新学科发展之初,理解与误解并存。如何正确理解知识翻译学,这是知识翻译学研究所面临的基本问题。以这问题为出发点,以解决特殊问题或典型问题为导向,知识翻译学研究就需要明确的而且能指导翻译实践的理论观点。对此,我们的观点是:在翻译实践中,把原文看成知识集合体,相应的翻译活动则包括两项任务——在原文中清查描述知识的类别与数量,在译文中进行相应的知识描述。据此,以罗素的知识论为指导,以具有“不可译性”的特殊案例为例证,集中阐述知识翻译学的理论观点与实践作用。研究表明:原文所传递的意义以知识为基础;描述知识的深层实质是具有判断性质的命题,而其表层形式是表达判断的陈述句;翻译是清查原文所含描述知识以及为了确定译文而进行知识描述的过程。“不可译性”的一些特殊难题能够在知识翻译学视域下获得有效解决。

A new discipline is faced with the situations of understanding and misunderstanding. How a correct understanding of transknowletology is achievable? This question is fundamental for transknowletology, which is understandably expected to have both definite theoretical underpinnings and effectively practical guidelines to untranslatable instances. Reflecting on transknowletology, we are led to propose the following viewpoints: in terms of transknowletology, the source text of translation is treated as a collection of knowledge, and the translation practice is a process of fulfilling two tasks: identifying description knowledge and making knowledge description. Accordingly, this study not only exemplifies the theoretical insights but also demonstrates the practical use of transknowletology, based on Russell’s theory of knowledge. This study has obtained the following findings: The meaning of source text is knowledge based; The description knowledge is both propositions of judgment at the deep level and declarative statements of judgment at the surface level; The practical translation process includes two steps: the first is to conduct an inventory of description knowledge contained in the source text, and the second is to provide knowledge description for the need of target text. It is evidenced that certain problems of untranslatabiliy can be solved effectively in the light of transknowletology.