How to search vocabulary through the Internet?

First of all, by searching the Internet, we can find words that meet the needs of a specific context, and verify whether the words meet the sense of language. We can use the search engine to conduct comprehensive horizontal exploration or enter the institution's website for partial vertical excavation. It should be noted that although existing search tools have made great progress in terms of speed and capacity, they are still at a very limited level for knowledge mining and organization. Therefore, the efficiency of web search still depends on the knowledge structure of the user, and it can only be an auxiliary tool for the translator in the translation work.

At present, the search methods we can use are mainly keyword full-text retrieval based on web page memory.

Google (Google), Baidu (Baidu), Yahoo (Yahoo), and other Internet search service providers continue to scan, analyze and store the global network. Users can enter keywords in the web interface to search, and the server will display the web pages containing keywords. list. When inquiring, users can use multiple keywords, logical operators such as "AND" and "OR" can be used between keywords, and double quotation marks can also be used to search for phrases as a whole. Since the current search technology cannot support fuzzy semantics well, generally only webpages that include specific words can be found, and cannot be extended to other concepts related to words. Therefore, we need to adopt a strategy of following the clues, using our language and encyclopedic knowledge to find out web pages that meet the requirements.

Simply put, translators need to take gradual steps from coarse to fine when searching the web. The stricter the query conditions, the fewer results will be obtained; if the restrictions are too loose, the results may lose their pertinence. When searching, first enter a few keywords, and then gradually increase. If the result is not ideal, it may be because the original keyword does not meet the standard expression method, then you can replace it with some other iconic words that are not directly related to the target phrase but may appear on the same webpage, and search for suitable keywords. You can find the correct wording for the term on the web page. The keywords should be scattered first, and then search for the phrase as a whole after finding the exact statement.

For translators, the most valuable are webpages that deal with the searched topic in parallel texts or equivalent texts in different languages, or even translations or multilingual glossaries that have been completed by previous people. However, crossing from one language to another is not easy, so indirect search strategies are more necessary. The current search engines all support multilingual search, and Google has a high degree of globalization, so it is the most commonly used in translation. If you want to search for the corresponding expression of a term in another language, you can use the term in the original language plus some words that may appear in the term in the translated version to search. If it is difficult to directly search for web pages containing terms in two minor languages, you can use the most common English on the Internet as an intermediary. At this time, you can use online tools such as bilingual dictionaries or Google Translate to find out the English version of the word to search.

?Through the following example, we briefly analyze the strategy of web search in translation.

The following quote comes from a French media report on Microsoft's attempted hostile takeover of Yahoo:

“Les dirigeants de Yahoo ont multiplié les contacts avec de possibles chevaliers blancs pour tenter d'échapper au géant de Redmond et proposer une alternative à leurs actionnaires.”

The difficulty in translation is "chevalier blanc", which is not included in the PRI, nor can it be found in the financial dictionary. Before searching the Internet, we first need to understand the article roughly, for example, we need to understand that "géant de Redmond" refers to Microsoft, because "Redmond" is the location of Microsoft. According to our preliminary understanding, it may not be appropriate to search for "chevalier blanc" plus "knight directly". If "knight" does not appear in the corresponding Chinese financial terms, it will come to a dead end, so we searched for related words instead, namely "chevalier blanc" Add "acquisition". There are less than 10 web page results returned in Google, showing that the number of Chinese-French bilingual texts on this topic is too small to find a Chinese translation of chevalier blanc.

?So we used Google Translate to find out the English expression "white knight" of "chevalier blanc", and then searched for "white knight" plus "acquisition". Google showed 1670 webpages containing these two keywords, many of which were on Chinese Financial websites explaining related concepts. For example, a white knight (white knight) is the buyer that the target company is more willing to accept. When a target company is threatened with a takeover, it enlists the help of friendly companies, known as white knights. White knights often promise not to dissolve the company or fire management and other employees, and the target company will offer the white knights a more worrisome share price. (Source: Sina Finance)

Combining results from other websites, we can determine that "chevalier blanc" or "white knight" in corporate acquisitions can be translated as "white knight". The French report above can be translated as:

Yahoo's leaders contacted possible "white knights" in various ways, trying to get rid of the hostile takeover by Microsoft, the giant, and offer an alternative to the company's shareholders.

Of course, if the translation of the above example is aimed at this professional audience, "white knight" can be replaced with "friendly acquirer".