Jiàoyù zīliào yǔ túshūguǎn xué (Sep 2005)
江南製造局翻譯館翻譯西書方法考 Research on the Method of Western Science Translation in the Translation Department of the Jiangnan Arsenal
Abstract
作為清末政府譯書機構的代表，江南製造局翻譯館在19世紀晚期西學東漸，啟發民智的過程中發揮了基礎性作用。在大量的西書翻譯實踐中，江南製造局翻譯館形成了一套翻譯方法。一方面，傳承了在我國具有悠久歷史的口述筆譯結合方法，并將其發展到頂峰；另方面，創設了較為完善的翻譯規則，特別是科技術語翻譯，其中相當多的成果沿用至今。另外，翻譯館也相當重視譯名表的編製，為日後科技術語的統一做出了貢獻。但是這套方法也存在著難以克服的弊端，翻譯出的書籍仍有相當多的訛誤與相悖之處。As the representative of governmental translation institutions in late imperial China, the translation department of the Jiangnan Arsenal played a fundamental role in the process of bringing in western science and technology and enlightening the society. It had formed a series of translation methods during a mass of western scientific translation practices. On the one hand, the translation department made the method of combination of oral translating and transcribing to the zenith which had a long history within translation field in China. On the other hand, it had created relatively reasonable translating rules, especially the rules of scientific nomenclature. Among them, considerable production of nomenclature translation has all along been in use up to now. In addition, the translation department of the Jiangnan Arsenal also paid much attention to the compilation of vocabulary of terms or names related with various subjects. Later, such work became a great contribution to the unification of scientific nomenclature in China. Nevertheless we can also find some inevitable deficiencies of above-mentioned translation methods which resulted in a large number of errors in the publications of the Jiangnan Arsenal.
