Views on Project Translation

Diao Fangfang

內容摘要

经济全球化背景下，全球商务活动对世界经济进程的影响日趋深刻，在世界经济活动中扮演着越来越重要的角色。

本文基于笔者多年的翻译实践经验。在翻译过程中，笔者发现在工程翻译中功能对等理论使用广泛。本文以国外学者尤金·奈达（1964）的“功能对等”理论为依托，从笔者在日常工作文件中摘取实例，以英译中翻译过程中的任务描述与处理为主线，分析工程翻译的特殊性，探讨工程翻译的处理方式。

关键词：功能对等； 工程翻译；直译；被动

Abstract

With the development of global economy， global business activity which plays a more and more important role in world economy activity.

This paper is based on the authors many years translating practice. In translating process， the author found that the functional equivalence theory is widely used in project translation. In this paper， the author picked up some examples in daily project translation， mainly analysed the process of how to deal with the task according to Eugene Nidas functional equivalence theory， and researched the ability and quality a translator should be provided with， if he or she wants to be a qualified translator in project translation. Hope this paper could provide something value to project translator.

Key words： functional equivalence； project translation；

Skills on Project Translation

1. Introduction

Level of undertaking project can reflect the technology and economic power of a country. With time goes by， cooperation during multinational corporations becomes closer and closer， especially in recent years， continuously developing reforms& opening up and high speed developing economy lead to closer cooperation in economy especially in business during countries all over the word. As a result， multinational project cooperation will absorb more focus， so as to the project translation.

Project translation， as one outstanding branch of translation， contains various professional knowledge and professional words. Therefore， a lot of new professional words will appears with the development of economy and degree of multinational cooperation， which strive translator to learn more special translation method besides professional words.

In this paper， the author will discuss translation methods and skills during translating project materials according to the characters of professional words and long sentences about project.

2. Significance

The topic of project translation， which I have chosen to develop， is very significant and important in the following aspects：

Project paper， as a very strong binding force paper， regulating the project details， sometimes obligations， responsibilities， and even rights of related parties， it requires high quality on project translation. As a result， good project translators are in urgent need. However， what is good project translator？ The basic skill I think a good project translator should obtain is high professional knowledge. The translator should absorb knowledge as much as he can. In order to be a qualified translator in project translation， the translator should be equipped with professional project background& economic background， and he or she also should be familiar with terms and fixed expressions in the certain field， for example， in project translation. But project translation has long been ignored. And the scholars always pay their attention on terms. It is true that new translational approaches have developed in recent years， a number of scholars from home and abroad tend to focus mainly on some micro studies of project translation， such as lexicon， terminology and syntax of legal text， while ignore textual and pragmatic considerations . In this paper， the author would like to adopt Nidas functional equivalence theory， focusing on the sentence group of the source text and emphasizing the features of project translation. And a qualified translator not only should be provided with professional knowledge， but also be provided with professional skills in dealing with unfamiliar terms and long sentences. As holding a project， there include two very important parts： professional knowledge and ability in dealing with long sentences. In this paper， the author would like to discuss some difficulties that she met during her translation and dealing process from a new concept.

3. Current Developments on Functional Equivalence Theory

Dr.EugeneA. Nida（1914-） is one of the most distinguished contemporary translation theorists in the west . He has achieved great success in his field during his past fifty years of study in translation theory and practice. He developed the communicative translation theory put forward by Newmark， a famous translation theorist of England. Spreading and becoming popular in China in early 1980s， Nidas translation theory is the debut for most of Chinese translators to contact the western systematic translation theories and has deeply influenced the translation theory research in China. Functional equivalence theory was first put forward by Nida in 1964. This principle emphasizes the functional equivalence in translation so as to keep the meaning and style of the source language functionally equivalent to that of the target language as much as possible. The functional feature of the translation depends on the balance of two relationships， that is， the relationship between the target language receptor and the target text should generally be equivalent to the relationship between the source language receptor and the source text， and it is the two relationships that provide the basis for functional equivalence.

Holding a panoramic view of all the important points in Nida's equivalence- based theory， we can conclude that the essence of his theory is that the essence of his theory is that he insists the translator should pay prior attention to the meaning of the source text and should not be curbed by the expression form of the source text.

4. Vocabulary

4.1 Scientific Vocabulary

For many areas， there suppose to be a box of terms for every field. For example， shop drawing； advance works； Defects Liability Period；Zinc rich epoxy； Primer； Barrier； Finish should be translated to 施工圖； 前期工程； 缺陷责任期； 环氧富锌； 底漆； 中层漆； 面漆 respectively.

