The Analysis Of Predicates In English And Chinese Science Translation In Terms Of Hypotaxis And Parataxis

This essay focuses on the analysis of predicates in English andChinese science translation in terms of hypotaxis and parataxis andexplores their implications for science translation practice. The necessityfor the predicates analysis has never been greater in the process ofscience and technology translation. The reason can be traced back tothe following aspects.First of all, predicates play an important role in both Chineseand English science translation, which prodominate the wholesentence structures. That is the reason why translators misuse ormisunderstand the predicates in the original works will lead to seriousmistakes. The English predicate patterns are different from Chinese ones.The predicate in English must be a verb or a verb group while thoseChinese ones are of much more diversities. They can be verbs, nouns,adjectives, etc. Therefore, it is quite essential to analyze the differentpredicates in the Chinese and English.Besides, hypotaxis and parataxis are two different primarydevices, which help the linguistic elements or units realize their linearorganization in languages. It is generally agreed that there is ahypotaxis-dominance in English while a parataxis-dominance inChinese, which indicates one of the most important linguisticdifferences between Chinese and English. Therefore, the study on thissubject is of great necessity to the development of general linguistics,the second language teaching, translation theory and translationpractice.Nevertheless, in the process of translating original scientificwritings, the translators who fail to choose the proper predicates will notbe able to give a successful representation for the original scientificworks. The root of the mistakes is the result of being unable to know the difference between Chinese and English language characteristics. Thisis because the construction of the English sentences is likely to usehypotaxis, while that of Chinese sentence tends to use parataxis.Therefore, it is the characteristic of hypotaxis and parataxis that leads tothe different understanding of predicates in translation process.In this essay, analysis on English and Chinese predicates in thescientific writings will be closely related to the theory of hypotaxis andparataxis. Compared with other types of works such as news, report,novel, prose, practical writing, argumentation, etc., the translation ofscientific writing has its unique features, namely using technical terms,laying stress on facts, explaining profound theories in simple languageon the basis of keeping the original style, etc. Considering these highrequirements of scientific writings, translators must pay attention tochoose predicates properly after analysing the original scientificwritings.