Applying Communicative Theory In The Translation Of Reference Books

Against the backdrop of knowledge-based economy, international communication expands in different sectors, including technology, medicine, machinery, etc. Translation of reference books in these areas is in great demand. However, the commonly recognized standard in translation and translation assessment of literary works does not work well in that of reference books. Therefore, basic principles and assessment metrics tailored for translating reference books should be provided. Translation of reference works have been touched upon in contemporary translation theories, among which the communicative translation proposed by Newmark based on text analysis is a practical method for translators to follow in practice.Translation techniques based on communicative translation are adopted in translating an excerpt from The Game Localization Handbook authored by Heather Chandler and Stephanie Deming. This author believes that reference books are informative texts and their main function is to represent objects and facts. Therefore, translations of reference books should be content-oriented and logical. Accordingly, communicative translation method should be applied. The translation should be target reader, culture and language oriented and can be more effective than the ST through gaining force and clarity. Specifically, this author uses ten translation techniques that can be grouped in three categories in this translation practice. First, equivalence, expansion, explicitation, transposition, ready-made versus brand-new translation of game titles on word level; Second, modulation and restructuring on sentence level; Third, information addition, deletion and clarification on text level.