A Brief Analysis of Embodiment of Creative Treason in the Chinese Translation of English for Science and Technology

李丹

【Abstract】With the prosperity of science and technology and the promotion of international communication， China begins to seek for more high technology of foreign countries， which greatly stimulates the development of translation of English for science and technology. Meanwhile， a raft of translation theories has been analyzed by many scholars in the Chinese translation of Sci-Tech English. In this paper， the creative treason， a common theory usually studied in the literature translation， is achieved in E-C technical translation by multidimensional analyses of lexicon， sentence structure and discourse in quite few technical essays.

【Key words】 Science and Technology；Creative Treason

What is creative treason？ What is the trait of the translation of Sci-Tech English？ In which parts can the creative treason be reflected in the Chinese translation of English for Science and Technology？

First and foremost， the creative treason refers to the creative betrayal. It was put forward firstly by the French cultural socialist Robert Escarpit who described that the translation is a kind of creative betrayal all the time. Meanwhile， the creative treason is defined as “the appropriate transformation of the translated texts conducted by translators in the language level.” Whats more， the creative treason can be divided into two parts. The first part is creativity which can be regarded as a procedure in which translators explore their activeness to seek for the highest faithfulness of the original texts. The second part is the so-called “betrayal”. Translators always make some changes in the original texts consciously or unconsciously， more or less， when they do their translations， but they must be faithful to the original essays and cannot abridge， add or falsify any pages， even a word. All told， in actual translating， creativity and betrayal both exist in an organic whole. In China， Professor Xie Tianzhen is the pioneer of the research on creative treason. His book， Mediotranslatology， concludes two general types of creative treason. The first type is consciousness and the other is unconsciousness.And its specific types include individuation translation， mistranslation， omission， adaptation and transformed translation.

With the rapid development of science and technology， especially after entry to WTO， China has globalization of science and technology. The need of translation of English for Science and Technology has surged in recent years in China. Furthermore， the types of English for Science and Technology are various such as Mathematics English， Engineering English， Mechanical English， Medical English， Agricultural English and so on. However， the principles of translation of Sci-Tech English are strict. There are three principles emphasized in E-C translation of Sci-Tech English. The first standard goes to faithfulness and accuracy. The next is to be smooth and fluent， and it requires precise words， succinct sentences and clear structure of discourse of the translated essays. The last requirement is that the translated articles need to be standard and professional， which means the descriptions of the professional terminology in the translated articles are in accordance with the norms of the Sci-Tech English.

Moreover， especially in the Chinese translation of English for Science and Technology， it is praiseworthy to translate an impenetrable article into a comprehensible and accurate work. Translation of Sci-Tech English plays a key role in the research on science and technology from home and abroad. Meanwhile， if the common Chinese people are able to make sense of the translated essays of high-tech of foreign countries， it will substantiate the immense progress and popularity of science and technology in China. The paper wishes to simplify the Chinese translation of Sci-Tech English through a good few analyses. Whats more， it also expects that the methods of translation in English for Science and Technology will be more flexible and uncomplicated. The most important point involves that the translator will put the first priority to the quality of the Chinese translation of Sci-Tech English， and the public would like to pay a large amount of attention to the Sci-Tech English and put focus on the latest science and technology willingly.

English is considered as the most pervasive language in the global communication and utilized in all aspects in our daily life. Nowadays， especially in science and technology， the use of English is increasingly prevalent. The features of English embrace profound meanings of lexicon， the succinct and accurate use of vocabulary， the complicated structure of sentences， and the rigorous framework of its grammar， the formal tone， objective statement， precise logic and countless technical terms. Furthermore， taking all these characteristics of English for Science and Technology into consideration， the principles of its translation include： faithfulness and accuracy， smoothness and fluency， standard and profession.

The accurate， smooth and professional translation of Sci-Tech English is vital for the development of the technique exchange of China and foreign countries. To simplify the understanding of English for Science and Technology， the translation can lay emphasis on the translation theory—creative treason. The creative treason is a translation theory which suggests the translators do some suitable changes when they translate essays. But it also requires the translators need to be faithful to the original texts. The suitable changes are merely for a higher quality of translations and for a better understanding of readers. By means of the creative treason， some impenetrable Sci-Tech English essays can be translated in a more effective way.