On Popular Science Text English-Chinese Translation Strategies

Popular science text is written to disseminate scientific knowledge. As a special part of science, its content should be not only accurate and reliable but also easy to understand for the public. Since popular science text has a large number of readers with wide range of disciplines involved, it requires the translator to be knowledgeable and good at word choosing. When translating popular science text, the translator should be strictly faithful to the scientific facts and put it in a simple and smooth way that target readers could accept.Skopos Theory is the most important theory in the functional school of translation studies. It holds that translation methods or strategies should be determined by the intended function of the target text. Any translation should be in accordance with “Skopos Rule” and try to achieve “Coherence” and “Fidelity” in the target text.Based on the translation practice of Science in Beijing Institute of Technology, the author of this report does research on the features and functions of popular science texts, and summarizes personal experiences to explore translation strategies under the guidance of the Skopos Theory. The author gives the translation project description and text analysis in the first part of this report. Besides, the author shows the preparation of translation, selection of translation tools and control of translation duration. After that, the author highlights information-searching and word-choosing in translation, and elaborates translation strategies employed, such as conversion and addition. Finally, the author gives a summary on translation methods and skills.Through the review of entire translation process, the author hopes to improve translation quality and speed on popular science text. And the author would also be glad if there is any value for future popular science translation studies.