植物学术语从英语到中文和再翻译到其他语言时存在的一些问题和思考

巴桑拉毛

摘要：術语翻译一直是翻译界最具挑战之一的工作。动植物的中文学名多数是从拉丁语转写和翻译而来，多数是基于汉语语境和中文的词汇特征而重新被命名和翻译的。这些术语在源语拉丁文里是根据植物的科学习性特征和栖息地、科和属而命名。中文里也有划分科和属，中文翻译是根据中文文化和习惯加上修辞，符合中文阅读者习惯。但是这些术语再从中文或英语翻译到其他语言是需要过滤和分析译入语和源语言的语法构词特征。由于没有注意到不同语言的特征，也可能归结于翻译者的英语水平有限，翻译错误也是屡见不鲜。这也是术语为主多语翻译者需要注意的因素。

关键词：术语翻译；功能翻译理论；多语翻译；植物学

General methods used in translating ecology terminologies：

Terminologies are unlike common vocabularies used in literature， they are words with special meanings in certain subject such as ecology， biology and chemistry. Therefore， when translate terminologies， its significant to translate the core meaning rather than the transition of style or emotions that are emphasized in literature translation.

Functionalist approaches include Hans J. Vermeers Skpostheorie， intentional interaction that focuses on purposeful translation between source-text and target language. Therefore， these methods were used in translation of technology or science text. Original names of plant species were mostly in English， formed up in Latin language， their lexical formation is based on the plants function， size， colors and division of family and category. For instance， plant Canna （an indigenous American plant） is translate into Chinese as “美人蕉”， “蕉” carries the core meaning of the plant as Canna belongs to banana family，yet “美人”is added in accordance with its shape to make the translation more lively. This method is due to rhetoric characteristics of Chinese language. Therefore， in Chinese language， the receivers could understand the meaning that Canna is a banana type plant with beautiful shape. It has functionally translated that Canna is a plant belongs to the banana family.

However， in the original word Canna， there is no such suffix as “ 美人”. Which would destruct to translate the word into another language of different grammatical principles.

In the functionalist theory， Vermeer emphasizes that role of the translator is crucial in the translation process. The translator is ostensibly the expert in translational action and should be responsible both for carrying out the commissioned task and for ensuring the result of the translation process， even when aspects like formatting and layout are assigned to other agents. （Cf. Vermeer 1989b： 174） Therefore， when such plant terminologies translated into other languages which is not common to use rhetoric， it is very dangerous to destruct the original meaning as the language would sense “美人”is more important in meaning than “蕉”. As every language has its own grammatical rules， the target language would name a plant like the Latin， the core part is its function， for suffix， it prefers to put its color， size or the habitat characteristics rather than rhetoric sensible and suitable to the target language receivers.

Some translation mistakes：

In such cases， I found many translation mistakes， as Canna is translated as “beautiful tree” in a language that lexical formation of plant terminology is prioritized on its function， and suffix is usually the shape or habitat background. Another example， Rhodiola 紅景天， The name combines the Greek rhodon， meaning rose and referring to the rose-like smell of the roots， with the Latin diminutive suffix -iola. It is translated to Chinese as 红景天，this is actually not a translation， but the Chinese name was given based on its shape， color， again with rhetoric. Another example could be Tulip， originated from Latin or Persian language with a translation mistake. It is translated into Chinese as郁金香，based upon its shape and function in Chinese context.

Factors to concern in the third and fourth target language.

Therefore， when we translate such terminologies from specific subject， it is important to refer to the original lexical formation of the word. Also， a translator has to refer and analyze the translation in Chinese before translate the words into another different language. As the functionalist say， it is important for the translator to always focus on the original meaning of a terminology in the specific subject while considering the context and receivers background of the target language. To translate such terminologies， a translator has to refer both to the source language and target language in order to translate them well into the third or fourth language.