TRANSLATING ACCOUNTING APPLICATIONS FROM RUSSIAN INTO ENGLISH (BASED ON 1C:ERP 2.0 (ENTERPRISE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT)

The paper focuses on the language of accounting applications (AA) and the problems faced by translators when translating them from Russian into English. The study is based on 1C:ERP 2.0 (Enterprise Resource Management) in Russian and English. Today software localization is much in demand, yet the theory of translation in this field is well behind the practice. Therefore, this study appears topical and relevant, and the available linguistic material seems sufficiently representative and requires theoretical consideration. The study aims to identify common problems which arise when translating AAs from Russian into English. We use translations done during the localization of the above-mentioned software product to illustrate them. The study focuses on lexical and grammatical problems of translation. In particular, it was found that the most common lexical problems of translating AAs were the translation of special and equivalent-lacking words, the choice of contextual equivalents when translating polysemantic words and the translation of abbreviations. In terms of grammar, the forms which allow presenting information in a concise way are typical for AAs. For example, in the Russian language these are incomplete sentences and omissions. In this regard, main translation problems arise due to the need to take into account typical means of language compression in English, including the simplification of tense forms, the use of attributive constructions and to deliberately include them in the translation. In addition, software is usually translated by a team of professionals (developers, translators, editors, etc.). Therefore, in order to ensure proper operation and uniformity of the final product, translators should follow project style guides and/or collaborate to develop appropriate algorithms for actions in difficult cases. Some of them are also presented in this paper.