Translation Of Product Manuals Under The Guidance Of Skopostheorie

With the rapid development of economic integration, commodities have been circulated throughout the world. Since China’s access to WTO, world trade has become increasingly frequent. More and more imported products have rushed into Chinese market and thus product manuals are of great value due to their important role. Consumers cannot do without their correct guidance if using products. On the other hand, to promote their products, businesses prefer to provide such product manuals that could make customers have an impulse buying. So the translation quality is paid growing attention.Product manuals are commonly seen as expository writing with unique language characteristics and formats, but also texts with typical purposes, namely, to introduce and promote products. Skopostheorie assumes that translation is a kind of human behavior which occurs in a specific context with certain motivation and purposes. Its highlightened principle is skopos rule, which provides a paradigm for the translation of product manuals. In view of this, in the practice of translation, the writer tries to make translations user-friendly, accurate and in place to meet their need although the process was not smooth but rather difficult.The thesis first studies the problems in Japanese-Chinese translation of product manuals from the perspective of lexis, syntax, and text. Then it makes a case study of product manuals under the guidance of Skopostheorie taking TOTO Dresser/Cabinet Instruction Manual (part), Sharp Straight LED Lamps Construction and Operation Manual, Seiko Watches Manual, and Sony PC Quick Start Guide for example. Finally, it explores translation strategies, and propose some corresponding solutions respectively from the above mentioned aspects.