汉英科技文本翻译策略：功能语言学视角

论文总字数：27812字

摘 要

本文主要讨论了奈达的功能语言学理论已经汉语科技文本翻译策略。第一部分将主要阐述功能语言学的主要概念以及历史。第二部分主要阐述了语篇对等里的主题结构和信息结构。第三部分将分析一些汉语科技文本翻译的实例。另外，在第三部分里还将讨论功能语言学在汉语科技文本翻译中的应用及其意义。

关键词：功能对等理论；汉语科技文本翻译；汉语科技文本翻译原则等

Contents

I. Nida’s functional equivalence theory １

II. Textual equivalence:thematic and information structures ４

2.1 Thematic Structure: theme and rheme ４

2.2 Information Structure: given and new ４

2.3 Aspect of Translation from a Discoursal Perspective ５

III. Scientific writing translation ６

3.1 Principles for the scientific writing translation ６

3.2 Functional equivalence in scientific writing translation １２

IV. Conclusion １４

Works Cited １５

1. Nida’s functional equivalence theory

Being the kernel of the translation theory, Functional Equivalence Theory is proposed by Eugene Nida —the famous linguist and translator in America. His theories were introduced into China earlier which had a remarkable influence on the translation theoretical circle in 1960s and 1970s. Therefore, F-E Theory not only has a great impact on Chinese translation circle, but also gains a great many comments.

Unlike the traditional translation theories that mainly stress the correspondence between the source language and target language, Nida’s functional equivalence theory stresses reader’s response. Nida points out that in order to reach the ideal translation, it is necessary to find the closet natural equivalence. Nida"s functional equivalence theory open up a new perspective to translation studies. In Nida’s view, translation is not only the equivalence of words’ meaning, but also includes semantics, and style, the message translation of both the surface lexical information. Nida’s focusing on receptor’s response in his new concept of translating is actually the theory of dynamic equivalence，which is” directed primarily toward equivalence of response rather than equivalence of form”(Nida,1969)． In Nida’s opinion, a dynamic equivalent translation must fit the receptor language and culture in order to make the translated message intelligible and natural to the target language receptors．”A translation of dynamic equivalence aims at complete naturalness of expression,and tries to relate the receptor to modes of behavior relevant within the context of his own culture; it does not insist that he understands the cultural patterns of the source language context in order to comprehend the message(Nida，1964：159).” In 1969, in Nida’s work From One Language to Another, he started to use the term functional equivalence to replace dynamic equivalent. However, there is not much difference between them. Nida described functional equivalence like this: “Basically, dynamic equivalence has been described in terms of functional equivalence．The translation has been defined on the basis that the receptors of a translation should comprehend the translated text to such all extent that they call understand how the original receptors must have understood the original text (Nida, 1969).” Nida further perfect his theory in the 1990s. In his book Language, Culture and Translating, he divided functional equivalence into different degrees of adequacy from minimal to maximal effectiveness on the basis of both cognitive and experiential factors. The Minimal definition of functional equivalence is “The readers of a translated text should be able to comprehend it to the point that they call conceive of how the original readers of the text must have understood and appreciated it.” The Maximal definition of functional equivalence could be stated as “The readers of a translated text should be able to understand and appreciate it in essentially the same manner as the original readers did”.

