How to Translate English for Science and TechnologyEST Materials.docx

How to Translate English for Science and TechnologyEST Materials.docx

《How to Translate English for Science and TechnologyEST Materials.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《How to Translate English for Science and TechnologyEST Materials.docx（10页珍藏版）》请在冰点文库上搜索。

HowtoTranslateEnglishforScienceandTechnologyESTMaterials

HowtoTranslateEnglishforScienceandTechnology（EST）Materials

Contents

I.BriefintroductionofESTtranslation

II.FeaturesofESTinVocabulary,Sentence,andGrammerandthespecifictranslatingmethods

III.Theconclusion

I.BriefintroductionofESTtranslation

1.1whatistranslation

Translation,essentially,isthefaithfulrepresentation,inonlanguage,ofwhatiswrittenorsaidinanotherlanguage.（摘自钟述孔著，英汉翻译手册（增订版））

1.2.PrinciplesofTranslation

Themainprinciplesoftranslationarefaithfulness,expressivenessandelegancewhichwerefirstproposedbyYanFu.TheEnglishforScienceandTechnology（EST）emphasizesparticularlytheprinciplesoffaithfulnessandelegance.

1.3.TheCharacteristicsofESTTranslation

1.3.1TheprincipleofESTTranslation:

ThetranslationtargetofESTisscientificdocuments.Thescientificmaterialsarecharacterizedbypreciseness.SoESTtranslationismarkedbyobjectivity,standardization,distinctivefeatureinliteraryform,regularsyntax.

Objectivitymeansthatthetranslatorcannotchangetheoriginalideas,neglecttheinformationorputowncommentsintheprocessoftranslation.HemusttranslatetheoriginalintoChineseversionaccurately.

standardizationmeansthatweshouldalwaysusesomeprofessionalexpressionsliketechnicalterms.Asweknow,newlycreatedtechnicaltermsarepouringintoEnglishforscienceandtechnology.Theaccumulationofnewwordsisquiteimportant.ThecharacteristicsofESTwillbediscussedinfollowingchapters.

1.3.2TheCharacteristicVocabularyofEST:

ThemostremarkablecharacteristicofESTisextensiveuseoftechnicalterms.Agreatnumberofthemcomefromthewordsusedcommonlyinourdailylife.ButtheyhavestricttechnicalmeaninginEST.ESTborrowswordsincommonusetoexplaintheprofessionaltechnicalconcepts.Soduringthetranslationwemustpayattentiontothosecommonwords.

1.4TherequirementsforESTtranslator

1.4.1lingusticprficiency:

thetranslatormustbegoodatboththeEnglishandChinese.Tociteasaying“Agoodtranslatorreadsaforeignlanguagebutthinksinhisown.”WehavetobearalwaysinmindthatChineseandEnglisharetwoentirelydiffenentlanguages,eachhavingitsownusageandidiom,itsowngrammarandstylisticdevices,ownculturalandsocialbackground.

1.4.2encyclopedicknowledge:

weallknowthatESTisdifferentfromgeneralyEnglishforithaslotsoftechnicalterms,andrelatestoscienceandtechnologywhichisnotfamiliartous.Onlywhenwehaveencyclopedicknowledge,canwefullyunderstandtheoriginalmaterial.

1.4.3HavingakonwledgeaboutthefeaturesofESTSciencematerialunlikeessay,narration,oranyotherkindofstylehasitsownfeatures,whichwemustbearinmind.HavingagraspofthefeaturesofESTwilldogoodtoESTtranslation.

II.FeaturesofESTinVocabulary,Sentence,andGrammer

ThegeneralfeaturesofESTisobjective,accuracy,conciseness.Inordertoachievesuchkindoffeatures,therearesomespecialdevicessuchasgeneraluseofnominalization,extensiveuseofthepassivevoice,longandcomplicatedsentences

aswellasmorenon-finiteformsofverbs,thatwealshouldpayspecialattentionduringourtranslation.

2.1FeaturesofESTinVocabulary,

2.1.1Aswehavetalkedbeforesomefeaturesofvocabularybefore,nowletustalkaboutthespecifictranslationmethodsofESTvocabularies.

Generally,therearetwomethodsinthetranslationofESTvocabularies:

literaltranslationandfreetranslation.Theliteraltranslationincludestransplant,transliterationandpictographictranslation,etc.Thefreetranslationincludesdeduction,extensionandexplanation,etc.

2.1.2GeneralUseofNominalization

AnotherstrikingfeatureofESTvocabularyisthegereraluseofnominalation.Then,whatisnominalizationn?

Inlinguistics,nominalizationistheuseofaverboranadjectiveasanoun,withorwithoutmorphologicaltransformation,sothatthewordcannowactastheheadofanounphrase.

Asweallknow,Englishisstatic,andnounsarefrequentlyusedtoreplaceverbs,whileChineseisdynamic,usingmoreverbsinasinglesentence.

ComparedwithgeneralEnglish,nounphrasesaremorefrequentlyusedinEST.Thisisbecausescientificliteraturecontainsmoreabstractconceptssuchasdefinitions,principles,laws,conclusions,etc.,andmanifoldmodificationandrestrictionarerequiredtoelaboratetheseconceptsorideas.Asthesemanticmeaningofanounphrasethatconsistsofseveralwordsisusuallycomplicated,thetranslationshouldgobeyondthesurfacestructure.

Thereisavarietyofnominalization,forexample:

a.Lexicalnominalization

Forexample:

计算机在数据和信息处理中的应用

PCapplicationsindataandinformationprocessing

声音识别设备

voicerecognitionequipment

b.ExpandedNounPremodifiers

水泵阀

例：

waterpumpvalve

3.1）verb-noun

Thepaperanalyzestheproblemandsolvesit.

