Readability of Translation in Scientific Texts with Long Sentences: A Case of a Genetics Textbook

Subject Areas : Comparative Literature Studies

Naeime Naderi ¹ , Ali Akbar Moeen ² , Dr.Sima Sayadian ³

1 - Department of English, Yazd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yazd, Iran
2 - 2Department of English, Yazd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yazd, Iran
3 - 3Department of English, Maybod Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yazd, Iran

Received: 2018-01-07 Accepted : 2018-03-11 Published : 2018-02-20

Keywords: readability, long sentences, scientific texts, lix formula,

Abstract :

                                                                                                                             The issue of readability of long sentences has been remarkably noticed in the translation of scientific texts in the world. This subject also demands more attention in translation from English into Persian to solve the difficulty in comprehension of scientific texts in Iran. Accordingly, this quantitative corpus-based study tended to explore readability in scientific texts with long sentences. Hence, the readability of long sentences of a Genetics book in Medicine was compared against its Persian translation. Comparative stylistic model of Vinay and Darbelnet (1958) was used to explore the procedures which were employed in the translation of long sentences and influenced readability of the sentences. Moreover, Lix formula was employed to calculate the readability of long sentences in both source and target texts. The findings revealed that the most important factors in increasing the readability of the translation were as follows; splitting long sentences, changing phrases into clauses and nouns to verbs that decrease the ratio between the number of nouns and the number of verbs, and changing abstract concept words into concrete ones that are modulations. These findings suggest that long and difficult words need to be used less frequently and that passive sentences are to be changed into active ones.