A Study Of EST Translation Strategies:from The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

Modern society is an information society with rapid growth of science and technology and increasingly frequent international exchange. The close communication among nations promotes the advancement of translation. Translation of English for Science and Technology (EST) is no exception. With the rapid development of science and technology, the translation of technical materials receives much more attention. EST translation is necessary because people want to learn about the international scientific and technical information. It is a common focus for EST translators and researchers to find out how to better realize the communicative function of EST translation and what translation theory can be applied to EST translation. That’s also the primary concern of this thesis.Social development promotes the need of EST translation. In the large circumstance of international development, EST becomes a separate special style which is different from other writings in many ways. This thesis analyzes the functional characteristics of EST from Peter Newmark’s text typology. As an important type of pragmatic text, EST is rather practical. It has realistic and even utilitarian purpose. It is different from literary style, and its linguistic feature and content are for information transfer, which makes it informative. The translators need to reconsider the principles for the translation of this type of text and adopt strategies that are different from those for translating of literary works. Based on the function and purposefulness of EST, the most applicable theory that can provide theoretical guidance to EST translation from western theories is the Skopos theory. Therefore, this thesis takes Skopos theory is as its theoretical basis. As the most typical informative text, the aim of EST translation requires it to be translated accurately and be loyal to the original. The pragmatic feature of this type of text demands the adoption of strategies that serve the translation purpose. Within the framework of Skopos theory, the translators are free to adopt appropriate strategies for the purpose. Guided by Skopos theory, EST translation can transfer the complete information, and also can be acceptable by the readers, which is in line with the skopos of EST translation.This thesis analyzes and researches Skopos theory and EST in depth, and combines theory with practice, then it selects suitable strategies and methods for EST translation. On the basis of analyzing significance of EST translation and reviewing previous researches, the thesis probes into the methods and principles of Skopos theory, and analyzes the characteristics of EST with text typology and stylistics; then according to principles and rules of Skopos theory, criteria for EST translation of this thesis are straightened out; with the guidance of Skopos theory, the thesis makes a comparison between literal translation and liberal translation, and foreignization and domestication, which provides theoretical basis and practical methods for EST translation. Different categories of EST are separately analyzed, and corresponding translation approaches are selected. Through specific translation examples, practical methods and skills are added, which proves that Skopos theory is effective for EST translation. Under the guidance of Skopos theory, the translators should adopt strategies that can fulfill the skopos of different types of EST. On the whole, liberal translation and domestication strategies are more applicable to EST translation, literal translation and foreignization are mainly applied to translation of operative means; and various strategies should be combined when necessary so as to achieve better transferring of information and further promote translation practice and enhance translation quality.