The Importance Of Translators’ Subject Knowledge In Patent Translation

It’s a common phenomenon that translators lack subject knowledge in patent translation industry nowadays, which is difficult to make a change in the near future due to various reasons. Based on the theories put forward by Peter Newmark and Daniel Gile, this report aims to discuss the importance of translators’ subject knowledge from the aspects of translation process and result in combination with a patent translation practice. As for the translation process, translators’ lack of subject knowledge causes obstacles in understanding the source text and expressing the target text, which may cost translators a lot of time and effort. Moreover, as for the translation result, the case analysis of three common error types: errors of terminology, errors of meaning, and errors of clarity in patent translation further demonstrates that translators’ subject knowledge is of great significance in patent translation. Therefore, the author holds that translators’ subject knowledge is very important for them to fulfill a patent translation task smoothly. Considering this, countermeasures of translators’ lack of subject knowledge are proposed in this report to provide guidance for practitioners and agencies in the patent translation industry.