Fidexim (X) Apr 24, 2009:

Como se llama en Argentina, por ejemplo? Caja de transferencia de cambios (electrónicos) inmediatos - me parece demasiado lungo, a mi ;)

invguy Apr 24, 2009:

Mhm... Maybe other colleagues should come in here. I personally am a bit suspicious about imposing terms "off the top floor" ;) I think a translator's duty (regarding the development of a language) is rather to recognize the potential winner among unofficially existing translations and start to support it, not to invent new ones. But I might as well be wrong on that... :)

Enrique Cavalitto Apr 24, 2009:

An opportunity? Then maybe you (the community) have an opportunity to debate the term and agree on a proper translation. Who would be better positioned to do so than a group of dedicated and specialized professionals like you?

Greetings from sunny La Plata, Argentina,
Enrique

invguy Apr 24, 2009:

Thanks for responding, Enrique No, the English phrase is not used in Bulgarian at all. Admittedly, there are many cases where a foreign term (less frequently - a phrase) is being directly adopted as a loan-word - if not as an official term, then at least in informal communication. But this is not the case at all. As I noted, the term is always being rendered descriptively in Bulgarian, and almost never completely: like "switching/shifting of the drive mode/pattern while in motion/without stopping" (or whatever part of all this is needed to clarify the meaning within the available context).

Indeed, the case is specific. But it does make me ask myself the question that I outlined below.

Enrique Cavalitto Apr 24, 2009:

Is it used in English? Hi invguy,

I don't know if this is the case, but sometimes the English version of a term or expression is used in another language, especially in technical areas. In that cases this would be an important piece of information for translators working towards that language.

Regards, Enrique

invguy Apr 24, 2009:

@ Enrique: This GBK term posting poses an interesting question.

There is no Bulgarian equivalent of this English term. Its translation is always descriptive; furthermore, it is also usually long-winded and almost never full and precise - simply because the term (or, rather, the notion) is always found in fairly specialized context where the meaning is clear. A curious fact is that there is obviously no desire to attempt finding a shorter (or otherwise more compact) equivalent, even in colloquial talk among off-road fans; not even adopting directly the English term or another loan-word, as it happens in many other instances.

The answer of atche84 below is correct (although I'd rather extend it, for precision's sake).

I wonder, however, whether it is appropriate for the GBK glossary to contain terms that only have descriptive translations. Providing such a translation means nearly giving a definition/explanation instead of an equivalent - which is not quite my idea of a glossary. I agree this is a pretty specific case, and unlike any of the EN>BG GBK postings I've seen so far; it is possible, though, that other such terms might come up too.

I'd appreciate your comment, Enrique. Thanks.