A Report On E-C Translation Of When The Sahara Was Green(Excerpt)

According to the United Nations Environment Programme,desertification affects 3.2billion people globally.The alarming fact that 400 million Chinese people are affected by desertification makes China one of the nations in the world that are in the most serious danger of desertification.Consequently,how to effectively address desertification has emerged as a fundamental concern in international efforts and the focus of China’s environmental governance.When the Sahara Was Green is a popular science text with the Sahara Desert as its subject.The excerpt(Chapters 4-7)focuses on the gradual desiccation of the Sahara Desert.Therefore,the translation and publicity of this text will not only enhance non-specialist readers’ scientific literacy in the Sahara Desert but also increase public consciousness of environmental protection.In this report,professional terms,culture-loaded words,expressions that are difficult to render into comprehensible Chinese versions,long and complex sentences,and the realization of cohesion and coherence are major difficulties encountered by the translator.Considering these difficulties,the translator employs the Skopos Theory and seeks out appropriate translation methods based on lexical,syntactical,and discourse levels.At the lexical level,the translator adopts addition,conversion,explanation,and annotation in dealing with professional terminologies,culture-loaded words,and other expressions.At the syntactical level,methods of sentence splitting and sentence reorganization are adopted to make the translation conform to the receivers’ habits of expression and the readability of the target text.At the discourse level,the addition of conjunctions and reiteration are adopted to ensure the cohesion and coherence of the target text.In conclusion,it is found that the Skopos theory can be used to guide the E-C translation of this popular science text on the Sahara Desert.Under its guidance,the meaning of the source text is accurately conveyed,and the readability of the translation is guaranteed.Guided by the Skopos Theory,namely the Skopos rule,the coherence rule,and the fidelity rule,the translator summarizes the translation methods of this kind of text and hopes that it will serve as a reference for other translators when they translate similar texts in the future.