Unified test term translation is imminent

Author: Cui Qiliang's original source: localized World Network www.giltworld.com. With the strong demand in the test market, the atmosphere of learning and exchanging test technologies and knowledge is continuously enthusiastic, and various test-related information is coming soon. However, many of the information about testing technology is in English, such as books and articles. To overcome the inconvenience caused by reading foreign languages, some English Test books are translated and published in China. Many testers have also translated some English test articles.

Most of these translated books/articles have good translation quality, but there are also many errors or inconsistencies in terms translation, which affects the reader's accurate understanding. Even some readers with good English reading ability would rather read the original English text than the translation content. I am afraid the poor translation may mislead them.

Test term translation confusion

Because the application and research of software testing technology in China are in the initial development stage, there is no uniform or accepted standard for the translation of testing terms, so the same term appears, different translators have different translations.

For example, "Test Case" can be translated into "test cases", "test cases", or "test cases"; "Project Manager ", someone translates it into "Project Manager", someone translates it into "Project Administrator", "Black test", someone translates it into "black box test", and someone translates it into "black box test.

You can also cite many examples of translation inconsistencies in test terms. For beginners who have read this inconsistency, they may think that new terms are emerging. For example, they may think that there are two roles: "Project Manager" and "test Manager, the former has more rights and responsibilities, leading to misleading and making mistakes in regard to "Cooks" and "employees" as two types of people.

For the technology familiar with the testing work, every time I read these bad translations, I feel like I am in my throat. This will affect my interest in further reading, and I would rather read the original article.

Unified test term translation is imminent

Readers who are familiar with the translation of Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese may have a better understanding. In the localized operating system and application software, the translation of Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese is very different from that of the same term, for example, "Printer" is used to translate Simplified Chinese into "printers", traditional Chinese into "printers", "software", and simplified Chinese into "software ", traditional Chinese is translated into "software". This situation cannot be changed now, although it affects understanding.

However, as software testing is just getting started, you can focus on the unification of test terms from now on. Otherwise, after N years, and so on, the translation of many terms is fixed, and it will take more cost to start correction.

Applying Software Testing policies to detect, report, and correct bugs as soon as possible will reduce the cost by 10 or 100 times compared with the late modification. The inconsistency of the test term translation should be a language defect (Bug) of the translation and should be corrected as soon as possible.

Obligations of technicians and translators

Since there is no official (for example, the national language and text Working Committee or the Ministry of Information Industry) to promote the translation consistency of test terms, this work falls on translators and test technicians. The two should strengthen communication and support each other. First, we should determine the translation of the most commonly used terms and follow them together. A preliminary translation method is proposed for new terms, which will be determined after discussion.

The work of unified testing terminology is a trivial task. As a person in the translation and testing field, it is necessary to take the initiative to undertake this meaningful task, provide the information of advanced testing technologies abroad to domestic readers in a correct and timely manner.