Equivalence can be divided into two kinds: formal correspondence and functional equivalence. As the term suggests, formal correspondence is the equivalence at the level of form. Nida (1964) says that formal correspondence focuses attention on the message in form. One is concerned that the message in the receptor language should match as closely as possible the different elements in the source language. Nida calls the kind of translation guided by formal correspondence a “gloss translation”, which aims to allow the reader to understand as much of the source language context as possible. It attempts to render the exact word from source language to target language. On the other hand, functional equivalence follows the principle of equivalent effect, that is, the relationship between the receptor and the message should aim at being the same as that between the original receptor and the source language message. It attempts to render receptor words from one language to another, and caters to the receptor’s linguistic competence and cultural needs. As Doctor Nida (2001) views, “in general it is best to speak of ‘functional equivalence’ in terms of a range of adequacy, since no translation is ever completely equivalent. A number of different translations can in fact represent varying degrees of equivalence”. Formal correspondence sometimes distorts the grammatical and stylistic patterns of the target language, and hence distorts the message, only to cause the translation to be ambiguous or awkward. However, functional equivalence sometimes changes the form of the source text, but preserves the message of the source language, because it transforms the message in the receptor language. Of the two, Doctor Nida undoubtedly favors the latter. “If a more or less literal correspondence is functionally equivalent in both designative and associative meaning, then obviously no adjustments in form are necessary. But if this is not the case, the translators should make some adjustments in order to achieve the closest natural equivalence”. This implicates that functional equivalence is actually supplementary to formal correspondence. The concepts of formal correspondenc e and functional equivalence also have attracted many other translation theorists’ interests. Peter Newmark puts forward his famous theory about semantic translation and communicative translation. “Communicative translation attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of the original. Semantic translation attempts to render, as closely as the semantic and syntactic structures of the second language allow, the exact contextual meaning of the original.” “Admittedly, all translation must be in some degree both communicative and semantic….”(Newmark, 2001). TAN Zai-xi is a follower of Nida’s functional equivalence theory. He says that translation consists in reproducing the source language message from meaning to style by rendering the closest natural equivalent in the receptor’s language. Translators are confronted, all the way through translating, with the conflicts of form and content, meaning and style, equivalent and identity, and so on, but the most important point in translation is the content of the message of the source language, therefore, the transference of form should give priority to the transference of message. Mona Baker, in her book In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation offers a detailed list of conditions upon which the concept of equivalence can be defined. She studies equivalence at different levels—equivalence at word level, equivalence above word level, grammatical equivalence, textual equivalence and pragmatic equivalence. The theory of functional equivalence in translation is a great contribution to translation theory in the 20th century. It not only influences the biblical translation in the United States, but also influences the exploration on translation theory in China. According to the traditional Chinese translation theory, the translators should achieve “faithfulness, smoothness, and elegance”. But there are no how-toes towards meeting these three principles. Nida’s theory on functional equivalence leads to the heated argument in Chinese translation field which results in the benign circulation in development of our own translation theory. In this sense, Nida’s theory on functional equivalence is an important guidance to the practice of Chinese translators.

II. Textual equivalence:thematic and information structures

A sentence is not autonomous, it does not exist for its own sake but as pare of a situation and part of a text.And one of the most important functions of information dynamics is precisely to link a sentence to its environment in a manner which allows the information to flow through the text in the desired manner.(Enkvist,198a:178)

2.1 Thematic Structure: theme and rheme

One way of explaining the interactional organization of sentences is to suggest that a clause consists of two segments. The first segment is called the theme. The theme is what the clause is about. It has two functions: (a) it acts as a point of orientation by connecting back to previous stretches of discourse and thereby maintaining a coherent point of vies and,(b) it acts as a point of departure by connecting forward and contributing to the development of later stretches.

The second segment of a clause is called the rheme. The rheme is what the speaker says about the theme.It is the goal of discourse.As such, it is the most important element in the structure of the clause as a message because it represents the very information that the speaker wants to convey to the hearer. It is the rheme that fulfills the communicative purpose of the utterance.

2.2 Information Structure: given and new

The distinction between theme and rheme is speaker-oriented. It is bas ed on what the speaker wants to announce as his/her starting point and what s/he goes on to say about it. A further distinction can be drawn between what is given and what is new in a message. This is a hearer-oriented distinction, based on what part of the message is known to the hearer and what part is new.

Like thematic structure, information structure is a feature of context rather than of the language system as such. One can only decide what part of a message is new and what part is given within a linguistic or situational context.

2.3 Aspect of Translation from a Discoursal Perspective

Translation is a new discipline in academic terms.It is just starting to feature as a subject in its own right. Like other disciplines, it needs to draw on the findings and theories of other related disciplines in order to develop its own methods. But which discipline it can be naturally and effectively related to is still a matter of some controversy.

Linguistics is a discipline which studies language both in its own right and as a tool for communication. It should therefore have a great deal to offer to the budding discipline of translation study. This is particularly true of functional linguistics which no longer restricts itself to the study of linguistic structure and phenomena, but extends itself to the study of language in use. In creating a new text out fo a previously existing one, translators inevitably go beyond what is said and written in the original text, trying to see the context in which the text unfolds and in which it is to be interpreted. In studying this complex process at work, we are in effect seeking insights which take us beyond translation itself towards the whole relationship between language activity and the social context in which it takes place.

According to Halliday and Hasan(1989), language is either for action or for information, so it is organized by the function it is called on to serve and shaped by its purposes. All uses of language have a context. The textual features enable the discourse to cohere not only with itself but also with its context of situation which is analyzed by Halliday and Hasan into three components(field of discourse,tenor of discourse and mode of discourse), corresponding to the three metafunctions of language (ideational function,interpersonal function and textual function).Apart from the context of situation which is the immediate environment, there is also a broader background which the text has to be interpreted: its context of culture.The context of culture is the institutional and ideological background that gives value to the text and constrains its interpretation.