But if you are not familiar with professional terms， you may make some very strange mistakes. As follows：

As for this kind of words， project translator should know the basic professional knowledge， and know highly used deliver way of the meaning， caused in translating this kind of words， literal translation should be used but some meaning in different expressions.

4.2 Compound Word

Some proper nouns are composed by certain profixes and simple proper nouns， which in return put project translator in another situation- know proper nouns， and know highly used profix& the meaning at the same time. For example，Pre- fabrication， Pre- assembly workshop； Sub-contract works； Nominated sub- contractor should be translated to 预制作；预拼装车间分包工程；指定分包商 respectively. In translating this kind of words， literal translation may be a good method.

Besides， abbreviation is another highly used word. And many abbreviations are often used instead of long proper words in order to save time and highlight keys. For example， BS； IBC； VT； NDT； SMAW； FCAW； SAW； SW； MIO can be translated into 英国标准； 国际建筑规范； 焊缝无损探伤； 手工焊条电弧焊； 药芯焊丝气体保护半自动焊； 埋弧焊； 栓钉焊； 云母铁矿 respectively.

Literal translation method is also used in translating abbreviations. If the translator know the meaning of every single letter stand for， it will be very easy to translate the abbreviation into proper meaning.

5. Long Sentences

Language diversities make translating as a way to communicate with each other. Owning to the differences between different language system， the grammar structure， inner logical relationship are significantly different：（1） English sentences emphasize hypotaxis， however， Chinese sentences emphasize parataxis. And Chinese is a language， which must connect with the related parties' consciousness. （2）English and Chinese are two kinds of language with great difference concerning grammar， sentence order and style. Generally speaking， English is hypotactic while Chinese is paratactic， so characteristics of sentence structures should be taken into consideration when translating the text. And the habits of the target language should be followed to adapt to the reading habit of target readers.

Furthermore， long sentences could be classified into two kinds： one long sentence made by two or several simple sentences； and one long sentence with a lot of adjectives or multiple clauses.

The author believes that better understanding the sentence structure in original language is the key to better translate the text. And the next step the author adopted is analysis of the logical relationships of all these sentences. At last， the author translated the original sentence in accordance with the expressing method of target language.

Besides， project translation， sometimes equal to technology translation， contains many passive sentences. This is also one different way of deliver things compared with Chinese which will prefer active sentence. As a result， during translating English to Chinese， translator should definitely remember to translate passive sentences to active sentences at the same time.

Eg. We highlighted to you immediately that no stop order had been issued from our side and works should continue to the deck beams.

我方強调未发出停工通知，你方应继续楼板梁的施工。

Whats more， besides passive sentences， conditional sentence is also a very necessary part during translating， cause this kind of sentence will frequently appears. For example， during your holding project， you will inevitable want your client to know the advantages and disadvantages of your project plan， so you have to choose conditional sentences. And in this moment the delivery result will work if both literal translation and free translation can be used simultaneously.

Eg. Assembling and welding the straight web member in accordance with the installation sequence drawing （H100-ACHK-CHS-2286） for web member and new construction drawing will lead to the inability for assembling the center web member （as shown in attachment 1）.

根據贵公司提供的新制作图纸和腹杆安装顺序图（H100-ACHK-CHS-2286），如果在两根直腹杆装配/焊接完成以后，会导致中间的斜腹杆没有办法安装（见附件1）

6. Conclusions

Language in project has its own features. And it is characterized with professional words， accurate expressions and long sentences.

According to functional equivalence theory， the readers reaction is the most important thing to affect the translation. Since from the same reaction， we can know that the translated edition delivers the same meaning as the original text.

From the authors point of view， a qualified translator should acquire solid professional knowledge， which including professional words， ability of analysing complicate sentences， and skills to deal with complicated sentences， so as to better dealing with the difficulties during undertaking the project.

Bibliography

[1] Eugene A. Nida. Language， Culture and Translation [M].Beijing： Chinese Translation and Publishing House， 1984

[2] Jin Di；Eugene A.Nida On Translation 1984

[3] Newmark， P. 1981. Approaches to Translation [M]. Oxford New York： Oxford University Press.

[4] Nida， E. A. 2001. Language， Culture and translation [M]. Shanghai： Shanghai： Foreign Language Education Press.