A Corpus-Based Study on the Use of Glossing in Saudi Technology Blogs

This paper investigates the use of glossing in Saudi tech blogs. It contributes to the ongoing discussions on terminology standardization in the Arab world as well as sheds light on translation practices in technology-related fields. More specifically, it seeks to address the interrelationship between current standardization efforts and the use of glossing in Saudi Arabia. In doing so, the paper hopes to answer one main question: How does standardization of technical terminology affects the use of glossing in Saudi technology blogs? A large corpus of 203 texts (mainly reviews of computer-related products) was compiled using two corpus tools (i.e., Wordsmith and Sketch Engine). The texts were divided into two sets, based on the writing style and type of the platform. Then, the electronically retrieved term frequency lists were checked against the Saudi Terminology Data Bank (BASM), a four-language database of standardized technological terms, to determine whether native Arabic equivalents for the glossed terms existed. Three significant trends were identified: 1) bloggers, across the two sets, rarely gloss terms with firmly established Arabic equivalents, 2) informal bloggers used more glossing for terms with standardized—but not commonly used—Arabic forms or opted for non-standardized terms, and 3) glossing yielded high frequencies, across the two sets, for abbreviations exceeding two letters, plus a marked variation in Arabic term use. The marked differences between the two groups were attributed to a variety of factors, including a lagging standardization effort by official bodies.