Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 13
Regarding
a Possible Excess
of Translation
While the Committee is not concerned with any lack of translation,
it does have some concern about a possible excess of translation.
Translation of material for which there is no definite prospective
reader is not only wasteful, but it clogs the channels of translation
and information flow. Routine translation should be confined to
journals or books with reasonably assured paid circulation and
additional translations should be nude only in response to specific
requests. In support of this position we quote from a letter re-
ceived by the Committee from a research organization of the
Department of Defense:
We have found that the available translation services generally do not
cover our technical areas to the depth that we require for our studies. As
a result, we are continually putting in requests for translations of additional
journal articles and such things as Soviet patents. Our problem has been
the inability to obtain quick reaction to these special requests and it is this
factor that has hampered rather than limited our world. If we had one reco~-
mendation to make to a survey such as yours, it would be that, a better bal-
ance should be established between what is routinely translated and the
special translation requests of users. We have found that many articles
are being translated in our area that do not warrant the effort and it appears
to us that some of the routine translations could be abandoned in order to
make more translation services available for quick reaction to special
requests.
It is possible that the cover-to-cover translations contain, in
addition to much valuable information, many uninspired research
reports that the U.S. scientist could have been mercifully spared.
An interesting study, conducted in 19 62, investigated the value
of the articles contained in the Soviet journals translated in the
National Library of Medicine/Public Health Service translation
program Report of Study of NLM/PHS Russian Translation Program
(Contract PH-86-62-9), Institute for Advancement of Medical Com-
munication (Jan. 15, 1 9 62 )] . The method of evaluation used was
13
OCR for page 14
parallel editorial refereeing of the Soviet articles by counterpart
American journals. Copies of the translated articles were sent to
the editors in chief of counterpart American journals for distribu-
tion to their referees. The preliminary results were as follows.
Of the total of 36 articles taken from two issues of the Sechenov
Physiological Journal of the USSR, 31 percent were judged accept-
able for publication in the American Journal of Physiology or the
Journal of Applied Physiology.
Of the total of 41 articles taken from two issues of Biophysics
(USSR), 23 percent were judged acceptable for publication in the
Biophysical Journal. In addition the referees indicated that another
eight articles should be acceptable to the appropriate American
journal.
Of the 25 papers taken from two issues of Problems of Oncology,
76 percent were considered acceptable to Cancer. The referees
indicated that another two articles would have been acceptable at
one time but "would not now be considered new enough to merit
publication."
Further endence of a possible excess of translation is to be
found in The Need for Soviet Translations Among American
Chemists, a report to the American Chemical Society by Herner
and Company (June 4, 1962~:
On the other hand, the biggest argument that the respondents had with
the translations presently available to them was not with their quality but
with time lags in their issuance. The translation process—particularly when
cover-to-cover translations are involved—is a relatively slow one. In view
of the finding of the medical editors, one might well wonder whether a
relatively high proportion of mediocre or inferior papers are not delaying
the appearance of a small proportion of superior and significant papers.
Perhaps even more revealing than the specifically stated reasons for
nonuse of Soviet translations are the answers to the question in the ques-
tionnaire in regard to preferred media for receiving Soviet scientific
information. Three methods outranked all others. These were: English-
language abstracts of Russian publications, regular English-language
reviews of Soviet developments in specific fields, and translations of indi-
vidual articles as needed. These three methods are of course not mutually
exclusive but complementary. Interestingly, the number of respondents
who preferred to get their Soviet information in the form of cover-to-cover
translations was only half the number who preferred to get their transla-
tions as needed.
. . . The only things that might be done to round out the Soviet coverage
that is presently available in chemistry is, first, to make sure that Soviet
papers that are worthwhile in the opinion of the abstracters or editors are
given detailed abstracting because they are likely not to be readily available
in English; second to provide means of obtaining cheap copies of cited
Soviet papers, possibly through the Chemical Abstracts Service; and third
14
OCR for page 15
to develop a mechanism for making selected translations available on re-
quest, again possibly through the Chemical Abstracts Service. All three
areas of improvement would probably require subsidization by the Govern-
ment. However, it would probably mean a far smaller expenditure than
would be required to support an expanded program of cover-to-cover trains
rations. It would also probably produce a far greater return.
It is the Committee's belief that the total technical literature
does not merit translation, and it is futile to try to guess what
someone may at some time want translated. The emphasis should
be on speed, quality, and economy in supplying such translations
as are requested.
A service such as the Joint Publications Research Service,
which charges the user for a translation, is less conducive to
translation without use than is a service such as the U.S. Air Force
Systems Command's Foreign Technology Division, which supplies
translations free within certain areas.
15
Representative terms from entire chapter:
soviet papers
