The Translation Of Popular Science Texts From The Perspective Of Chesterman’s Translation Norm Theory

In this thesis,Section I of Written in Bone: Hidden Stories in What We Leave Behind,a popular forensic science text,was taken as a sample for translation.Characterized by vivid expressions,the original work not only displays forensic expertise but also includes some fascinating suspense stories and the author’s reflections on life and death,which shows the scientific,literary,popular and interesting characteristics of popular science texts.However,the forensic terms,the complicated sentence structures,and the unique British sense of humor in the original text make it difficult for the author to handle the four characteristics.In other words,the difficulties lie in the balance between disseminating scientific information in an objective,truthful and accurate manner and conveying the meaning of the original text clearly on the one hand,and on the other,remaining similar to the original text in terms of writing style and displaying the unique literary flavor of popular science reading through the flexibility of language,so as to enable readers to understand and accept it.Facing these difficulties,the author attempts to use Chesterman’s Translation Norm Theory to guide the translation practice,after reviewing relevant literature.After analysis,the author found that Chesterman’s translation norm theory could serve its functions from both macroscopic and microscopic perspectives.From the macroscopic perspective,Chesterman’s translation norm theory categorizes the norm into expectancy norm and professional norm,with the latter further classified into accountability,communicative and relation norms.These norms require that the translator should take various aspects into account to meet the expectations of the readers using the target language.The translator must fulfill corresponding responsibilities to ensure the professionalism of the translation.Furthermore,the translator ought to play the role of a coordinator during the translation process to maximize the communicative efficacy of the translated text.Additionally,the translator needs to establish an appropriate relation of relevant similarity between the source text and the target text to ensure that the aesthetic value can be preserved.From the microscopic perspective,Chesterman systematically put forward more than 30 translation strategies under the framework of the translation norm theory,providing the author with practical methods to settle difficulties encountered during translation.Based on specific cases,this thesis discusses and summarizes how to use relevant translation strategies to solve problems under the guidance of translation norms at three levels,including terminology,complicated sentences and humorous expressions,in order to preserve the characteristics of a popular science text to the greatest extent and optimize the effect of communication,and thus disseminating science and culture to the public in an effective way.