A Report On The E-C Translation Of Dictionary Of Untranslatables:A Philosophical Lexicon(Excerpts)

The Dictionary of Untranslatables: A Philosophical Lexicon(hereinafter referred to as the Dictionary)is a groundbreaking philosophical encyclopedic tool that includes over 400 philosophical entries that have influenced thinking in the humanities but are “untranslatable” when translated from one language and culture to another.It emphasizes the diversity of European philosophy by focusing on the diversity of languages within Europe,and is of strategic importance for the traditional European humanities in an era of Englishdominated globalization.However,translating the philosophical untranslatables to a high standard is challenging,posing a great test of linguistic competence and philosophical knowledge.This requires translators to constantly find appropriate translation methods or principles for philosophical concepts.This report summarizes the translation difficulties of the Dictionary from three aspects: 1)The lexical level.The Dictionary is extremely specialized,involving a large number of proper names,abstract concepts,and connotation-rich polysemes.The understanding and expression of these polysemes is one of the greatest difficulties in this translation practice.2)Sentence level.There are many long sentences with complex logical structures,and the sentences are often complicated by multiple clauses.3)Discourse level.The original text is highly intertextual,with numerous quotations of renowned scholars,and there also exists semantic errors,both posing difficulties for comprehension and discourse coherence.The translator makes preliminary studies on the methods and strategies of philosophical translation at home and abroad,and proposes the translation strategies suitable for this practice under the guidance of Reiss’ typology theory.This report concludes the following findings: 1)Lexical level.For the translation of polysemous words,it is necessary to consider the context and linguistic independence,and select the meaning of words;add the relevant information to proper nouns;and make flexible adjustments to abstract nouns,such as part-of-speech transformation and analogy association.2)Sentence level.disconnection and reorganization of compound sentences,appropriate omission of demonstrative pronouns,and supplementation of conjunctions are useful methods for translating long and difficult sentences.3)Discourse level.Reiteration and annotation are translation methods to improve the coherence and explicitness of the discourse.