III. Scientific writing translation

Nowadays, our world has stepped into information age. Science and technology develop rapidly and the scientific and technical communications between nations are strengthened. As a result, the scientific writing translation has become an indispensable part of science and technology work and it has a more and more important bridge function.

The scientific writing is an independent form of writing with the development of science and technology including scientific works, scientific papers, scientific reports, test reports, technical specifications, engineering technical specifications, scientific and technical literature, popular science books, etc. And it invloves various themes of various subjects in natural science. Due to the complex types of scientific writings and large amount of information, scientific writing translation views the accuracy of information dissemination and the representation of orginal information as the ultimate goals.

3.1 Principles for the scientific writing translation

Chinese-English scientific writing translation should be based on strict words, standard writing, objectivity and plain description. English scientific writing has become a branch in English for Special Purpose(ESP), which is called English for Science and Technology(EST) because of the unique writing characteristics.When we translate scientific writings from Chinese to English, we should pay attention to the characteristics of scientific English and take notice of the following:

• • 1. Scientific English includes many technical terms and when we translate it from Chinese to English, the accuracy of terms translation should be emphasized.

e.g. “数字油气田”是某油气田的虚拟表示，能够汇集该油气田的自然和人文信息，油气田管理人员可以对该虚拟体进行探查和互动。具体来讲，是以信息基础设施为基础，以多尺度、多种类的空间基础地理信息为支撑，按照“数字地球”的构想，充分利用计算机、现代测绘、现代网络、虚拟现实以及数字通讯等数字技术，以天然气整个生产流程为线索，建立勘探、开发、地面建设、储运销售以及企业管理等多专业的综合数据体系，并将各专业的数据和应用系统进行高度融合。其目的是在建立天然气生产和管理流程优化应用模型的基础上，利用可视化技术和模拟仿真以及虚拟现实等技术对数据实现可视化和多维表达，并且通过智能化分析模型，为企业经营管理提供辅助决策信息，进一步挖掘生产和管理环节的潜力，使信息化建设更好地服务于企业生产和管理，为油气企业的发展创造良好的信息支撑环境。

“数字油田”的支撑技术包括：数据源的采集与获取、数字信息的处理与系统基础建设、“数字油田”的管理、分析及决策解决方案、建设“数字油田”软件平台开发环境解决方案等。(北京中盈安信股份有限公司网站)

“Digital Oil-Gas Field” , a virtual representation of a certain oil-gas field, gathers the natural and human information of this field, on which the administrators of the oil-gas field can examine and interact with the virtual agent. More specifically, this system is based on information infrastructures, supported by spatial basic geographical information with multi-scales and types, like the concept of “Digital Earth”, fully employing such digital technologies as the computers, modern surveying, modern internet,virtual reality and digital communications, constructing a comprehensive digital system with diverse specialties of prospecting, developing, ground construction, storage and transportation marketing and entrepreneurial management, and fully integrating data of all specialties with applied systems, whose purpose is to realize visualization and multi-dimensional representation of data by employing visualization, simulation and virtual reality, based on the construction of the applied models of the natural gas production and the management optimalization; to provide supportive decision-making information for the entrepreneurial management through intelligent analytic modeling; to further exploit the potential of manufacturing and management, and to create favorable information-supporting environments for the oil-gas enterprises.

The supportive technologies of the “Digital Oil-Gas Field” include collection and access of the data source, treatment of digital information and system infrastructure, management, analysis and solutions of the “Digital Oil-Gas Field”, solutions to the construction of the software developing environment of the “Digital Oil-Gas Field”.

In this paragraph, we can notice many technical terms like“数字油气田”(Digital Oil-Gas Field),” 空间基础地理信息”(spatial basic geographical information),” 数字地球”(Digital Earth),” 可视化技术”(visualization),” 模拟仿真以及虚拟现实”(simulation and virtual reality),etc.These technical terms are accurate and they reveal the information function of the orginal writing.

• • 1. Many abstract nouns and prepositions are used in scientific writing transnational and when we translate from Chinese to English, we should pay attention to the transformation between dynamic language and static language.

e.g 该功能支持企业各阶段各种类型的采购活动，包括直接产生采购需求和补充库存。采购人员能够在系统中获得各种信息。可以与Oracle或SAP等第三方的财务系统集成协同工作。(北京中盈安信股份有限公司网站)

Support all kinds of purchases in all sections of the enterprise, including direct needs of purchases and compensating storage.

Provide all kinds of information for the purchasing staff in this system.

Be able to integrate and collaborate with the financial systems of the third party, such as Oracle, SAP.

