| Terminologies play an important role in communication in agricultural science and technology.Existing studies on technical terms mainly involve word characteristics and corresponding techniques of translation,such as literal translation,free translation,transliteration and so on.These methods are a bit general and may need modification or adaptation in translating terminologies in agricultural sciences.This thesis is a reflection on translation of agricultural terminologies from the aspect of word formation and ways to determine word meaning based on the present author’s translation practice.Some terminologies in English have established and accepted translations in Chinese,such as units of measurement,element names,etc.Others don’t have accepted translations,and they are mostly formed by means of derivation,compounding and transformation.Chinese terminologies consist of simple words and compound words.Simples are often unit names and transliterated words which are accepted translations;and compound words are of various forms and structures,of which the quite common ones are modifier-core structure,combined structur’e,attached structure and subject-predicate structure.The present author has compared some English and Chinese terminologies,and has found some similarities between the two languages,e.g.derivatives in English correspond to the attached forms in Chinese;compound words correspond to the modifier-core structure,the combined structure and the subject-predicate structure.The terminology formation of conversion is applied in both languages,although their surface forms may be different.Terminologies in agricultural English vary in form and meaning,which requires that the translator conducts appropriate meaning determination first in doing English into Chinese translation.This paper consists of the author’s practice in translating academic papers in agricultural sciences,focusing on ways to determine word meaning and on choice of translation methods for proper expression in the target language. |
