A Study On The Translation Of Polysemous Terms In A Text

While the developing trend of terminology is standardization, the polysemous terms go against the unification of terms and pose challenges to academic exchanges. Because it is inevitable that the polysemous terms will always exist, translators need to choose the most appropriate terms in order to avoid ambiguity in using them. This is quite difficult for translators who have not possessed professional knowledge of the terms. Given the conceptual system and individualist nature of terms, translators should work under the guidance of term translation principles to select the suitable polysemous terms.Chinese scholars hold different opinions on term translation principles. The author considers it is suitable to adopt contextual theory to guide term translation. By combining the particular systematic context that terminology translation holds, the author argues that terminology translation should follow accuracy principle, readability principle and disciplinary appropriateness principle.The author uses accuracy principle, readability principle and disciplinary appropriateness principle to guide her translation activity. Considering terminology's conceptual system, the specific subjects that the terms belong to and the context, the author proposes the following translation methods:1. By comparing different translations of polysemous terms and searching definitions of concepts in professional areas, translators can improve accuracy during the translation processes of polysemous terms; 2. Considering the context and searching the relevant materials, translators can improve readability of polysemous terms; 3. According to the subjects that the polysemous terms belong to, translators can choose the most appropriate term in specific areas. With the guidance of term translation principles, the author abandons wrong translations and chooses the most appropriate translation for the polysemous terms in the text concerned.