A Study On The Translation Strategies Of Chinese Classics Of Science And Technology From The Perspective Of Text Typology

The translation of Chinese classics has great significance in spreading Chinese cultureand promoting the exchange between Western countries and China. While the Englishtranslation of Chinese classics is well under way, enormous progress has been made in therelated studies. However, compared with the translation and study of Chinese literaryclassics, classics of other aspects are relatively less noticed. What s more, the lack ofsystematic study on the translation standards and strategies of Chinese classics call forfurther study on the translation of Chinese classics.The1970s and1980s saw a move away from the static linguistic typologies oftranslation shifts and the emergence and flourishing of a functionalist and communicativeapproach to the analysis of translation in Germany. The representatives are Katharina Reissand Christiana Nord. Reiss stresses equivalence at text level, linking language functions totext types and translation strategy. She suggests specific translation methods according totext type, which is of great guidance in translation practice.In2011, the English version of Brush Talks from Dream Brook(Mengxi Bitan),translated by Prof. Wang Hong, was published by Paths International Ltd. in Britain, whichis a great breakthrough Chinese translators have made in the English translation of Chineseclassics. As an encyclopedia in ancient China, Brush Talks from Dream Brook is therepresentative of Chinese classics of science and technology and is not composed of asingle text type. Instead, the whole book belongs to hybrid text type due to the variouscontents it consists of. Therefore, it is difficult and also improper to determine a singletranslation strategy during the translation process of Chinese classics of science andtechnology. By drawing references from translation typology put forward by KatharinaReiss, the author of the present paper analyzes the translation strategies of different text types in Brush Talks from Dream Brook through examples, and points out that in thetranslation of Chinese classics of science and technology, laying down different translationstrategies for different text types and different jottings is not only necessary, but alsoapplicable.