Seeking Functional Equivalence In The Translation Of Popular Science

Functional equivalence theory is the core of Nida's translation theory.Proposed by Dr.Eugene Nida in the 1960s,the theory draws on the research results of linguistics and Communication Studies and has exerted a profound influence on the study of translation.This thesis reports the process in which the author translated popular science text NeuroLogic:The Brain's Hidden Rationale Behind Our Irrational Behavior under the guidance of the functional equivalence principle.Based on the characteristics of popular science texts,the author analyzes the problems she encountered during translation,especially those regarding meaning,style and overall literary effects,and discusses how functional equivalence theory can guide the translation of popular science texts.Popular science text is a combination of science and literature,and its translation should present accurate scientific knowledge in a readable manner.Nida's functional equivalence theory asserts that translation should not only accurately communicate the message of the source text in terms of meaning and style,but also manage to produce in the target readers a response similar to that of the original readers.Therefore,Nida's functional equivalence theory should work well in guiding the translation of popular science texts and help to fulfill the functions of disseminating scientific knowledge to the general public.Based on the features of the source text and the functional translation standard proposed by Nida,the present author used multiple methods in translating the original,including annotation,conversion and restructuring,through which the author strived to attain the equivalence of source and target texts in terms of meaning,style,and overall literary effects so that the goal of spreading the scientific knowledge as contained in the original in plain and natural target language can be reached.Functional equivalence theory is focused on the functions of language and the response of readers and is suitable for guiding the translation of popular science texts.It helps translators to reproduce the source message in an effective way and facilitates the improvement of the quality of translation.The author hopes that the analysis made in this thesis will contribute in some way to the study of popular science translation.