A Study On Chinese Translation Strategies Of EST From The Perspective Of Conceptual Metonymy

There are a large number of abstract and complex scientific and technological concepts in the scientific text.For reader’s better understanding of the scientific text,conceptual metonymy is commonly used in the scientific text.In particular,conceptual metonymy is a cognitive process in which a conceptual entity or vehicle provides psychological access to another conceptual entity or target in the same idealized cognitive model.In this way,the reader is able to complete the understanding of an unfamiliar concept.However,the cognitive distinctions between Chinese and English cultures expressed in conceptual metonymy always destroy E-C metonymic translation in the form of various conceptual barriers.To deal with this problem,this paper attempts to summarize the E-C translation on scientific English from the perspective of conceptual metonymy,with texts of chapters 4,5 and 6 of Final EIS for the Proposed Homeporting of Additional Surface Ships At Naval Station Mayport,FL.Based on the translation practice to the source text,this paper summarizes the representation of conceptual metonymy in the text and analyzes the similarities and differences between source language and target language in terms of style and cognition.Based on the translation strategies of metonymy,the E-C translation strategies of conceptual metonymy in the scientific English are categorized as follows:(1)the use of the metonymy corresponding to target language;(2)the use of the specific metonymy of target language;(3)the use of"metonymy of source language+thing-in-itself";(4)abandon the metonymy of source language.For the metonymy of source language with a high degree of cross-language commonality,the literal translation method should be adopted.In other words,the metonymy corresponding to target language should be directly used;for the case where the same thing-in-itself is expressed by different metonymies between the two languages,the translator needs to translate the metonymy of source language by the metonymy of target language;for the metonymywith the national culture,in order to preserve the cultural characteristics of the source language and convey the cultural connotation of the source language to the target language readerat the same time,the translator can translate the thing-in-itself of source language while directly translating the metonymy of source language;Because of the different expressions between English and Chinese,there is being the case of asymmetry in the usage of metonymy.In other words,the target language does not have a metonymic form corresponding to the source language.Therefore,the metonymy of source language can be abandoned.To conclude,the translator is supposed to carefully analyze the mapping of conceptual metonymy in the source language and the target language,choose appropriate translation strategies based on the differences in style and cognition between English and Chinese,in order to facilitate readers’ comprehension of scientific texts.