Strategies of Translating English vocabulary of Information Technology into Chinese信息技术词汇（英译汉）翻译策略.doc

strategies of translating english vocabulary of information technology into chinese信息技术词汇（英译汉）翻译策略论文摘要（中文）进入二十一世纪，随着信息技术的飞速发展，众多数量的以信息技术为题材的文章、文献、技术资料等也越来越多，而这些代表最新技术发展的文章基本上是英文的，如果我们不能很好的把握其原文，就不能更好的掌握这些最新的技术。本文的目的是根据一些翻译原理，通过分析比较一些信息技术类的英文句子及其词汇的中文翻译，找出将这类英文翻译成中文有哪些策略，以期得到一些较为实用的翻译技巧。通过实例分析，作者提出了一些翻译策略，并希望能够在今后的实际翻译中得到应用。本文中精选的实例为作者所提出的信息技术类词汇的翻译策略提供了证明。并且，作者按照文中所提的策略，将这些实例进行了分类归纳，清楚明了地论证了在翻译实践中可以应用的策略和技巧。本文认为，针对信息技术类英文词汇的中文翻译，可以相应地利用这些翻译策略，文中提出的五个翻译策略在实践中是有用的。但作者同时也指出，不能以偏概全，其他翻译策略还有待进一步深入探讨。关键词：词汇；信息技术；翻译策略abstract (english)entering the 21st century, the development of information technology has increased rapidly. the quantities of documents dealing with information technology such as reports, patent documents, and proceedings are multiplying at an accelerated rate. however, all these technical know-how are highly unlikely achieved without understanding the most newly emerged technical articles and massages in english. the research is aim to analysis the strategies of translating english of information technology into chinese. based on some translation principles, a comparative study is to be made between certain words in english of information technology and its chinese translations. through the analysis of collected translation, the author hopes to find out some practical skills of the translation.the author will suggest some translation strategies through demonstrating typical examples. by doing such research, the author hopes to get a better understanding of the strategies of translating english of information technology into chinese that can be applied to her future translation work. the data for the research are well selected so that they can represent the strategies of translating english vocabulary of information technology into chinese. thus the analysis of the selected sentences can make it clear to the strategies which the translators try to achieve in their translation work. a clear classifying and understanding of the sentences can help to find out some appropriate translation strategies and to select the corresponding translation skills for the future translating practice. the research aims to find out some corresponding strategies of translating english vocabulary of information technology into chinese which can serve as a guideline for translation practice. in conclusion, the five translation strategies were useful when translating english vocabulary of information technology into chinese. on the other hand, the strategies analyzed by the thesis can not be applied in all translations. the further study and mastery is necessary. keywords: vocabulary ； information technology, translation strategies acknowledgementmy thanks go to mr. wang shiyu, my academic supervisor. his timely guidance, enlightening suggestions and commentaries have benefited me greatly. also my thanks are extended to my classmates, who gave me encouragement every time i experienced frustration and anxiety in writing the thesis. table of contentspages1. introduction .1.1 research background. 1.2 research objective.1.3 research design.11121.12. rationale .22.1 categories of words.2.1.1 technical words.2.1.2 sub-technical words.2.1.3 big words.2.1.4 function words233442.2 translation principles.2.3 strategies in words translation.2.3.1 changes in word classes.2.3.2 changes in word order.2.3.3 supplements.2.3.4 ellipsis.2.3.5 extensions.56666773. data description . .4. data analysis4.1 methods.4.2 data.5. results and suggestions.8999135.1 results5.2 suggestions on the use of translation strategies5.2.1 strategies of changes in word classes5.2.2 strategies of changes in word order5.2.3 strategies of supplements.5.2.4 strategies of ellipsis.5.2.5 strategies of extensions.6. conclusionbibliographyappendix .1313131414151317181924strategies of translating english vocabulary of information technology into chinese1. introduction1.1 research background in the present era, the rapid advancement of science and technology has made the globe more and more like a village. such a trend of globalization has been adding to the common experience of villagers. furthermore, with the increasingly frequent exchanges among different nations in science and technology, different countries have more chances than ever to learn about or from each other. entering the 21st century, the development of information technology has increased rapidly. we have seen its new applications in every field of life. moreover, the fast development of information technology has made the life in china become more global. the quantities of documents dealing with information technology such as reports, patent documents, and proceedings are multiplying at an accelerated rate. most of these information technological documents are written in english which is the most widely used international language in the world. however, all these technical know-how are highly unlikely achieved without understanding the most newly emerged technical articles and massages in english. it is true that because of the linguistic and cultural differences, it is in some cases difficult to fully duplicate the original meaning in another language. as a result, it has now become an important variety of english that has its unique stylistic characteristics. therefore we should take account of these characteristics in the translation. as a matter of fact, such cases are where translating principles and adaptive strategies can be applied. when used appropriately, these strategies can get the translation as close to the original text as possible.1.2 research objectivethe research is aim