The Characteristics and Translation of English for Science and Technology (EST)10

1、the characteristics and translation of english for science and technology (est)abstractwith the worldwide dissemination of science and technique, english for science and technology has been developed into an important language in the scope of science and technology. since the 1970s, it has aroused e

2、xtensive attention and led to much research among different nations. english for science and technology plays an important role in scientific and technical communication all over the world. in order to put it into more common use, translators have translated many scientific and technical documents.

3、this paper discusses the translation of english for science and technology according to my own experience.the paper is divided essentially into four parts. firstly, it introduces the development of english for science and technology, what the english for science and technology includes and the chara

4、cteristics of scientific documents. the first part covers the basic conceptions and principles of translation, including what translation is, what the principles of translation are, the literal and free translation approaches, and basic information about translation of english for science and techno

5、logy.the second part, the most important part of this paper, shows the main characteristics of english for science and technology and their translating methods. the third part introduces the elegance in the translation of science and technology. and it also includes my own opinion about the topic. f

6、inally, the paper sums up some key points about translation of english for science and technology on the basis of what is introduced previously. i hope that readers will obtain some knowledge about the translation of english for science and technology from this paper. and i hope this paper will serv

7、e as reference and guidance for the students who are interested in english for science and technology. 摘 要随着科学技术在全球范围内的广泛传播，科技英语已经发展成为一种重要的英语语体，七十年代以来引起了国际上的广泛注意。科技英语是各国进行科学技术交流的重要工具。为了更广泛的让大家知道更多关于科技英语的知识，科技英语语体的特点和翻译方法成了翻译者们的热门研究课题。我将在这篇论文里，根据自己学习掌握到的科技英语的特点和一些翻译方面的理论知识，谈一谈科技英语的翻译。 论文大致分为四个部分。论文首先

8、介绍了科技英语的发展、科技文献的特点和科技文献的内容。第一部分简单介绍了翻译的基本理论，如翻译的概念、翻译得原则标准、直译和意译以及翻译与科技英语。论文的第二部分是主要部分，介绍了科技英语的主要特点及各个特点的主要的翻译方法并举例说明。最后简单介绍了科技英语翻译中的文采问题同时也表达了自己的观点。在论文的最后通过以上的介绍总结了科技英语汉译要点。 通过这篇论文的介绍，希望读者对于科技英语有一个初步的了解，能掌握一些科技英语翻译的简单方法，给今后科技英语翻译的学习作一个借鉴和参考。contents pageacknowledgement 2abstract . 3i. introduction

9、. 6ii. brief discussion of main characteristics of est . 2.1 the vocabulary of est 2.2 general use of nominalization . 2.3 extensive use of the passive voice . 2.4 the long and complicated sentences . 2.5 more non-finite forms of verbs . . iii basic translation theory 3.1 definition of translation .

10、 3.2 translation standards3.3 major translation approaches3.4 translation process . translation of english for science and technology(est) . 4.1 literal translation of est 4.2 free translation of est4.3 . . conclusion . . . references .introductionthe english for science and technology (est) emerged

11、 in the 1950s (冯梅，2000：加页码) it was the outcome of the swift development of science and technology after world war.since the 1970s, the est has aroused worldwide attention and led to much research among different nations. with more and more science papers published in english, the est, a major variet

12、y of english, which is different from the daily english and literary english, has emerged as the times require with its own typical characteristics. and now it has become a significant language variety.the est generally refers to both written language and spoken language about science and technology

13、. it includes scientific books, papers, reports, experimental records and schemes; various scientific intelligence and scripts; the practical scientific handbooks (operative means including instruments, machines and tools); scientific films, videos and sound materials with the caption, etc. an impor

14、tant and perhaps surprising feature of english for science and technology is that its normal style is common to both written and spoken communication (刘宓庆，1998: 加页码)the est has its own characteristics such as high-level specialization, new concepts, complicated structure, simple and clear language,

15、more declarative sentences, extensive use of the passive voice, many complicated and long sentences, etc. compared with other literary forms, it has higher-level scientific nature, organization, accuracy and closeness. translation and english for science and technology1. brief introduction to transl

16、ation 1.1. what is translation?translating is rending from one language into another, i.e. the faithful representation in one language of what is written or said in another language. translation covers a very broad range. some people believe it is a science, others take it as an art; and yet many co

17、nsider it a craft or rather, a skill. nida, a famous american translator, says that translation is not only an art, a technique or a creation of literature but also a science. (冯梅，2000: 加页码) if the word “translation” refers to a subject, namely, the study of translation theory and skills, it is no d

18、oubt a science, just as any subject is, with its own rules, laws and principles for the translator to abide by. 1.2. principles of translation the main principles of translation are faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance (信、达、雅) which were first proposed by yan fu(严复) in1898. (作者名字，2001：加页码) the

