A Project Report On The C-E Translation Of Electronic Product Instructions

As its overall economy is booming, China is embracing the world in a more open way, and a variety of products are flooding into both the domestic and the international markets. Among them, the transaction of electronic products has been on the rise along with the increasing demand for their instructions and matching translations. The product instruction is relevant to the product itself, and its translation has a direct impact on consumers’ purchase desire and the corporate image. Besides, electronic product instructions are written in its own format with distinctive components, grammatical voice, and lexical choice. Product instructions are intended for providing consumers with information about the product itself and how to use it, with the main purpose of promoting consumers’ purchase behavior. Nevertheless, the academic research on the translation of electronic product instructions is still scarce, and there is a lack of systematic theoretical guidance in this field.The aim of the electronic product instructions is to promote consumers’ purchase behavior. The Germany-originated translation theory produced in the 1970s, with Skopostheorie as its core theory, holds that the key component in the translation process is the general purpose of translation. Written from the perspective of Skopostheorie and based on both English and Chinese instructions of electronic products totaling 15,000 words, the report summarizes the differences between texts in two language versions, analyzes the translation features, spots problems in the translation process and puts forward appropriate suggestions. The translation of electronic product instructions follows the three rules:Skopos, coherence and fidelity. The English version of electronic product instructions possesses its own distinctive features in terms of diction, syntactic arrangement and such translation strategies as the use of terminology and compound nouns; the use of passive voice, imperative sentences and the restructuring of sentence order; and the combination of literal translation and free translation. The report also sums up some problems through comparison between the Chinese and English versions of instructions such as poor wording, unidiomatic use of English expressions and the abuse of English abbreviations. Suggestions are proposed for later improvement of translation.