Applying Nida’s Functional Equivalence To The Translation Of The Non-Technical Part Of Sci-tech Texts

In order to be objective and accurate, Chinese translators have long maintained the standardized translation method when doing sci-tech translation (E-C). With the impact of globalization, sci-tech texts from overseas are constantly being introduced into China in large quantities. As a result of the literal translation of these texts,"westernized Chinese" appears in newspapers, magazines and on the Internet, and even in our daily life. This thesis takes the Chinese version of A Brief History of Time as the model for analysis, and concludes six kinds of westernized Chinese phenomena in sci-tech texts. By studying these phenomena, the thesis finds that over-standardization in translation is the reason for westerned Chinese phenomena. Basing on’this finding, the thesis suggests to apply Nida’s functional equivalence theory to sci-tech translation, in order to help produce more natural sci-tech translation in Chinese without sacrificing accuracy.Peter Newmark holds that terminology only takes up5to10%of a sci-tech text, and the rest is common core language. By dividing source materials into "technical part" and "non-technical part", and applying standardized translation method to "technical part" and functional equivalence to "non-technical part", this thesis attempts to prove that functional equivalence is both applicable in E-C sci-tech translation and beneficial in preserving the paratactic features of the Chinese language.