ALTA NTP (Title Insurance & Escrow Producer Credentials) flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Propositional core

The agent, action, patient, time, modality, and polarity expressed by a source sentence; preserving all six prevents omissions, additions, and meaning reversals in translation.

Ambiguity resolution hierarchy

A decision order for unclear source passages: syntax first, then immediate co-text, broader context, and authorial intent; unresolved cases are flagged for client query rather than guessed.

Cohesion mapping

Tracking pronouns, ellipsis, substitution, and definite articles across sentences to identify antecedents; target text must preserve the same referential links without introducing ambiguity.

Negation scope

The range of a negative word over quantifiers or clauses; 'not all' differs from 'none', so target syntax must preserve the original logical scope.

False friend check

A source word resembling a target word but carrying a different meaning; verify the source-language sense in context before selecting a target equivalent.

Accuracy read-through

A source-target comparison pass that checks every proposition for omission, addition, or distortion; reading target aloud first can reveal ungrammatical or unclear passages.

Implicit information

Content the source assumes readers know; translators may clarify only when genre and brief permit, because adding unstated details changes the message.

Numbers and units

Values, dates, currencies, and measurements must keep their precision; conversion occurs only under client specification, with the original value recoverable when needed.

Target sentence architecture

The arrangement of clauses and phrases according to target grammar; source word order is rebuilt when it violates target syntax or creates unnatural emphasis.

Agreement check

Verification that subjects and verbs, nouns and adjectives, and pronouns and antecedents match in number, gender, person, and case as required by the target language.

Dangling modifier

A participial or adverbial phrase whose implied subject differs from the sentence subject; rewrite so the modifier attaches to the intended noun.

Target punctuation norms

Language-specific rules for commas, quotation marks, dashes, and spacing; these follow the target style guide rather than source punctuation.

Diacritic preservation

Retaining required accents, umlauts, cedillas, and other marks in target words; omission can change pronunciation, meaning, or grammatical form.

Tense and aspect mapping

Selecting target verb forms by discourse function-completed action, ongoing state, habitual event-rather than by one-to-one correspondence with source tenses.

Parallel structure

Elements joined by coordination or comparison share the same grammatical form; breaking parallelism creates unclear or ungrammatical target sentences.

Pronoun clarity

A target pronoun must have one obvious antecedent; when reference is uncertain, repeat the noun or restructure the sentence to avoid ambiguity.

Term consistency

Using one approved target term for a source concept throughout a project unless context requires a variant; variants are documented in the glossary.

Concept-first terminology

Identifying the underlying concept and domain before choosing a target term, instead of translating the source word by surface string.

Terminology authority order

A hierarchy for choosing terms: client glossary, domain standard, parallel corpora, then general dictionary; conflicts are flagged rather than silently resolved.

Collocation fit

The acceptable combination of a term with target verbs, nouns, or prepositions; a correct concept can still be wrong if its phrase is unnatural.

Polysemous term

A word with multiple domain-specific meanings; the translator selects the sense supported by co-text and subject field, not the most common meaning.

Acronym expansion

Writing an acronym out in full at first use when the target audience may not know it; established acronyms remain unchanged if they are standard.

Proper-name convention

Rules for rendering names of people, organizations, and places; follow client preference and established equivalents, and do not translate legal entity names casually.

Neologism handling

When no approved term exists, create a descriptive target term and, if permitted, place the source term in parentheses at first occurrence.

Register dimensions

Formality, technicality, politeness, and social distance; target wording should match the source's relationship with its audience and communicative purpose.

Genre convention

Expected target-language patterns for legal, medical, academic, or promotional texts; these norms can override a literal rendering of source structure.

Calque avoidance

A calque copies source structure into the target; it is avoided when the result violates target idiom, collocation, or natural sentence rhythm.

Voice and emphasis

Passive or active voice carries information about agent focus; change voice only when target genre and recoverable agent allow the emphasis to remain.

Figurative language

Images and idioms convey function or effect; translate the intended meaning, and keep the literal image only when target readers share it.

Honorifics and titles

Forms that encode social rank, respect, or familiarity; preserve the source relationship using target conventions rather than upgrading or downgrading it.

Style guide application

Client rules for capitalization, headings, numbers, and dates; consistency with the guide takes precedence over personal preference across the whole text.

Two-pass editing

First read the target alone for naturalness and mechanics; then compare it with the source for accuracy, omissions, and terminology consistency.