Thepapergivesananalysisoftheproblemandoffersasolution.

2）adjective-noun

Itisdoubtfulhowaccuratetheresultsare.

Theaccuracyoftheseresultsisdoubtful.

3）sentence-noun

Thus,weshouldhavespecificmethodsoftranslatingintermsofdifferendkindsofnominalization.Usually,wehavesomemethods,asfollows:

1.translateNominalizationintoverb

Allsubstanceswillpermitthepassageofsomeelectriccurrent,providedthepotentialdifferenceishighenough.

只要有足够的电位差，电流便可通过任何物体。

Televisionisthetransmissionandreceptionofimagesofmovingobjectsbyradiowaves.

电视通过无线电波发射和接收活动物体的图像。

2.translatNominalizationintoV-Oconstructure

Asasmall-scaleillustrationoftheartificialmodificationofphysicalweatherprocesses,takethefrostpreventioninanorchard.

对天气的物理过程进行人工影响”。

此句译为：

我们可举果园中防霜作为说明对天气的物理过程进行小尺度人工影响的例子。

3.translateNominalizationintoindependent–clause

Theslightlyporousnatureofthesurfaceoftheoxidefilmallowsittobecoloredwitheitherorganicorinorganicdyes

氧化膜表面具有轻微的渗透性，因此可以用有机或无极颜料着色。

2.2HowtotranslatePassiveVoice

Probablyone-thirdoftheverbsinESTwritingsareinthepassivevoice.ThetenseofthesepassiveverbsisthePresentSimpleortheverbisusedwithmodals.Scientistsandengineersusethepassivemuchmorefrequentlythanmostotherwriters.

2.2.1WhydoesthepassivemostferquentlyoccurinEST

First,itisclearerinmeaning.Sincescientistsaremoreinterestedinactionandfactsthantheactorsand,manyreferencestopeopleareunnecessaryandconfusing.Second,itallowsscientiststointroducethemostinportantinformationatthebeginning.Third,passivesentencesareusuallyshorterandmoreconcesethanacctiveones.

2.2.2Thefunctionofthepassivevoice

a.Statingrulesorgeneralprinciples.Examples:

Allmatterismadeupofatoms

b.Describingprocedures.Examples:

c.Passiveinfinitiveisparticularlyusedforreportingnewsandexpressingsimplestatementoffact.Examples:

Thenewfactoryissaidtobeopenednextmonth

d.Thepassivewithmodalsisparticularlycommoninwritteninstructions,warningsandnotices.Examples:

AlllibrarybooksshouldbereturnedbytheendofJune.

2.2.3Thespecificmethods

a.ChangetoActiveVoiceinChineseVersion

<1>.TheOriginalSubjectUnchanged

Sometimes,inEnglish-ChinesetranslationofEST,theChineseverbscanexpressthepassivevoicewithoutusingthepassivestructureandthesubjectoftheoriginalsentencewillbeunchangedinChineseversion.E.g.:

（1）Thesamemouldcanbeusedoverandoveragain.

同一模具能够反复（被）使用许多次。

（2）Thewaterpollutionshouldbepaidattentionto.

水污染问题应予以重视。

（3）Theworldhealthorganizationestimatesthat1.7billionpeopleareinfectedwithMycobacteriumtuberculosis.世界卫生组织估计有17亿人感染上了肺结核。

b.ChangingOriginalSubjectintoObject

Insomecases,thepassivesentencesshouldbechangedintotheactivevoiceinChineseversiontomakeitreadableinChinese.Thesubjectoftheoriginalsentenceischangedtotheobjectinthetranslatedtext.Theagent（theperformeroftheaction）,prepositionalphraseasadverbialmodifierandotherphrasesintheoriginalsentencewillbetranslatedintothesubjectaccordingly.E.g.:

（1）Three-phasecurrentshouldbeusedforlargemotors.

大型电动机应当使用三相交流电。

（将状语译为主语，原句主语译为宾语）

（2）Inchemistry,symbolsareusedrepresentelements.

化学用符号代表元素。

c.AddingaProperSubjecttoMaketheChineseVersionSmooth

SomeChineseverbscannotbeproperlyusedinthepassivevoice.Inthiscase,thesubjectoftheoriginalsentenceischangedtotheobjectofthetranslatedsentencewithaddedsubject.E.g.

（1）Bulbisknowntobesometimesfilledwithaninertgas.

大家都知道灯泡有时会充入惰性气体。

（增译泛指主语）

（2）Gasesarefrequentlyregardedascompressible,liquidasincompressible.

人们通常认为气体是可以压缩的，而其体则不可以压缩。

d.ThePassiveStructureConvertedIntotheSentencewithNoSubject

Theoriginalsubjectischangedtotheobjectinthetranslatedversion.andthereisnosubjectinthetranslatedsentence.E.g.:

Thequalityofheatwhichisradiatedmustbedetermined.

必须确定辐射出的热量。

（译成无主语）

e.ThePassiveStructureRemainingUnchanged

Inthisconversion,therearetwocircumstances:

First,inordertoemphasizetheoriginalpassivemeaning,theoriginalpassivesentencewillkeepitspassivevoiceinChineseversion.Weshouldaddsomewordswhichcarrypassivemeaning,suchas“被”“受”“得到”“以”“加以”“予以”“为…所…”andsoon.E.g.:

Noteverythinginwastewateristrouble,andthusisnotremoved.

废水中的物质不全是有害的。

因而也不会全部被清除掉。

E.g.

Attentionmustbepaidtoenvironmentalprotectionindevelopingeconomy.

发展经济必须注意保护环境。

f.Sentenceinformof“It…that…”

ThisisparticularsentencestructureusedcommonlyinEST,whichbecametheremarkablecharacteristicinthecompariso