Compensation Techniques For The Translation Of A Popular-Science Text

The author of this thesis selected the first two chapters of The Rise and Reign of the Mammals,a new book written by American paleontologist Steve Brusatte,as the material of her translation practice.By analyzing text characteristics and linguistic phenomena of the source text and translation difficulties encountered in the translation process,the author has finally selected the translation compensation method as her research topic of this thesis,and conducted a detailed discussion and study.The first two chapters of The Rise and Reign of the Mammals primarily talk about the development of mammals in the early stages of their evolutionary history.The source text contains not only numerous detailed introductions to extinct animals and plants,but also some vivid depictions of the environment where the flora and fauna lived.Specifically speaking,there are many paleontological and geographical terms.In addition,there is also a large amount of abstract scientific interpretation of the mammal evolutionary process.For such a popular-science book,which is a little professional and aimed at ordinary people,making the translation easy to understand is the first priority.If there are some ambiguities in the meanings of words and phrases as well as a shortage of the indispensable messages which are helpful for understanding the translation,the target reader may be unable to comprehend the target text.In view of this,semantic compensation is extremely important.Second,since there are many place names,cultural phenomena and historical events in the source text,cultural compensation is also necessary.In response to these key points and other language characteristics in the ST,the author of this thesis has adopted the method of translation compensation to make up for the semantic,grammatical,textual and cultural loss in the process of translation,and carried out an elaborate investigation of the research topic.The main method used in this research is case study.Firstly,with regard to the expectations and demands of the current translation market,the author has chosen The Rise and Reign of Mammals as the material of her translation practice.Then,the author has carefully recorded the linguistic features of the original text and difficulties that she ran into in the process of translation.And then she has discovered that translation compensation techniques have been mainly made at semantic,grammatical,textual and cultural levels,with the purpose of achieving an adequate translation.Next,the author has collected and analyzed data of translation examples,and proposed the research questions.In the end,combining her personal practical experience as well as the previous research findings in the related field,the author has summarized five categories of translation compensation techniques to remedy the loss caused in the translation of such a popular-science text.These five types of translation compensation techniques are:Amplification,Specification,Extension,Word-Order Adjustment and Annotation(including Annotation Within Text and Annotation Outside Text).This thesis summarizes the applicable techniques of compensation in the translation of the popular science book,with the desire to provide some inspiring reflections for related practice and research.