14269
In English, programming projects (and large systematic projects in general)
typically take their descriptive cues from well-known
manufacturing/construction industry jargon, i.e. "blueprint", "assembly",
"infrastructure", "building", "attaching", "extending"...the list goes on, but
the essential metaphor is one of a physical structure like a building or
vehicle.

From what I've looked at in WWWJDIC, the nuance doesn't seem to line up
exactly (not that WWWJDIC spends much space on describing nuance)--if I want
to say, "construction of/building the system component", reaching from the
dictionary, I have to make a choice from among 建築、造作、構築、建設、建てる（の）, among many
others. On the other hand, none of these entries contain clues as to whether
or not I'm even barking up the right tree.

So **the question is** , what is the core metaphor for (programming) project
development, and what kind of word choice am I looking for when I want to
express a sentence like the above?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-30T03:24:55.343
13955
2014-01-24T02:43:11.190
3131
question
word-choice nuances metaphor
How are programming projects discussed in Japanese?
This might be an overkill, but this book is dedicated to the subject:
<http://amzn.to/1fbjwj4>

Published by the IPA Information-technology Promotion Agency to standardize
the terminology used throughout the software life-cycle. Many big Japanese
SIers dig it.

But that book is huge, so I'll give you some translations that we use (I've
worked at Japanese SIers):

```

    "blueprint" -> 設計書
    "assembly" -> not sure, maybe 結合
    "infrastructure" -> 基盤
    "building" -> 構築
    "attaching" -> 添付？
    "extending" -> 拡張
    
```
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-22T12:05:33.657
14269
2014-01-22T15:28:17.233
2014-01-22T15:28:17.233
499
499
13955
answer
**PART I - IT'S NOT AS SIMPLE AS FINDING A METAPHORICAL THEME**

I don't believe you will find wide-sweeping solutions to your problem by, for
example, using construction-related words.

From my experience in translation, it seems to me that the Japanese word
chosen is the word that most accurately describes the action, and not
necessarily based on a metaphor. My personal opinion is that Japanese writing,
based on Kanji, lends itself more to 'recombination' of meanings than
'borrowing' from a theme. To me, this is a major difference between word-based
and character-based vocabularies.

For instance, my wife is a medical translator, and I've noticed that words
that are extremely hard to understand in English are incredibly simple in
Japanese because they are based on combining meanings. For example 'ozostomia'
is 口臭 (mouth + stink). peribronchitis is 気管支周囲炎 (windpipe+around+inflamed).
Don't even need a dictionary to understand them.

I know the argument can be made that these are based on Latin or Greek, and
one can trace the etymology. I think demonstrates the inherent need in English
to 'pull' from the past. Pull from Latin, pull from Greek, pull from similar-
meaning words in other contexts and adapt them. Whereas, Chinese and Japanese
have, for lack of a better word, a lego-block vocabulary. And since the need
to pull words from the past is not needed, I don't believe this mindset to use
metaphorical themes is prevalent.

I've digressed a bit here, but what I'm trying to say is that it's very easy
to make new words in Japanese, and not so much in English - so in English we
tend to look for 'parallels' and adopt an existing word into a new capacity.
We can't expect the same perspective from Japanese language, which I think is
what you are looking for.

**PART II - BUT HERE ARE SOME WAYS TO FIND THE RIGHT WORD**

However, if you are not sure what word to use, the best thing to do is check
example sentences, rather than the words in your dictionary. Your probability
of success making a metaphor-based guess of the words listed in your
dictionary will not, in my opinion, allow you to use the word confidently, or
even necessarily provide you the proper word.

I recommend checking any of the many online resources, (weblio is good these
days) by typing the word in question, and comparing the meaning you 'want'
against the sentences. For example, if you type 'architecture' you will see
sentences that talk about the architecture of a building, and others that are
about '16-bit architecture'. Compare and choose the most obvious and common
words.

If I am translating a document with uncommon, obtuse, or difficult words, I
will usually try to find some established use in patents. WIPO (World
Intellectual Property Organization) is one good resource for this; with 2.2
million patents on file, you are sure to find something. Abstracts of Japanese
patents are usually in Japanese and English on the same page, so it's easy to
establish a usage history.

I hope this can help you when you're stuck, even though it may not have been
the wide-brush answer to your problems you may have hoped for.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-23T17:55:52.017
14279
2014-01-24T02:43:11.190
2014-01-24T02:43:11.190
4075
4075
13955
answer