Translating Acronyms of Media & U.N. Organizations

Abstract

: translating acronyms of media and international (& world) organizations helps the researcher to draw the following conclusions:1- Acronyms of world news agencies can be translated into Arabic in three ways: by indicating the lexical meaning; by indicating English abbreviated form as letter by letter & by indicating Arabic abbreviated form as a word. 2- Acronyms of world satellite TV's can be translated into Arabic in two ways: by indicating the lexical meaning & by indicating English abbreviated form as letter by letter. 3- Acronyms of world newspapers can be translated into Arabic in two ways: by indicating both the lexical meaning & Arabic transliteration of the English form. 4- Acronyms of U.N. & world organizations can be translated into Arabic in three ways: by indicating the lexical meaning; by indicating English abbreviated form as letter by letter & by indicating Arabic abbreviated form as a word. Thus, acronyms in the fields, under study, are either letter or syllabic. This verifies hypothesis no. (4). From the above tables of acronyms, the researcher notices that translation & transliteration can be both applied on in dealing with acronyms. This verifies hypothesis no. (5). Other hypotheses can be verified easily by noticing the wide progress, the world of communication & media witnesses.


With the emergence of modern information and communication, scientific progress in all fields of life and knowledge, in our world of today, have led to the appearance of large number of terms that are used to designate various concepts and discoveries, as speed plays a big role in stirring all aspects of life that surround us to the extent to be the main trait of our life. By such progress, the need to reduce full names and terms of concepts, shortening them into smaller ones, emerges to the surface as using such names and terms in full causes trouble, disturbance and waste of time & efforts in speech, writing & printing. To solve this complex situation, using the initial letters of words appears to be one smooth solution. This process is called "Acronymy" and the letters being abbreviated "Acronyms". The usage of acronyms is a relatively new linguistic phenomenon as the art of reducing a sequence of words to their initial letters became well created, developed & used increasingly in the 50s & 60s of the 20th century (1). It is a real reflection of the main characteristics of modern era which witnesses a revolution in technical & scientific discoveries. The first acronym was included in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1943 despite the fact that the word "initialisms" first appeared in the same dictionary in 1899 (2). It did not come into general use until 1965, well after "acronym" had become common. The current study will take the exploration of the phenomenon of acronyms, abbreviations & initialisms as its main goal, trying to present full discussion about its definitions, formulations, types, orthography and pronunciation. It sheds light on how to translate English acronyms into Arabic, suggesting different methods. It, also, highlights the challenges & difficulties they may pose in front of the translators and how such challenges & difficulties can be solved and surmounted.
Hypotheses: It is hypothesized that:1) Acronyms, in all various forms & styles, reflect the scientific and technological advancement & progress our world witnesses.2) Acronyms are used increasingly in the world of media and international policy circles as they cut off time & efforts being wasted in speech, writing and printing.3) Communication field represents the best environment to create acronyms.4) media & U.N.(international) organizations are mainly letter & syllabic acronyms.5) Translation and transliteration are both applied on the acronyms both fields.
Aims: The current study aims at :a) Discussing acronyms historically and theoretically in detail. b) Handling the issue of translating English acronyms into Arabic & suggesting ways of translation that can be useful, sufficient and effective. c) Making lists of acronyms that are of significance in the world of media & U.N. with their translations.