An Application of Tury’s Descriptive Translation Studies in Science and Technology Text

【Abstract】 Science and technology text occupies a great proportion in non-literature translations， while most related studies applied translation techniques directly， and ignored hidden translation norms. In application of Turys Descriptive Translation Studies， this paper applies translation norms by comparing science and technology translations， which may provide reference for other translators. The analysis shows that addition is suitable in this case， including the addition of association words.

【Key Words】 Descriptive Translation Studies; Translation norms; Science and technology; Addition

【作者簡介】张婉清（1992.09-），女，成都东软学院，翻译硕士。

1. Study Objectives

This paper aims to apply Turys Descriptive Translation Studies， which is not much used in scholars researches. Then， the writer hopes that other translators， especially those in the science and technology field， could be inspired.

2. Application of Turys Descriptive Translation Studies

（1） Overview of Descriptive Translation Studies. According to Toury， descriptive approaches are about looking into existing texts and describing the rules they seem to follow. He came up with the term “translation norms”， as hidden rules followed by the majority discovered by descriptive observation of actual translation.Toury defined the norms as （1995， p. 55） “the translation of general values and ideas shared by a community， as to what is right or wrong， adequate and inadequate， into performance instructions appropriate for and applicable to particular situations.” There are three translation norms. First are initial norms， a translator may subject to him-/herself either to the source text， or to the norms active in the target culture. If it is towards the ST， then the TT will be adequate; if the target culture norms prevail， then the TT will be acceptable. Second are preliminary norms， which involve the choice of translation policy and the directness of translation. Third are operational norms， which involve the presentation and linguistic matter of translated text.

（2）Translation of Science and Technology Text. This paper uses a typical science and technology work， The Motor Car： Past， Present and Future， which is a popular science reading edited by Ferderick Ling. It is an introduction to automotive engineering， to give normal people ideas about this technology. Since the book belongs to informative text， and target readers are normal people， the translator is required to apply plain language to convey as much information as possible under the guidance of initial norms， preliminary norms and operational norms mentioned above.

TT1：这两个问题需要同时处理，因为某些减少污染的办法会导致燃料消耗增长，反之亦然。

TT2：因为某些减少污染的办法会导致燃料消耗增长，或者反之，能源消耗减少但污染随之加重，所以要合并讨论环境和能源两个问题。

In TT1， the translation of “vice-versa” obviously shows that the translator subjects to the target culture， aiming to acceptability. However， the connotation of “vice-versa” should not be uncovered， otherwise readers may cannot understand the text completely. That is to say， the hidden information should be added. Besides， “the two problems” in ST is not revealed in TT1. Therefore， under the guidance of initial norms， TT2 with proper addition is more suitable.

ST： The electricity needed to fuel electric and hybrid vehicles and to produce hydrogen through water electrolysis may be generated by thermal， nuclear， hydroelectric， wind or solar power stations （p. 517）.

TT1：熱能、核能、水能、风能或太阳能发电站可以提供用来驱动电动汽车和混合动力车，以及水电解制氢所需要的电能。

TT2：热能发电站、核能发电站、水能发电站、风能发电站或太阳能发电站不但可以提供电动汽车和混合动力车所需的电力，还能提供水电解制氢所需要的电能。

In this case， those underlined words actually match more than one objects.

3. Conclusion

Science and technology text contains information which should be fully passed to target readers， and become a part of the target culture. Therefore， as for the initial norms， translators ought to make the target text adequate firstly， and then consider acceptability. It influences the choice of translation policy. Examples show that addition is often used to achieve the goal， not only syntactically omitted information is restored， but also association words could be added upon the situation.

References：

[1]FerderickLing.（2014）.TheMotorCar：Past，PresentandFuture.NewYork：Springer-Verlag.