with such texts, the last letter, И, very likely refers to the Russian equivalent of "investigation" (исследование) or—more likely—"testing" or "tests" (испытание).
Since the tests are being conducted on materials after they have been exposed over time to conditions that would tend to adversely change their physical properties, and since strength is an important physical property (and starts with the letter П), I attempt the following Google search
The response gives me what I am probably looking for:
Still, because the text provides no expansion, a translator's note will be in order.
Cheers...
That said, I would, of course, first take some time to go see what the Internet might offer as an expansion for the abbreviation. Except that in this case, the abbreviation in question is "ПРИ," which happens to also be a fairly common Russian word. (It would be a bit like trying to find the expansion for the abbreviation "FOR" in English text, as in: "The officers surrendered their sidearms before entering the FOR.")
In other words, the challenge is to find the meaning of a string of letters without directly using that string of letters.
Still, any first try will nevertheless involve using the abbreviation, together with relevant terms (in my case, these would the Russian equivalents of "destructive" and "nondestructive," referring to forms of material testing).
No joy.
At this point, context becomes all-important. The text here calls for "conducting" the ПРИ.
Based on previous experience with such texts, the last letter, И, very likely refers to the Russian equivalent of "investigation" (исследование) or—more likely—"testing" or "tests" (испытание).
Since the tests are being conducted on materials after they have been exposed over time to conditions that would tend to adversely change their physical properties, and since strength is an important physical property (and starts with the letter П), I attempt the following Google search
"прочностн * испытания"(The first part of the search string is the root of the adjectival form of "strength," the asterisk is to let Google know that some unspecified string goes here, and the last word is, well, the last word.)
The response gives me what I am probably looking for:
прочностные и ресурсные испытанияWhich is a term I've run across previously, in a related context, meaning "strength and fatigue testing" (which, by the way, fits the immediate context perfectly).
Still, because the text provides no expansion, a translator's note will be in order.
Cheers...
