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Functional Equivalence Theory Applied In The Chinese Translation Of Popular Science Texts

Posted on:2016-01-04Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:R HanFull Text:PDF
GTID:2285330470451502Subject:Translation
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In modern society, the rapid development of science and technology contributesto the economic prosperity of an advanced industrial economy. The progress inscience and technology has given a powerful shove-ahead to the productive forces ofthe world and social development of humanity. Popular science texts can transferknowledge to the public and promote socialist culture and ethics as well as materialcivilization. However, the study work of popular science translation in China is notenough at present. The importance attached to the translation of popular science textsour nation has given is still far from enough. Accordingly, the research work shouldbe put on the agenda as soon as possible.The report is based on the translation of a popular science text, which has certainguiding significance for the translation of popular science texts. The selected text ofthis translation project is a part of G del, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid byDouglas Richard Hofstadter, an extraordinary American writer and scholar. The bookcovers a broad spectrum of subjects that include mathematical logic, artificialintelligence, linguistics, biological inheritance, music, painting and Zen. The greatpopular science work has won the Pulitzer Prize in literature because of its ingeniousideas, profound implications and philosophical meaning.This report mainly discusses from the following aspects and angles. Firstly, thereport makes a brief introduction of the translation project and gives a summary of theselected book G del, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid. In addition, the reportgeneralizes the main idea of the excerpted part for translation and analyzes the writingcharacteristics of the popular science texts. The popular science texts are featured byscientific value, literature value, popular value and fun value, each of which has beenexplained in detail by the author. When dealing with popular science texts, thetranslators should combine the translating methods of scientific translation andliterary translation. Only in this way the target text can not only reflect the accuracyand rigor of technical content, but also be favored by public, achieving the goal ofscience popularization.“Functional Equivalence” is the core of Nida’s translation theory. It means thetranslation should try to convey the thought expressed in a source text instead of rendering the text word-for-word. Nida’s functional equivalence theory pays closeattention to the target language readers’response. The theory can guide the translationof popular science texts as it requires the translated version to be as close as possibleto the source language. In the central part of the report, the author focuses on thefunctional equivalence theory and how to use it to guide the translation of the popularscience texts. It is highly advisable that a translator should endeavor to achieve lexical,syntactical and textual equivalence in popular science translation. This report inquiresinto how to achieve functional equivalence to the greatest extent from twoperspectives: word and syntax translation of the selected original version. Finally, theauthor compares parts of the translation published in1996by the Commercial Presswith this translation project, trying to further study the translation methods and skillsof popular science texts.
Keywords/Search Tags:functional equivalence theory, common science text, comparison, translation methods, translation skills
PDF Full Text Request
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