Explicitation In Translating Popular Science Texts ——A Case Study Of Data Feminism

Explicitation is a universal phenomenon in translation.The concept of explicitation was first proposed by Vinay and Darbelnet in 1958.It refers to the phenomenon of translation in which vague and obscure information in the original text is expressed in a clearer way in the translation.Explicitation is also a common translation strategy,which can explicate the information in the original text with clearer translation text.This study attempts to use the explicitation strategy to explore the translation techniques of popular science texts.Popular science texts aim to convey scientific information and views to the public,which are typically informational texts.The most important goal for the translator is to represent the information of the original text accurately and clearly.In this study,a popular science book,Data Feminism,co-authored by Catherine Dignazio and Lauren Klein was selected as the translation material.Employing obligatory explicitation,optional explicitation and pragmatic explicitation as the analytical framework,the translator proposed some translation strategies.For obligatory explicitation,the cases mainly involve long and difficult sentences.Strategies such as restructuring sentences,reorganizing information and amplification were employed to make sentences logically clearer and avoid any ambiguity.For optional explicitation,the translator mainly rearranged information,and segmented long sentences to make the translation more concise and consistent with the expression convention of Chinese.For pragmatic explicitation,the translator mainly used methods such as addition and adding footnotes to translate the cultural terms that were unfamiliar to the target audience.The study found that the explicitation strategy could improve the translation of popular science texts.It can make the translation text clearer,more understandable and readable.In translating popular science texts,the translator should determine what information must or should be explicated,and adopt specific translation methods according to the features of the text so that the translation can be clear and understandable,which can serve the target audience to the greatest extent.