On EST Translation From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence

With the rapid development of science and technology and increasingly frequent communication in the field of science and technology between China and the west, EST (English for Science and Technology) translation plays a more significant role in promoting coorperation in the academic field of science and technology and in learning new scientific and technological information from other countries. Meanwhile, the drastic development of science and technology has also been accompanied by ever-increasing demands for EST translation both in quality and in quantity.However, due to the short history of theoretical and applied research in EST translation, varying degrees of competence of translators, and the limited numbers of references, there remains a host of problems in the field of EST translation, which results in the lagging behind of the EST translation. Traditional strategies of EST translation attached too much importance to "faithfulness" to the source text and tried to preserve the original flavor. However, most of thetranslated texts neglect the core principle of EST translation——the accuracy of information,which brings about the occurence of "translationese" and produces many under-qualified translated texts. Consequently, many translated texts of EST are unacceptable for Chinese readers, and some of them even cause misunderstanding in the target language.The core of scientific and technical translation is the effect of information transmission, accuracy of content and standardization of expression. Functional equivalence and truthfulness of information should be the foremost consideration in EST translation. The achieve this effect, accuracy, objectivity, readability and acceptability are of great significance.After intensive investigation of a great amount of scientific and technical texts, the author finds that Nida's functional equivalence is most suitable to EST translation, for functional equivalence signifies that the translated text should reproduce the closest natural equivalent of the source-language message in the target language.This thesis is oriented to expounding the the necessity and feasibility of Nida's functional equivalence theory applied to EST translation on the basis of comprehensive investigation and research. The author argues that the readers' reception should be incorporated into consideration and the strategy of functional adaptataion should be employed to fulfill the functional equivalence between the source text and target text and ensure the accurate transmission and smooth expression of scientific and technical information.