Translating In Search Of The Giant Panda Kingdom On The Blue Planet:An Eco-translatological Perspective

Popular science works,as the combination of scientific culture and humane culture,play a significant role in popularizing scientific knowledge,disseminating scientific ideas and promoting cultural exchanges.With China ascending to global prominence,the quality of English translation texts of popular science works carries a deep impact on cultural communication.As a juvenile popular science work,In Search of the Giant Panda Kingdom on the Blue Planet was first co-published in July 2017 by the Chengdu Zoo and Sichuan Writers Association.The book,based on the report of the fourth national giant panda survey,is characterized by its scientific nature,originality,fun and vivid but plain language.From the perspective of a giant panda and the scientific investigation team,the book carries the knowledge of popular science in interesting stories.It both creates a pleasant reading experience and disseminates scientific knowledge,from which readers can understand the hardship and pleasure of the field investigation team.Translational practice is usually under the guidance of a certain translation theory.Based on the idea of Survival of the Fittest by Darwin,Approach to Translation as Adaptation and Selection(TAS)is the core of eco-translatology proposed by Hu Gengshen in 2004.TAS holds that translation is a selective process for a translator to adapt to translational eco-environment,and is “translator centered”.According to the translation of the book and guided by the TAS in eco-translatology,from the linguistic,cultural and communicative dimensions,the report discusses the cases in the juvenile popular science work to tentatively summarize relevant translation strategies.The conclusions of the report are:(1)in the linguistic dimension,a translator should understand the linguistic features of popular science works: scientific nature,literariness,popularity and enjoyment.And while a book is translated into English,the translator should be consistent in its style including vocabulary,syntax and rhetoric between two language ecosystems,so as to maintain the unity of translational eco-environment;(2)in the cultural dimension,since Chinese focuses on visual perception while English on auditory perception,it is necessary to take cultural differences between China and the West into consideration.Adaptations are needed to cater to Western readers through amplification,notes and image changes;(3)in the communicative dimension,while adapting to the eco-environment of the source text,translators,considering the differences between Chinese readers and Western readers,should bring their own agency into full play to ensure the realization of communicative function in the target language for the harmony of translational eco-environment.