to analysis the strategies of translating english of information technology into chinese. based on some translation principles, a comparative study is to be made between certain words in english of information technology and its chinese translations. through the analysis of collected translation, the author hopes to find out some practical skills of the translation.1.3 research designthe research paper is to be divided into four parts. in the first part, the author will mention some characteristics of english vocabulary of information technology which grouped into four categories. in the second part, the researcher will describe the three principles of translation that can be used in her research. in the third part, the author will suggest some translation strategies through demonstrating typical examples. finally the author will summarize the research and look into the future translation.by doing such research, the author hopes to get a better understanding of the strategies of translating english of information technology into chinese that can be applied to her future translation work.2. rationale 2.1 categories of words the translation of words is an important part of translation because a word is the basic unit of meaning and it is also the basic building block of language. it is common for english word to be used in several parts of speech .the correct understanding and rendering of words lays the basis for success in translation.words cover areas of meaning rather than points of meaning. in different languages the semantic areas of corresponding words are not identical. because of these two factors, the choice of the right word in the receptor language to translate a word in the source-language text largely depends on the context rather than on a fixed system of word-for-word concordance. most technology texts are distinctive in the unique vocabulary and use of common words with accurate and dispassionate meaning. in technology texts, there are a large number of technical and semi-technical words common to all scientific disciplines, and a specialized vocabulary for each given discipline. contrary to the belief of many people, specialized terms are not usually invented to make life of others difficult, but to help experts be clear, precise and unambiguous in discussion. what is more, with the fast development of science and technology, many new words are emerging everyday to suit the need to define new phenomena, and to explain new things and processes.in translation a word of information technology, the translator should take its context into account. besides, one should also consider the branch of learning in which this word is used. for this reason, the translator should have a basic knowledge of the fields which the text he is translating is concerned with. to be more specific, the translator should pay attention to the following categories of words in translating words of information technology. for the words in english of information technology, it can be categorized into four types as follows.2.1.1 technical words 卜艳萍 周伟 （2004:8）计算机专业英语 北京：清华大学出版社highly-technical words are specialized vocabulary for a given scientific discipline. they are words with precise, narrow meanings unique to the discipline. those words used only in certain disciplines, fields and branches of learning, e.g. and those terms are often with narrow or single meaning for specific applications or technology. those words are usually appeared in the specific applications. translators can easy to convey it into chinese through the technical dictionary or some technical guide. such as ms windows, ms words, ms power-point, etc. we can see that many of the words are compounded from existing words whose meaning is well-known and not very much changed in the technical science and technology, which is meant for professionals.2.1.2 sub-technical words1 some general-purpose technical words used in more or less the same sense in a great variety of disciplines, fields. semi-technical words are words which are used both in ordinary english and in the technical science and technology writings. only, in the technical science and technology, those words have meanings different from their non-technical use and they may have different specific meanings in their different technical fields. further more, those words which carry different senses when used in different disciplines, fields. it refers to the words with more than one meaning depending on the different contexts. the exact meaning of word in information technology often depends on the field in which it is used. this is especially true of semi-technical words, which account for the bulk of vocabulary in information technology. the word may be translated differently if it appears in different field of technology. those vocabularies are frequently appeared in technical texts. translators should convey it with correct chinese word accordingly. in other words, translators should not follow mechanically its definition in dictionary. instead, translators should flexibly comprehend its meaning according to its context, and re-express its contextual meaning in chinese. for instance, the words: power, carrier, transmission, etc. they have quite different meaning in the field of information technology with the field of electricity. 