Principles for Selecting a Lexical Minimum in the Training of Specialized Translators

The present research is devoted to studying the theoretical and methodological foundations of selecting a lexical minimum in the process of training field-oriented translators. The aim of the study is to identify, on the basis of scientific criteria, the general, professional and domain-specific terminological units required for prospective translators and to develop a model for presenting them step by step. To achieve this aim, the following tasks were set: to elucidate the lingvodidactic foundations of the concept of lexical minimum; to analyse CEFR requirements, national standards and the views of translation scholars; to determine the criteria for selecting terms; and to shape a lexical minimum for the technical sphere and distribute it by stages and years of study.
The research methods include theoretical analysis, corpus linguistics, statistical processing, comparative method and experimental teaching. On the basis of a specialised corpus, the frequency, relevance to the semantic core and communicative necessity of terms were identified, and a required minimum was formed from them. Experimental work was carried out at four higher education institutions of the republic, where students’ mastery of domain-specific terminology was assessed.
The results show that the absence of a specially developed lexical minimum in translator training leads to significant gaps in understanding and rendering professional texts. For the technical sphere, a lexical minimum was designed as a system that gradually increases from the first year up to the master’s level and supports the development of both general vocabulary and domain-specific terminological competence.
In conclusion, selecting a lexical minimum is a strategic stage in translator training, as it plays a decisive role in forming effective communicative competence, accurate terminological knowledge and practical translation skills. The proposed model can serve as a theoretical and methodological basis for developing lexical minima for translators in other specialised fields as well.