A Report On The Translation Of The Myth Of Artificial Intelligence:Why Computers Can’t Think The Way We Do(Excerpts)

The source text of this translation project is excerpted from The Myth of Artificial Intelligence: Why Computers Can’t Think the Way We Do by Erik J.Larson,an expert in the field of artificial intelligence.As a scientific text,the source text features a high frequency of lexical-level terminologies,frequent occurrence of lengthy and complicated sentences,prevalent use of passive voice at syntactic level,and a strong emphasis on logic and cohesion from discoursal perspective.Based on detailed text analysis,the author selected translation shifts theory as the guiding theory for this practice.The translation shifts theory attaches more importance to“semantic equivalence” than to “formal correspondence”,meeting the requirements of the translation of scientific texts.The level shifts,category shifts and cohesion and coherence shifts proposed by this theory offer assistance for most problems in this practice.Under the guidance of this theory,the author finished the translation work and then discusses the translation strategies from the lexical,syntactic and textual levels.At the lexical level,considering the abundant terminologies and nominalization in the source text,the author proposes strategies such as intra-system shifts,word class conversion,and amplification.At the syntactic level,to deal with a series of translation difficulties caused by long and complicated sentences,the author applies methods such as extending sentence meaning,adjusting the subject and rearranging the sequence of the sentential elements.At the textual level,to maintain the source text’s rigorous and logical language style,the author takes measures,such as retaining lexical cohesion,adjusting conjunctions,restoring reference,etc.,to adjust lexical cohesion and grammatical cohesion separately.All these strategies and methods ensure the accuracy and fluency of the translation of the source text.Combining translation shifts theory and scientific text translation,this report is of great significance in enriching theoretical details and offering suggestions for future translators of scientific texts.This translation project is divided into five chapters.Chapter One is an introduction to this translation project and its significance.Chapter Two elaborates on the translation process,including the preparatory work,the features of the source text and the obstacles encountered during the translation.Chapter Three makes an explanation of the translation shifts theory,which is the theoretical guidance in this translation process.Chapter Four is the core part of this project,expounding the translation strategies and methods with specific cases from lexical,syntactic and textual levels.Chapter Five offers a summary of this translation practice and provides reflections on its contribution as well as some limitations.