On The Reception Problem In EDST Translation

EDST (English for Defense Science and Technology) is a special variety which conveys information of the developments and applications of Hi-Tech in Anglo-American military field. The formality of language and the publicity of the content are the two distinctive features of EDST, and furthermore the major purpose of EDST translation is to inform rather than to convey emotional impact. Accordingly the amount of information that the target language reader can receive from the translated text should be a key factor in EDST translation, and readers'response should be taken into consideration in EDST translation study. However, previous studies of EDST translation in our country have failed to put enough emphasis on the target language reader's response. The present thesis is an attempt to take a reader-centered orientation theory, i.e. reception theory, to discuss the reception problem, which refers to the fact that the target language readers can not receive information from the translated text naturally or effortlessly, and which may arise in the paragraphs with a great density of military and technology knowledge, in EDST translation.The research of the present thesis starts from a survey, which aims at finding reception problems in practical EDST translation. Through the survey the author concludes the features of the reception problem, which indicates that the reception problem in EDST translation essentially represent the restrictions from the original text and the target language readers to the translator in the translation process. Therefore, the reception problem is found to directly result from the translation violation against the restrictions which are essentially determined by the horizon gaps between the translator and the original writer, and between the translator and the target language reader.Since it is proved that it needs several decades'efforts for the translators who are English majors to maximally fetch up the two kinds of horizon gaps just through expanding his own horizon, the author proposes another hypothetical solution, that is, partial fusion of horizons. Partial fusion of horizons permits the translator to leave to the target language readers the comprehension of the profound technological knowledge, of which the shared horizon between the original writer and target language reader is mainly composed, while dealing with the military information, the translator is required to achieve maximal fusion of horizons with both the original writer and the target language reader. The feasibility of the partial fusion of horizons in EDST translation is proved in the following two aspects: the existence of shared horizons between the original writer and the target language reader and the translator's capability to fetch up the other horizon gaps.The end of this thesis proposes the necessary preparations and some useful translating techniques for the translators based on the above analysis and the author's several years'EDST translation experience.