2.1.3 big words1 in order to give expressions in the objectivity, accuracy and conciseness way, in other words, to avoid the ambiguity or imprecision of more commonly used words with the same apparent meanings, scientists and engineers tent to use words and expressions with meanings which are seldom used outside technical field. those big words are non technical vocabularies, but seldom used in daily life. the unique use of non-technical words and expressions are used in the technical texts. for example, , determine is used instead of find of, construct instead of build, convert instead of change, extract instead of draw out, etc. all these words and expressions are precise, impersonal, formal and convenient, so they are more frequently used in technology english than everyday english.2.1.4 function words1 those words include preposition, conjunction, article and pronoun which occurred more frequently in technical papers. the words usually have great impact on our translations.2.2 translation principleson the one hand, the translation strategies to be researched will be based on the three principles of translation put forward by cai jing in the guide to success 3: professionalism in translation. there are:correctness is one of the principles a translator should always adhere to. comprehensibility means that the translation should cause no difficulties of understanding on the part of the target reader. closeness requires that the translated text resemble the original text in style as closely as possible. according to the principles mentioned above, we make the idea clearly. first of all, the incorrect translation may cause by the translators misunderstanding of the words and therefore fails to convey the original message correctly. secondly, if the translation is a one-to-one match with the original sentence and is also grammatically correct. it makes little sense to the chinese reader. in some cases, to facilitate the target readers understanding, the translator needs to exercise a certain degree of creativity or flexibility by adopting proper translation strategies. for example, the one used is called replacement, replacing the english way of expression with its approximate counterpart in chinese. another one is referred to as “addition” which is to add a few explanatory words. thirdly, in technical articles, it is usually feature the frequent use of terminology. the translation should present this feature by accurate uses of the technical words.the three principles correctness, comprehensibility and closeness are interdependent. therefore, through the integration of the three cs, an appropriate translation can be achieved.on the other hand, the translation strategies to be researched are referred from nidas saying: “in terms of certain concepts arising from generative-transformation grammar, the analytical process consists primarily in determining the underlying meaning. the transfer normally takes place on this underlying level, since languages appear to be more alike in their substructures than in their surface structures.” and so in some sense, translation is a kind of transformation from the surface structures to the substructures and vice versa. and then in translation, changes in word classes, changes in word order, supplements, ellipsis, and extensions are necessary at several levels.2.3 strategies in words translationsince chinese and english belong to two different language families and present a lot of differences in their grammar, lexicon, discourse structure, etc., one of the problems we cant avoid while translating is how to make the translated words which frequently appeared in technical articles sound as correct and natural as possible. to achieve this, there are certain translation strategies we can follow.2.3.1 changes in word classes.gu yueguo (2002) claims that many english words and their chinese counterparts show a lot of difference in their combination with other words. because of the differences between english and chinese, in some cases a translation which shows a word-for-word correspondence will not result in a smooth and natural sentence. sometimes it is necessary to change the particular words, for example, to translate a noun as a verb, or to translate a verb as a noun, or to translate a noun as an adjective, etc.2.3.2 changes in word order.gu yueguo (2002) mentions that there are some differences between english and chinese on where to put their attributives and adverbials. in english, when a word is used as an attributive to modify a noun, it is usually placed before or after the noun. but in chinese, an attributive is almost always put before the noun it modifies. in english, a word used as an adverbial to modify an adjective is usually placed before the adjective, but a word used as an adverbial to modify a verb is usually placed after the verb. in chinese adverbials are usually found before the adjectives or the verbs they modify.2.3.3 supplementsgu yueguo (2002) suggests that it is often necessary to add some words so that the original meaning of the sentence in the source language can be conveyed in the target language loyally and smoothly. for example, adding verbs, adjectives, adverbs, nouns, interjections, etc. when necessary. sometimes in order to translate well, we need to add in something that is implied in the source language. this can be nouns which serve as subjects or objects, or verbs, or adjectives and adverbs. sometimes in order to convey the original tone to the targeted audience, we have to put in some interjections as well. 2.3.4 ellipsisgu yueguo (2002) advises that it is true that leaving out some unnecessary words is also frequently used for translating between english and chinese. the words that can be left out depending on the contexts include pronouns, conjunctions, articles, and propositions.2.3.5 extensionsgu yueguo (2002) claims that in any translation there will almost inevitably be a type of “loss” of semantic content, but the process should be so designed as keep this loss to a