试析李善兰的科学翻译观

Li Shanlan's Ideas of Scientific Translation

李善兰不仅是晚清中国著名的数学家和教育家,还是卓越的科学翻译家。作为科学翻译家,他一生译著等身,译作涉及数学、天文学、力学、植物学等多个西方近代科学重要领域。李善兰的科学翻译观可概括为“启民智、强国力”的科学强国观,“崇经典、荐名作”的科学选本观,“既会通又超胜”的科学译介观,“承传统、立新名”的术语译名观四个方面。李善兰引领晚清中国译介西方近代科学的潮流,推开了通往西方近代科学的大门,并为中国科学近代化作出重要贡献。

Li Shanlan is a well-known mathematician,educator and scientific translator in the late Qing Dynasty of China.As an outstanding scientific translator,he had eight great translation works with a total of 104 volumes published in his lifetime,covering many important fields of modern Western sciences—mathematics,astronomy,mechanics and botany.Li Shanlan's ideas of scientific translation can be summarized as the idea of being a scientific power by enlightening the people and strengthening the national strength,the idea of selecting scientific works for translation that are supposed to be classic ones written by famous scientists,the idea of scientific translation emphasizing that scientific translators have a good mastery of scientific developments both at home and abroad as well as a super ability of creative employment and the idea of terminology translation by inheriting the tradition and establishing new terms,thus pioneering the Western modern science translation in the late Qing Dynasty,opening the door to Western modern science for China in the late Qing Dynasty,and making great contributions to the modernization of the Chinese science.