On Application Of Adaptation Theory In The Translation Of Academic Text

This is a report on the translation of chapter one of Ecosystem Services:Economics and Policy,written by Stephen Muddiman.Aiming at developing a bio-diversity based economy,the book highlights the links between ecological and economic methodologies and concepts,illustrates how to expand theories of the emerging discipline when facing too many unknowns,as well as how to formulate corresponding economic framework and policies.The culture-loaded words,the frequent use of passive voice and the complicated sentences reflecting the original author’s critical and philosophical thinking in the source text have posed considerable challenge to the translator.According to the adaptation theory by Jef Verschueren,the process of using language is one to select various elements of the language so that utterers could dynamically adapt to its environment.Under this theoretical framework,a transfer of one language into another fits into the knowledge that translation is some kind of “rewriting”fortheir variabilities,negotiabilities and adaptabilities.Based on the translation process,this translation project deems that the theory is competent in guiding the translation of academic texts,and that according to different elements of the target text including linguistic and communicative contexts,syntactic structures,as well as habitual collocations of words,a series of readaptations could be achieved by the selection and employment of specific translation methods and techniques.