A Report On Translating Tianxue Waishi (Excerpt)

This is a report on a Chinese-English translation project of Tianxue Waishi,a popular science treatise written by Professor Jiang Xiaoyuan of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.Tianxue Waishi illustrates the history of China’s Tianxue and its relations with Western astronomy,which is significant in promoting cultural exchanges between China and other countries.In this case,the author chooses Chapter 11 of the book as the source text of the translation project.In the report,the background and the significance of the project are given at the beginning.The translation process,which consists of three parts—preparation stage,translation stage and proofreading,is illustrated in the second chapter.The author illustrates the features of the original text and the difficulties in translation before giving the solutions based on three dimensional transformations put forward by Hu Gengshen.Aimed to provide experience for future translation,solutions to the difficulties and limitations of the report are summarized in the end of the report.