Organizational Pattern-Oriented Analysis In The Translation Of English For Science And Technology

The organizational pattern-oriented analysis plays a significant role in text understanding at the levels of words, sentences and discourse in the translation of English for science and technology (EST). This report is based on the translation practice of Compilation of Air Pollution Emission Factors (5th edition) published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The organizational patterns in both Chinese and English for science and technology are generally the same, mainly including chronological, spatial and logical orders. Chronological order means that items are listed in the order in which they develop. Spatial order is a pattern of organization in which items are presented according to their location in space-such as, from external to internal, from top to bottom, or from left to right. Logical order refers to the organizational pattern in which items are described their intra-or inter-relationship. Due to difference in expression for Chinese and English, it is necessary for the EST translation to figure out the organizational patterns by analyzing the English original text first, and conduct the translation following the way of Chinese expression in the aid of proper translation strategies. In this way, the deep structure in the original text can be approached beyond its superficial structure. Through the analysis of the original text in light of the organizational patterns, literal translation is suggested when the superficial structures of Chinese and English discourse are generally identical, while other translation strategies like transposition, reduction and expansion are advised when the structures are different. In this way, the translated text will be presented in a well-organized way conforming to the features of the Chinese language.