A Study On Science And Technology Translation From The Perspective Of Toury’s Norm Theory

Science and technology texts are objective descriptions and explanations of scientific facts and theories,including scientific works,laboratory reports,operation manuals,etc.As an informative text,this text is mainly used for scientific research and academic communication.It is objective in content,clear in logic,accurate in vocabulary with strong professionalism and practicality.In recent years,China has paid more attention to international cooperation and has continuously encouraged exchanges in science and technology,and the rapid development of science and technology texts has provided new momentum for transnational cooperation.Therefore,science and technology translation has become an important task.As a typical scientific and technical text,Geotechnical Investigation Report is the main basis for construction work and reflects the engineering geological conditions and site characteristics,which involves a great deal of professional knowledge and reference standards of the construction industry.The English translation of this text can not only help to spread our reference standards to the world,but also serve as an implication for science and technology translation.Toury’s Norm Theory,also called Translation Norms Theory,was formally proposed in1995,which is regarded as an important theory in translation studies.According to the theory,translation is an activity,involving at least two linguistic and cultural systems,namely: the source language system and the target language system.Toury hold that translators are usually governed by three norms during the actual translation process,that is,preliminary norms,initial norms and operational norms.Preliminary norms influence the choices of the translated material,initial norms have an impact on the translator’s choices between the target language and the source language,and operational norms guide the actual translation practices.Science and technology translation requires full consideration of the source and target language systems as well as accurate delivery of the original messages,which is exactly in accordance with the connotation of Toury’s Norm Theory.Based on the above mentioned,this thesis,under the instruction of Toury’s Norm Theory,chooses Geotechnical Investigation Report’s English translation as an example,tries to deeply explore the translation strategies of science A Study on Science and Technology Translation from the Perspective of Toury’s Norm Theory: Taking English Translation ofGeotechnical Investigation Report as an Example and technology texts,with the aim to broaden the application of Toury’s Norm Theory and provide some implication for the related fields.This study firstly gives the studies on Toury’s Norm Theory and science and technology translation at home and abroad a comprehensive review.Secondly,the development and the connotation of this theory are systematically interpreted,and the commonalities between Toury’s Norm Theory and science and technology translation are especially explored.Meanwhile,from the perspectives of vocabulary,syntax and discourse,the linguistic features of Geotechnical Investigation Report and the differences between Chinese and English science and technology texts are deeply analyzed.Finally,taking Geotechnical Investigation Report as an example,the translation strategies of science and technology texts are systematically studied from the perspectives of preliminary norms,initial norms and operational norms with full consideration of the text’s general and linguistic features.Based on preliminary norms,material selection is analyzed through the strategies of conforming to translation policies,and the translation mode is determined by choosing direct translation.Based on initial norms,inclining to adequacy and acceptability are used to meet the requirements of science and technology translation.Based on operational norms,adjusting vocabulary and discourse are applied to better convey the message of the original text.Meanwhile,it is proved that Toury’s Norm Theory can effectively direct science and technology translation.