19、english for science and technology (est), which will be discussed later, emphasizes particularly the principles of faithfulness and elegance. 1.1.3. literal translation and free translation literal translation and free translation are two familiar approaches of translation. the so-called literal tra

20、nslation, lterally speaking, means, “not to alter the original words and sentences”; strictly speaking, it strives “to keep the sentiments and style of the original”. for example, crocodiles tears(鳄鱼的眼泪), chain reaction(连锁反应) and gentlemens agreement(君子协定) are translated in a literal way. free trans

21、lation is an alternative approach which is used mainly to convey the meaning and spirit of the original without trying to reproduce its sentence patterns or figures of speech(比喻). for example, the following are translated by acting on the approach of free translation: adams apple(喉结), at sixes and s

22、evens(乱七八糟), it rains cats and dogs.(大雨滂沱) do you see any green in my eye? (你以为我是幼稚可欺的么?). literal translation and free translation are relative concepts. in other words, there is no absolute “literal” or entirely “free” version in the practice of translation. they are usually adopted simultaneously

23、 in the process of translation.1.3. the characteristics of est translationthe translation target of est is scientific documents. the scientific materials are characterized by preciseness. so the est requires accuracy and logicality of its translation. so est translation is marked by objectivity, sta

24、ndardization, distinctive feature in literary form, regular syntax and realism. objectivity means that the translator cannot change the original ideas, neglect the information or put own comments in the process of translation. he must translate the original into chinese version accurately. by standa

25、rdization it is meant that he should always use some professional expressions like technical terms. the translators are required to use the official translations to the original?. by realism, the translation of est is closely related to our daily life. as we know, newly created technical terms are p

26、ouring into english for science and technology. the accumulation of new words is quite important. the characteristics of est will be discussed in following chapters. for the translation of est, two criteria are almost always accepted, namely, the criterion of faithfulness/ accuracy and that of smoot

27、hness. in the process of translating the est, translators acquire adequate knowledge of est and the relevant background. and then according to its characteristics, the translators convey the information to the readers or the audience by using standard, professional and logical target language. it is

28、 quite necessary to make better translation of the english for science and technology.2. the characteristics and english-chinese translation of est2.1. the vocabulary of estwith rapid and remarkable advances in modern science and technology, an increasingly large number of english technical terms ha

29、ve arisen in our daily life, giving rise to a new genre of register with vocabularies outside the range of ordinary educated man english for science and technology (est).the development of science and technology provides an extremely abundant vocabulary for est. this is also the main and most essent

30、ial source of the modern new words. (preface, 6,000 words, a supplement to websters third new international dictionary)不是夹注！2.1.1. the characteristic vocabulary of est the most remarkable characteristic of est is extensive use of technical terms. there are several characteristics of est vocabulary.

31、. specialization of the words in common use technical terms are used widely in est. a great number of them come from the words used commonly in our daily life. but they have strict technical meaning in est. est borrows words in common use to explain the professional technical concepts. this w

32、as called “building 词义理据 by imagination” in semantics. that means 以引申或扩展（包括借助于各种修辞格）的基本词义来给新的概念命名，符合英语一词多义和词性转化的历史传统。in modern english, 新兴科学在传统科学的影响下，尽量利用传统旧词，赋新意于旧词。for example, 遗传工程学的发展给旧词template( 刻印模版，pattern or gauge usu. a thin board or mental plate used as a guide in cutting or drilling metal

33、, wood, etc. add) 带来了新义：“遗传密码载体分子”（a molecule in a biological system that carriers the genetic code for another macromolecule-wtnid, 6,000 words）(刘宓庆，1998: 326). after careful research, we will find that the new meaning origins from the basic meaning of a word. it is the extensive meaning of “patter

34、n” and “gauge”. chinese is different from english in this aspect. in chinese, new meanings give rise to new words. . one word with multiple meanings 一词多义 is another characteristic of the est vocabulary. one word with multiple meanings means that many may adopt a common-used word subjects or h

35、as different meanings in one subject.? for example, “transmission”, in radio engineering, it means “传送” or “播送”; in mechanics, it means “传动” or “变速”; in physics, it means “透射”; in medicine, it means “遗传”, etc. but there is no such a word with multiple meanings in chinese for science and technology.

