Translating Popular Science

Over the centuries, the circulation of scientific ideas has been granted in one or a limited number of languages. While the advantages of avoiding a scientific Babel cannot be denied, popular science is largely communicated to the public using their first language(s) and is often the result of translation from other languages - which means, today, most notably English. While part of science, especially established science such as classical physics, may be communicated to the public by and large for information, science at the leading edge of research is often popularised for its newsworthiness and/or to involve the public in debates concerning social issues or political decisions. The question addressed in this volume is how translators mediate the ‘news’ elements in the texts such as new theories, discoveries, equipment and the relating terminology and grammar in the target language and culture. Chapter 1 reviews approaches to science discourse highlighting features that can be useful to build a model for translating popular science. Chapter 2 discusses methods and strategies for translating popular science based on research in Translation Studies and specifically in specialised translation and outlines a model for translating popular science. Chapter 3 describes case studies in popular science physics in the news, while Chapter 4 presents an analysis of relevant features of popular science translations using a corpus of particle physics articles. In the Concluding remarks results are summed up and discussed while emerging trends and useful methods and strategies in translating popular science are outlined.