In this paragraph, “直接产生采购需求”(direct needs of purchases)”补充库存”(compensating storage) are translated into nouns to make the information more clear and simple for readers to understand.

• • 1. The changes of tenses used in scientific writing are not obvious and when we translate from Chinese to English, we should use present tense.

e.g “问政海口”是在海口市委、市政府领导的关心、指导下建立起来的政府信访门户网站，是由中共海口市委、海口市人民政府主办，海口市市直机关各单位联合承办，由海口市信息中心负责设计实现和运维管理。始终坚持以 努力建设“政务公开、服务市民、宣传海口”为目标，以“为民、便民、利民”为宗旨，以发布政府信息、提供便民服务和拓展网上办事为主要内容。
网络问政它包括：首页、问政信箱、区域信访、政务动态、信访大厅、网民问政、在线访谈、统计监督、政策法规、民意调查、椰城论坛等栏目。（北京中盈安信股份有限公司网站）

“Haikou Government Online” is the portal website for the government petitions, which is constructed under the guidance and care of Haikou municipal party committee and municipal government. It is sponsored by Haikou municipal party committee and municipal government, co-built by all units directly under the city, designed and administered by Haikou Information Center. In order to better serve the people, We make every effort to release the government information, supply convenient services and expand the business online with the goal of exposing the administrative affairs, serving the civilians, and publicizing Haikou.

Government Online includes such columns as Frontpage, Letter Box Online, Local Letters and Visits, Administrative Situations, Visiting Section, Netizen Questioning, Interview Online, Statistical Supervision, Laws and Principles, Public Opinion Poll , Yecheng Forum, etc.

In this paragraph, the translator uses present tense to describe the “Haikou Government Online”, which can reflect objectivity of the information.

• • 1. The indicative mood is often used in scientific English and we should pay attention to utilizing this kind of mood.

e.g 准确与完整的数据，是管道完整性管理的基石。以APDM数据模型为基础进行扩展，建立起适用于国内管道完整性管理的数据中心。 (北京中盈安信股份有限公司网站)

Accurate and complete data is the core of the pipeline integrity management, which is based on APDM data models and expanded, and the data centre is constructed, applicable to the domestic pipeline integrity management.

In this paragraph, the original text uses indicative mood so the translation should also use indicative mood to achieve the equal accuracy with the original text.

• • 1. Passive voice and impersonal subject sentences are widely used in scientific writing and we should pay attention to the necessary transformation of them.

e.g 为有效提高救援指挥中心的能力，基于GIS平台，将公安、消防、医院等地理位置分布不同的救援力量和各部门的应急资源实行统一管理，在事故发生时，能够及时的了解事故发生地点附近的应急救援力量和应急资源的分布情况，并根据事故的特点和类型调集所需要的救援力量和资源能够迅速赶往事故发生地。 (北京中盈安信股份有限公司网站)

Through GIS, rescue forces and emergency resources, distributed in different places from public safety, firing, and hospitals, will be put under unified administration, which will promote the efficiencies of the rescue commanding center. If an accident happens, emergency rescue forces and distributions of emergency resources can be known in time, and given necessary deployments according to the features and types of the accident, so as to arrive at the accident spot rapidly.

The original text uses active voice to describe” 及时的了解事故发生地点附近的应急救援力量和应急资源的分布情况”, which is more acceptable in Chinese, but we translate it into” emergency rescue forces and distributions of emergency resources can be known in time”, which can make readers focus their attention on the “forces” and “distributions”. It will reflect the objectivity and normalization of the text.

3.2 Functional equivalence in scientific writing translation

The scientific writing translation is mainly aimed at conveying information and it should take the transferring effects into consideration at the same time, which means to convey the largest amount of information in the simplest words. According to functional equivalence, the process of translation should be in contrast to one or some communication functions which are expected to achieve in target language culture. As a result, in translation process, the targets of translation are to recrate the information of source language and to ensure the functional equivalence of both writings, which become the basic standards in translation process, called the standards for functional equivalence theory.

a. Expressing the meaning of source language accurately

e.g 本项目立足于电力公司调控运行管理现状，将电网运行数据 的采集、存储、显示有机结合在一起，研究3D建模技术、信息融合与服务封装技术，开发一个可以提供电网3D全息化场景构建、矢量配图、地形生成、地理数据集成、远程监视为一体的调度运行可视化系统，为各业务子系统提供统一的3D可视化及远程监视服务。并在此系统上，完成试点厂站可视化工程实现，搭建厂站、线路的3D场景，提供相关的漫游、查询、动态信息加载、实时数据显示等内容，实现人机互动。

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