36、besides these two, there are several other word-building methods for est vocabulary. that is what we will talk about next.2.1.2. translation methods of est vocabulariesgenerally, there are two methods in the translation of est vocabularies: literal translation and free translation. the literal trans

37、lation includes transplant, transliteration and pictographic translation, etc. the free translation includes deduction, extension and explanation, etc. by transplant, we find the meanings of morphemes of a word and put them together. by transliteration, we translate the word by its pronunciations in

38、 english. by pictographic translation, we describe the shape of the article indicated by the english word. by deduction, we conclude the meaning of words by both contextual meaning and the explanation in dictionary. by extension and explanation, we translate the word in its extensive meanings. we wi

39、ll have further discussion with the word building of est in the followings.2.1.3 word-building of est and translationthere is no special requirement for the translation of est in comparison with general english except wording and characteristic structures. from the respect of linguistics, the vocabu

40、lary of est was formed by way of functional shift, borrowing, deriving, compounding, acronym, blending and so on.(科技英语实用教程，人民解放军总装备部队训练教材编辑工作委员会，国防工业出版社，2003.1)? the word building methods include compounding, blending, affixation, acronym and borrowing. beside, there are some other ways of word-buil

41、ding like clipping, back-formation, coinage, functional shift and borrowing from the foreign words. (文体与翻译，刘宓庆, translation theory and practice series,，中国对外翻译出版公司，1998.8)? affixation affixation is an important way of coining new english words and technical terms, with prefix and suffix as in

42、separable elements of the words being coined. the advantage of affixation is evident: it is the most flexible means of forming new words and its potential of creation is almost boundless, therefore it is extensively used in the formation of technical terms. besides prefix and suffix of english origi

43、n, there are some foreign borrowings, noticeably the latin ones, e.g. mini- (微) ，bio- (生命、生物) ，thermo- (热), electro- (电), aero- (空气), carbo- (碳), hydro- (水), -asis (表示疾病), -mania (狂热), etc. if we are familiar with these prefixes and suffixes, many technical terms can be translated appropriately. we

44、can use the translation method of transplant. here are some examples. minicell= mini + cell minicrystal= mini + crystal reagency= re + agency microbicid= mocro + bicid . compounding compounding is the way of combining at least two words to form a new word(刘宓庆, 1998: 376).english technical ter

45、ms formed by compounding generally take three forms: with a hyphen； compounds without hyphen, e.g.: with hyphen with no hyphen splashdown hot-press 重复？ waterleaf pulse-scaler software hot-press greenhouse pick- up two or more separate words forming a word combination. e.g. lunch box 便携式计算机, aircraft

46、 carrier 航空母舰, space cell 太阳能电池, space junk 太空垃圾 most of such compound words may be translated literally, i.e. put the chinese equivalents of separate elements together and we get the chinese equivalents of the compound words. sometimes, however, there are exceptions. for example, bulls eye (靶心), ca

47、t and house (航向与指挥的), dog house (高频高压电源屏蔽障), etc. literal translation in tackling such terms may lead us astray. therefore whenever we are confronted with unfamiliar terms and are not sure of their meaning, we should frequently consult dictionaries of relevant specialties. in many cases some additio

48、nal expressions are needed to make the original meaning clear and accurate. . blendingblending is a variant of compounding, omitting the latter part of the first word and clipping off the first of the second word(刘宓庆, 1998: 377). the translation method of transplant can be used in this case.

49、e.g. contrail=condensation+ trail smog= smoke+ fog telex= teleprinter+ exchange medicare= medical+ care gravisphere= gravity+ sphere in many compounding words, either the first part or the second part of the overlapped word could be a full monosyllabic word or disyllabic word. e.g.: zincode= zine+ p

50、laticode escalift= escalator+ lift copytron= copy+ electron generally speaking, this blending of words possesses the combined meaning of both; therefore, literal translation is used in translating such terms, with one element modifying the other. blended words are used more commonly in the est than

51、in other language texts. people with a professional knowledge of science think that it is easy to understand the meaning of the original word by imagination. e.g.: biorhythm is compounded with biological and rhythm, and it means 生理节奏, etc. blending, in a way, can be considered as another form of com

52、pounding. 一般采用“偏-正”式e.g.: 自动 (“偏”-修饰语) 电梯（“正”-中心词）. acronym an acronym is a word made up from the first letters of the name of something. since it is very convenient to use this brief form, acronyms arewidely adopted in english technical terms. with the rapid development of science and techno

53、logy, more and more acronyms are extensively used in various fields; therefore, it is up to the translator to discern their actual meaning in different context. aids acquired immune deficiency syndrome 艾滋病 wto world wide trade organization 世界贸易组织 cdma code division multiple access 码分多址 cia central i

54、ntelligence agency 美国中央情报局besides, t above ways of word-building, there are some other ways to form technical terms in english, such as clipping, borrowing, back-formation, coinage, functional shift and so on. in whatever circumstances, the discrimination of the original meaning and the contextual a

55、nalysis are of vital important. only we can an accurate understanding of them, can we put them into chinese exactly as they actually mean.. proper noun many of the technical terms in english are borrowed from proper nouns such as names of people, places, firms, trade marks, organizations, and so on. in such cases, consulting relevant dictionary will be of great help. transliteration is usually adopted in dealing with such terms, and at the same time, labels that indicate the nature of such words are added to the corresponding translation. john